For the second time in this short season, the West Platte girls’ basketball team (4-3) is above .500 after a pair of victories over Kansas City Lutheran (1-4) and Penney (0-9).
West Platte’s Avery Holmes had a career-high 20 points in West Platte’s 74-19 victory over Penney in the opening game of KCI Conference play on Dec. 16.
With both games being at West Platte, the matchup with Kansas City Lutheran happened first on Dec. 13. The Lady Blue Jays were cold offensively at the start – only scoring two points in the first quarter and giving up six points – but outscored the Lady Knights 11 to seven in the second quarter to tie the game at 13 at the break. The second half was tight but West Platte snuck by with a 20-18 win.
Both teams shot 50 percent from the charity stripe and only made five field goals each on the day when West Platte had 16 attempts and Kansas City Lutheran had 17 attempts. The Lady Blue Jays scored nine points off 17 Lady Knight turnovers, with the help of four steals by sophomore Sam Baker.
West Platte struggled to score, but Madisyn Matlick had eight points when she made three of her four shots from the field and two of three attempts from downtown. Colby Shepardson was the only other Lady Blue Jay to shoot 50 percent or higher when she made two of her four shots and scored four points, along with three rebounds and two steals.
While West Platte had offensive struggles against Kansas City Lutheran, that wasn’t the case when Penney came to town on Dec. 16. The Lady Blue Jays finished the night with their highest point total since Dec. 18, 2020, as they defeated the Lady Hornets 74-19.
West Platte jumped out to a huge 24-4 lead after the first quarter and went into the locker room with a 44-10 advantage, cruising to a 55-point triumph. Avery Holmes had a career day when she knocked down four shots from behind the arc and scored a career-high 20 points.
Julia Pattison impressed on offense and defense, pouring out 19 points on an efficient nine of 13 shooting, along with seven steals and three deflections. Shepardson finished with 11 points, Matlick finished with nine points and Blair McHenry had eight points.
With the victory, the Lady Blue Jays started the season 1-0 in conference play for the second consecutive year after failing to do so in the prior five. West Platte was scheduled to take on a Class 3 opponent, Summit Christian Academy (7-1), in Twelve Courts of Christmas at Hy-Vee Arena on Dec. 20 for its final game of 2022.