The Lady Jays soared back into the North Platte Invitational Consolation Championship when the West Platte girls’ basketball team (7-10) erased an 11-point deficit to tie North Andrew (14-6) at 31 with 4:16 remaining in regulation on Jan. 28.
When Avery Holmes’ second 3-pointer of the game sank through the net, it capped off a 13 to three run by the Blue Jays. Despite the late surge to get back into the ball game, West Platte was unable to score another point for the rest of the night and fell short, 34-31.
The Cardinals converted on four shots from behind the arc in the first half and beat the second quarter buzzer with a fast break layup when the Blue Jays headed into the locker room trailing 26-15. After a sluggish start to the second half, West Platte’s comeback bid began with 2:21 remaining in the third quarter when it trailed 28-18.
“We were doing some things defensively that were a bit uncharacteristic, and we adjusted at halftime and got refocused on how to do things the right way,” West Platte head Coach John Kruse said. “That was kind of the difference - once we started slowing them down and chipped away, we tied it, but we just weren’t quite able to finish there in the end, but it was a pretty good effort.”
Julia Pattison scored a layup that was followed by two baskets from Hailey Shepardson to end the period with six straight points as North Andrew’s lead was cut to 28-24. The Cardinals scored the first three points in the final frame before Holmes scored a layup with 4:51 on the clock, followed by a Libby Vandal steal and Pattison fast break layup and the eventually game-tying trey.
West Platte sophomore Sam Baker, above, drives to the hoop in the first half of the North Platte Invitational Consolation Game on Jan. 28.
With 10.1 seconds left and trailing 43-40, West Platte called a timeout with the ball under its basket. Katie Groom inbounded the ball to Pattison in the left corner – who was immediately pressured by a Cardinal defender – and bounce passed it to Holmes, but the ball was stolen, and North Andrew dribbled the clock out to win the game.
“We were trying to get Madisyn (Matlick) open in the corner for a corner 3-pointer, which is her favorite spot and a shot that she hits pretty consistently, and they did a good job taking that away. Julia got the ball in the corner in a tough spot and couldn’t really make anything happen,” Kruse said.
In the consolation semifinals, West Platte took down Plattsburg 40-35 (9-9) for the first time since 2015 when the Blue Jays jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and never trailed on Jan. 26. The victory was the first time the Blue Jays won a game since Jan. 11 and snapped an eight-game losing streak to the KCI opponent and the teams will have a rematch at West Platte High School on Feb. 11.
“The best thing was that we jumped out to an early lead and kept it there the whole game. We played a complete game from beginning to end; we defended well, rebounded well and that was one of the best games we played all well in terms of doing what we need to in order to win,” Kruse said.