The North Platte girls’ basketball team (15-2) has continued its hot play to push the winning streak to nine in a row, which is the most consecutive victories the program has had since the 2015-16 season.
After winning the First Annual WildCard Invitational, the Lady Panthers matched last season’s high of seven straight victories and has won back-to-back since then. North Platte was behind early against North Andrew (7-5) but fought back to win 60-52 on Jan. 16.
North Platte’s Jaylin Burgess knocked down three shots from deep and had nine points in the Lady Panthers 73-38 courtwarming victory over Plattsburg on Jan. 20.
The first half saw strong shooting performances by both squads that combined for eight made shots from deep – three by North Platte and five by North Andrew – with neither team able to pull away. The Lady Panthers led 15-13 when the first quarter ended, then the Lady Cardinals took a 28-27 advantage at the break.
North Platte switched to man-to-man defense in the second half and knocked down three more treys in the third quarter to retake the lead and North Andrew trailed the rest of the way. Kenedie Summers had 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half to go with her nine rebounds and Lindsay Ramsey added nine of her 11 points in the second half, while also snagging seven boards.
Lonee French was able to close out the game from the charity stripe as she hit her last five free throws to give the Lady Panthers the cushion they needed. Jaylin Burgess knocked down three shots from behind the arc to give her nine points and four assists, while Camryn Kersten ended with seven points and six rebounds.
In the courtwarming KCI matchup against Plattsburg (4-12), North Platte came out on top in dominating fashion, 73-38, to become 2-1 in conference play on Jan. 16. The Lady Panthers came to play as they shot a season best 56 percent from the field and 55 percent from behind the arc, along with outrebounding the Lady Tigers 37 to 23.
Karli Guinn nearly had as many points as Plattsburg did after eight minutes of play as she had 12 of North Platte’s first quarter points when it led 27-16. Guinn ended with 18 points on nine-of-11 shooting from the field and six rebounds in only 18 minutes.
North Platte pushed the lead to 41-25 at halftime and put the game away in the third quarter when it outscored Plattsburg 22 to five in the frame. Ramsey ended with nine points and three steals, while Burgess finished with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Summers added six points, four assists and three steals and Brianna DeBord scored 10 points. The Lady Panthers will look to push their impressive winning streak to double digits in a first-round matchup with Mid-Buchanan (7-11) – who was the last team to beat North Platte – in the North Platte Tournament where the host school is the No. 2 seed.