In a clash between two of the best girls’ basketball teams in all of Class 2, Bishop LeBlond (19-0) scored six unanswered points in the final 42 seconds to take down North Platte (18-4) on Feb. 1.
North Platte’s Kenedie Summers made a free throw with 2:37 to play to tie the game at 42 and the game went scoreless for nearly two minutes. LeBlond junior Kaleigh Ziesel hit the go-ahead bucket from the right baseline with 42 seconds left, then the Lady Eagles immediately stole the ball in the backcourt.
“We made a couple of mistakes late, but we also made mistakes throughout the game too and we had players play awesome throughout the game, so that’s part of it,” North Platte girls’ basketball coach Ryan Davis said. “Obviously, it sticks out at the end of the game when it happens like that.”
North Platte junior Kenedie Summers (#13) goes up for a contested layup over Bishop LeBlond senior Emma Raines (#12) in the Lady Panthers 48-42 loss on Feb. 1.
After milking some time off the clock, Kyla Conrad found her way unguarded under the basket and added to the lead with a layup with 26 seconds left. North Platte called a timeout with 12 seconds left, but turned the ball over, and LeBlond pushed the lead to 48-42 with some free throws, which ended up being the final score as Kaylee Griswold’s shot at the buzzer was no good.
“We have a lot of veteran kids who’ve been in close games, but we were playing the number one team so it’s a different pressure. We’re going to need that going forward with confidence in the districts,” Davis said.
LeBlond is the only Class 2 girls’ team that is undefeated, being the undisputed No. 1 team in the state. The Lady Eagles pulled away late in the opening frame – that saw five lead changes – and scored the final eight points to go up 15-8.
“We had a nice run to start the second quarter and got the lead. We were able to get inside and Karli (Guinn) was able to finish some shots, but I honestly don’t think we played any worse in the first quarter than we did the second and third, we just got some shots to go and they didn’t, so that’s just basketball sometimes,” Davis said.
Lonee French started an 8-0 Lady Panther run splitting a pair of shots at the charity stripe in the first 30 seconds of the second quarter. That was followed by two straight buckets by Lindsay Ramsey and three points by Karli Guinn to put North Platte back up 16-15 with 5:09 on the clock.
Guinn scored a layup and added another point from the free throw line. There were two ties and four more lead changes until the halftime buzzer struck as a late bucket by the Lady Eagles put them up 23-22 at the break.
“I told them at the end of the first quarter that we played better than score. I thought we played just fine and then they hit some shots and just kind of stuck with it and they did that, and we made a run,” Davis said.
Ramsey and Summers combined for 11 of the Lady Panthers’ 13 third quarter points, but LeBlond guard Tatum Studer made a pair of free throws in the final minute to tie the game at 35. Studer scored the opening bucket of the fourth quarter – followed by two straight putback layups by Guinn – and Ramsey put North Platte up 41-39 with 3:07 to play after a fast break layup by LeBlond.
The Lady Eagles responded and retook a 42-41 lead on the ensuing possession with a triple by Kyla Conard. Summers tied the game up at the charity stripe, and the rest is history.
“We expect to beat everybody, but they’re a good team and we have other good teams that we’re going to play. We have a veteran group, it’s a bunch of great kids and it’s a tough group so they’re going to be fine, though. We’ll practice tomorrow, and we’ll be ready for the huge games next week, and then the week after that,” Davis said after the loss.
Ramsey was the Lady Panthers’ leading scorer – ending with 15 points, 10 rebounds and four steals – and Guinn had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. North Platte struggled from deep, only converting on one-of-15, but outrebounded LeBlond 43 to 20 and outscored the Lady Eagles 21-7 in transition.
North Platte entered the game with an undefeated home record – negating tournament games – with its prior triumph being by a score of 65-14 against DeKalb (6-15) on Jan. 30. The Lady Panthers set the tone with a 20-0 first quarter, while forcing 22 steals and forcing 32 turnovers which led to 39 transition points.
The Lady Panthers bounced back from the loss to LeBlond with a 59-29 win over Lawson (13-10) to move to 3-1 in KCI Conference play on Feb. 3. North Platte will have two more games in the regular season – both of which are against KCI opponents who are undefeated in conference play – when the Lady Panthers head to East Buchanan (17-3) on Feb. 10 and host West Platte (13-6) on Feb. 14.