PLATTE CITY – Leading the Platte County girls’ basketball team to a share of the White Division Title and the best season in two decades, Eric Mitchell was the conference’s co-coach of the year.
Eric Mitchell earned the Kansas City Suburban Conference White Division Coach of the Year in his second season at Platte County.
In his second year at Platte County, Mitchell helped guide his team to a 21-5 record and 7-1 conference record. He shares the White Division Coach of the Year honor with Grain Valley Head Coach Randy Draper.
Senior guard Lauren Stone and junior post Addy Schlake were both first-team selections in the Kansas City Suburban Conference White Division. They were the top-2 leading scorers for the Lady Pirates this season.
Stone led the team with 10.8 points per game and was first in the conference on free throw percentage, knocking down 75.6 percent of her shots from the charity stripe. She also led the conference in steals with 65 – good for an average of 2.5 per game – and made 33 shots from downtown.
Schlake averaged 8.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 0.7 blocks while converting on 45.5 percent of her shots from the field, which was the fourth-best mark among all players in the White Division. Schlake had eight less steals than Stone and Lydia Doole had 56 as the Platte County trio were one, two and three in the conference stealing leaderboard.
Doole ended her Platte County career on a high note, being placed on the second team in the conference. Being tied for second on made 3-pointers in the White Division, Doole made 48 shots from behind the arc en route to averaging 7.5 points and 2.2 steals per game.
Rylee Carr and Haley Barlow were White Division Honorable Mentions. They will both be back next year and will be hungry to build off the impressive 21-win campaign.
For the boys, there were three players who earned three separate honors in the conference. Jonah Vignery was on the first team, Jaden Peterson was on the second team and Anthony Morrison was a honorable mention.
Despite leading the conference in points, made 3-pointers, 3-point percentage and being second in overall field goal percentage and free throw percentage, Vignery wasn’t the conference player of the year. That honor went to William Chrisman junior Leo Gayman who averaged 18.3 points, 14.3 rebounds and three blocks.
Vignery had a breakout season, single-handedly winning several games for Platte County, which went 13-12 in the regular season before a first-round district exit without the senior who was dealing with an illness at the time. The 6’4 guard was a scoring machine all winter, finishing with at least 20 points in 18 of the 25 contests he played in – along with four 30-plus point outings.
Vignery scored 572 points in this season alone to become the first Pirate to surpass the 1,000-career points barrier since 2005. He ended his senior campaign averaging 22.9 points on 49.3 percent from the field, 39.6 percent from deep and 83.1 percent from the charity stripe.
Vignery was more than just a walking bucket, he also contributed in other ways on the court, grabbing the third-most rebounds and forcing the eighth-most steals in the White Division. In addition to the impressive scoring numbers, Vignery averaged 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals.
Peterson and Morrison were the next two leading scorers and will have one more season at Platte County. In the postseason loss to Smithville, Peterson had a double-double and Morrison scored nine points and forced two steals.
Peterson ended his junior campaign scoring 12.3 points, grabbing 5.1 rebounds and dishing out 1.6 assists per game. Morrison averaged 8.3 points at a 41.4-percent rate.