DEARBORN – Ahead of the early season KCI Conference Basketball Tournament, North Platte has yet to lose a game – both boys and girls.
Since the North Platte football team made it to the Class 1 State Championship, the North Platte boys’ basketball team had to play two games without some of its players, winning both. The Panthers postponed a game against Lone Jack for a later date, while the Lady Panthers took care of business to start the year off 3-0.
North Platte’s first two wins were more one-sided than the 56-50 win over Lone Jack (4-1) on Nov. 30. The Lady Panthers have now defeated the Lady Mules in each of the last 13 meetings, dating back to 2009.
It was a tight game in the first half and Lone Jack led by six down the stretch of the fourth quarter. Camryn Kersten scored eight of her 12 points in the final eight minutes to lead the comeback.
With the Lady Mules up by one point with two minutes left, Kenedie Summers scored crucial points on back-to-back possessions to put the Lady Panthers on top. The senior guard converted an and-one on the second one, and North Platte was able to hold onto that lead the rest of the way.
The ‘free throws win ball games’ mantra was evident on the night where North Platte shot 14-of-17 from the charity stripe. Summers led the way with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists; Lindsay Ramsey ended with 12 points and four steals.
Ramsey and MaKenna Cartwright both scored 10 points in the Lady Panthers’ dominant 42-11 home opening win over Kansas City Lutheran (0-1) on Nov. 28. That’s the least amount of points the North Platte defense has allowed since Dec. 14, 2020.
The Lady Panthers kicked the year off with a dominant 71-35 road win over Midway (0-1) on Nov. 21. Ramsey had 17 points and Marissa Wortham ended with 10 points, while Kate Wolf, Emily Goodlet and Annabell DeBord all recorded their first career varsity points.
On that same day, the North Platte boys came out with a 66-44 victory despite being short-handed. Braydn Kemper officially moved to 3-0 all-time as a head coach in season openers with the triumph.
North Platte outscored Midway in all four quarters, with six separate players knocking down a 3-pointer. Brenden Matt opened up his sophomore season with a 16-point outing, along with grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists.
Hunter Palmer made five of his seven shot attempts, ending the opener with 11 points and three steals and his younger brother, Haiden Palmer, made all three of his shots – along with one 3-pointer – to end with seven points. Creek Johnson added 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Hudson Buckler scored seven points.
North Platte had a similar result in its home opener, a 67-47 win over Kansas City Lutheran (0-1). This was the first time that the Panthers won back-to-back games by 20 or more points since 2016.
The Panthers trailed 14-12 after one quarter and went into the locker room down 24-23 against the Knights but had a huge third quarter. North Platte outscored Lutheran 22 to five in the period to cruise to its second straight victory.
Matt led his team in scoring once again, dropping 19 points on 4-of-11 shooting from downtown along with five assists and two steals. Johnson recorded a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 19 rebounds.
Noah Heckman rose to the occasion in the first home game of his senior season, sinking two 3-pointers en route to ending with 11 points, two assists and two steals. Hunter Palmer recorded nine points, nine rebounds and two steals.
In those two games without some key players, Coen Rainsbarger and Drake Keraus saw some time as well. Rainsbarger and Keraus both had eight total points in those contests, helping the Panthers start 2-0 for the second consecutive winter.
North Platte will travel to Penney High School this week for the KCI Conference Tournament. The Lady Panthers are the No. 2 seed and the Panthers are the No. 4 seed.