The North Platte girls’ basketball team (13-2) was tasked with taking on an unbeaten Polo (13-1) squad in the First Annual WildCard Invitational Championship and the Lady Panthers took care of business, winning the tournament on Jan. 13.
Polo and North Platte are in the same district and there were huge postseason implications heading into the game. Polo entered the night with 13 wins and no losses, which was the best record among all teams that will be in the Class 2 District 15 Tournament and North Platte came out on top, 47-36.
North Platte senior Karli Guinn shoots a layup in the First Annual WildCard Invitational Championship over multiple Polo defenders in the 47-36 win on Jan. 13.
“We talked in the locker room before the game that they’re a team that’s going to punch back and we came to fight,” North Platte head coach Ryan Davis said. “They’re a team that’s going to really get after it and I thought weathering the storm was important.”
North Platte started the championship with three different players making a jump shot to take an 8-0 lead, but Polo brought it back within two points with a fast break layup at the first quarter buzzer. Polo scored the first four points and last three points of the second quarter to lead 17-14 at the break.
“It should be no fun for teams to play North Platte, and when our team gets down, they shouldn’t enjoy it. Even in the first half when we didn’t score, I thought we played good defense and kind of carried that through,” Davis said.
Kenedie Summers scored in the first 30 seconds of the second half and Jaylin Burgess knocked down a trey from the right wing to put North Platte up 19-17 and Polo trailed the rest of the way. Polo responded with a banked 3-pointer, but North Platte responded with nine straight points which was capped off by a shot from downtown by Gracelynn Hoffman.
“We came out to start the second half and had a real nice run and never relinquished it, but I think that’s one of the strengths of our team. We have a lot of girls who can play and learn from girls who can step up on different nights and that’s what carried us through in the second half,” Davis said.
North Platte led 29-22 at the end of the third quarter and Polo fell behind further in the final eight minutes. Shortly after securing the championship, the North Platte boys also won, which was the first time since 2011 districts that both the boys and girls won the same tournament.
“There’s a lot of years since this has happened and we have a lot of good programs who’ve really stepped up. It’s been very enjoyable to be a Panther,” Davis said.
The Lady Panthers opened the tournament with a favorable first-round matchup against winless Osborn with Stewartsville (0-12) on Jan. 9. North Platte poured out 83 points – its most in a game in at least 15 seasons – and only gave up 13, which is a season-low by an opponent.
The Lady Panthers shot 57 percent from the field, including eight of 15 from deep, and outrebounded the Lady WildCards 47 to nine.
Lindsay Ramsey scored 17 of her team-high 19 points in the first half and snagged six rebounds, while Guinn finished with 12 points and four rebounds and Kenedie Summers had 11 points and eight rebounds.
In the semifinals North Platte won its sixth straight game by taking care of Dekalb (3-9) and defeating the Lady Tigers 65-26 on Jan. 11. The Lady Panthers gave up the first bucket then outscored the Lady Tigers 20-2 for the rest of the quarter and eventually led 36-15 at the break.
North Platte dominated in the paint scoring 52 points inside opposed to Dekalb’s 12, while 19 of the Lady Tigers’ 29 turnovers were steals. Guinn led the way with 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks while Allyson Smith and Lindsay Ramsey both scored 10 points and combined for 11 steals.