In the fourth matchup between the North Platte (4-0) and West Platte (1-2) girls’ basketball teams in exactly 364 days, the Lady Panthers came out on top 40-35 in a first-round matchup in the KCI Conference Tournament on Dec. 5.
Nearly a year to the day after the seventh-seeded Lady Blue Jays upset the second-seeded Lady Panthers 44-42 in the opening round of last winter’s tournament on Dec. 6, 2021, North Platte was the No. 3 seed and West Platte was the No. 6 seed in this year’s early season tournament. The higher seed led for the entire contest and shut down the lower seed in the fourth quarter.
“I thought our defense was probably the best we’ve had it look all year,” North Platte head girls’ coach Ryan Davis said. “We had a couple of girls come in and really step up, especially on the defensive end.”
West Platte senior Colby Shepardson scored a bucket in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 34-29, but the Lady Blue Jays didn’t score another point until Sam Baker split a pair of free throws with 1:22 to play. Avery Holmes knocked down a shot from behind the arc 35 seconds later for West Platte’s second and final made field goal of the quarter.
North Platte scored the opening four points of the game and never let West Platte tie or take a lead. Julia Pattison scored a buzzer beating layup at the end of the first half to bring the margin to 27-21 and Baker sunk her only 3-pointer of the night at the third quarter buzzer, but the Lady Panthers didn’t let that phase them.
“Those can be huge momentum swings, so you have to treat that like any other basket. One thing I’m happy with our team is that we are mentally tough; we have girls who expect to win and they’re not going to get down when something negative happens,” Davis said.
Burgess had a game-high 12 points as the North Platte senior made the team’s only 3-pointer on the night. Lindsay Ramsey had 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocks and the Lady Panthers struggled at the charity stripe, only making seven of their 17 attempts.
For West Platte, Holmes scored 11 points – while making three of her eight shots from deep – and Pattison finished with 10 points, four assists and three rebounds. The Lady Blue Jays had 18 turnovers on the day, resulting in 13 transition and points off turnovers for the Lady Panthers.
West Platte junior Julia Pattison (#14) gets pressured by North Platte senior Jaylin Burgess (#10) while brining the ball down the court in the opening round of the KCI Tournament on Dec. 5.
Before the KCI matchup, North Platte was off to its sixth consecutive 3-0 start, with road wins over Kansas City Lutheran (0-1) on Nov. 29 and Lone Jack (2-2) on Dec. 1. In the opening road victory of the season, the Lady Panthers defeated the Lady Knights 62-33.
“We struggled from the field and from the line in this game, shooting just 26 of 72 from the field and five of 20 from the line, but we were able to find success on the boards. We out-rebounded KC Lutheran 42 to 37 and on defense, creating 27 steals in the process,” Davis said.
The contest was tight in the first half – with North Platte leading 16-13 after the first eight minutes and taking a 31-22 advantage into the locker room – before a massive 19 to seven scoring run in the third quarter helped the Lady Panthers come out on top. Karlee Guinn had 10 of her team-high 18 points at the break.
Kenedie Summers had nine points and seven rebounds on the night and Lonee French added six rebounds and three assists. Lindsay Ramsey finished with four points and six steals, while Jaylin Burgess had four points and five steals.
After that, the Lady Panthers defeated Lone Jack 54-38 when Guinn scored six points – along with Burgess and Brianna DeBord both knocking down treys – in the first quarter to put North Platte up early. Guinn finished with 13 points; Ramsey added nine points, eight rebounds and five steals; Burgess had 10 points, six rebounds, six steals, and three assists; and the squad forced 20 total steals on defense.
For the Lady Blue Jays, they were coming off a recent loss against North Andrew on Dec. 2 in their home opener. West Platte is hosting the KCI Tournament but was technically the visiting team in the matchup with North Platte, due to the higher seed being considered the home team.
Up next in the KCI Tournament, North Platte will take on No. 2 Lathrop (3-1) in the semifinals on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. and West Platte will take on No. 7 Plattsburg (0-3) on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. on the losing side of the bracket. The Lady Panthers will either play in the third-place game on Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. or in the championship game on Dec. 11 at 3:30 p.m. as the Lady Blue Jays can advance to the fifth-place game on Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. if they defeat the Lady Tigers.