West Platte senior Colby Shepardson drives past a pair of Plattsburg defenders in West Platte’s fifth conference wins in six tries in the 59-26 win over the Lady Tigers on Feb. 10 as the post player has helped lead the Lady Blue Jays to the No. 1 seed in the Class 2 District 15 Tournament.
A historical regular season has officially wrapped up for the West Platte girls’ basketball team (16-7) who has locked up the No. 1 seed in districts for the first time in more than 20 years.
The Lady Blue Jays have slowly improved each year since 2019 – when they finished with a 1-20 record – and have been competitive in each of the last two years. Last winter, West Platte was one game under .500 when the regular season ended as this was the first winning season since the 90’s.
West Platte won its first four games in KCI Conference play with three games left in the regular season, before falling to East Buchanan (19-4) on Feb. 7. The Lady Bulldogs are the only team in the conference who remains unbeaten, winning the KCI, and they held the Lady Blue Jays to their least amount of points in a game since 2020.
West Platte shot five-of-16 from the field and lost 48-14 to snap a 3-game winning streak. The Lady Blue Jays were coming off a 37-19 win over DeKalb (6-18) on Feb. 6.
Julia Pattison led the way in that one, ending with 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and five steals. Madisyn Matlick made two of West Platte’s three shots from behind the arc as the senior scored six points, trailing Avery Holmes who had seven points and 12 rebounds.
Coming off their first conference loss since Feb. 11, 2022, the Lady Blue Jays bounced back with a dominant 59-26 win over Plattsburg (7-16) on Feb. 10. West Platte jumped out to a 24-7 advantage after one quarter and led 40-19 at the break before cruising through the second half.
Holmes and Matlick combined for six triples on nine attempts, both ending with 11 points. Pattison had 12 points on six-of-nine shooting, along with seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Colby Shepardson finished off the night with 10 points, four rebounds and one steal. The win over the Lady Tigers gave West Platte a 4-1 KCI record ahead of the regular season finale at North Platte (19-6) on Feb. 14.
West Platte has secured a first-round bye as a reward for being the No. 1 seed in the Class 2 District 15 Tournament and won’t play until the semifinals on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. The Lady Blue Jays will play the winner of fourth-seeded Gallatin (12-11) and fifth-seeded Plattsburg as the tournament will be played at North Platte High School.