West Platte junior Avery Holmes made three shots from deep and scored 11 points in the win over Plattsburg on Dec. 7.
Meeting up with a chance to bring home a trophy has become a common occurrence in the last calendar year for the West Platte girls’ basketball team (2-3) and Lawson (6-1) as the rivals most recently met in the fifth-place game in the KCI Conference Tournament on Dec. 9.
Entering the day with two such third-place matchups last year – in the 2021 KCI Conference Tournament and the Lawson Invitational – both squads had one win each. In last year’s game in the conference tournament, West Platte lost 32-31 before beating Lawson 40-23 in its home tournament.
This time, the matchup was on the consolation side of the bracket with Lawson losing to Mid-Buchanan (4-4) and West Platte falling to North Platte (5-1) in the opening round on Dec. 6. The Lady Cardinals were the No. 5 seed, and the Lady Blue Jays were the No. 6 seed.
West Platte struggled on shooting the ball on the night – making only 21.8 percent of its shots from the field – and fell short against Lawson, 36-34. Madisyn Matlick led the West Platte offense with 11 points and six rebounds, while Julia Pattison had nine points.
In the consolation semifinals, West Platte defeated the No. 7 seeded Plattsburg (0-4) on Dec. 7. Five players scored at least nine points, with Avery Holmes ending with a team-high 11 points with three made shots from deep.
Pattison recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, along with five steals, while Matlick had 10 points and seven boards. Colby Shepardson scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and forced three steals as Sam Baker finished with five points and two steals.