Since going 2-2 in a 4-game stint in early December, the North Platte girls’ basketball team (10-2) has rattled off four consecutive victories by a winning margin of 30.5 points.
Since defeating Nodaway Valley (10-4) in the Twelve Courts of Christmas back on Dec. 19, the Lady Panthers have outscored their last three opponents 194-85. The first of those three victories was a 58-35 win over Tarkio with Fairfax (7-5) on Dec. 21.
Karli Guinn has been a big factor in the North Platte girls’ basketball team’s 4-game winning streak as she finished with 12 points on six-of-nine shooting in the Lady Panthers 78-25 win over Maysville on Jan. 4.
North Platte had two weeks off over Christmas Break before matching up with a district opponent, Maysville (0-8), on Jan. 4. The Lady Panthers were in control from the opening tip to the final buzzer – with all 13 players who stepped onto the court getting on the scoreboard – as they won 78-25.
North Platte started the contest by scoring the first 12 points and led 44-13 at the break. The Lady Panthers were able to cruise to the victory after taking a 71-16 advantage entering the final quarter.
North Platte shot 49 percent from the field and forced 41 Maysville turnovers, 29 of which were steals, as Jaylin Burgess and Brianna DeBord forced five steals each. Karli Guinn finished with 12 points on six-of-nine shooting, while Lindsay Ramsey had seven points, seven steals and four rebounds.
Kenedie Summers finished with eight points and five rebounds and Lonee French had nine points and five rebounds. Kaylee Griswold had eight points and Gracelynn Hoffman scored six points as they both knocked down a pair of treys.
In the Lady Panthers’ second game of the season in KCI Conference play, they beat Penney (0-12) 58-25 on Jan. 6. The Lady Hornets took a 6-0 lead to start the game, but North Platte fought back to take a narrow 11-10 margin at the end of the first quarter before outscoring Penney 17 to three in the next eight minutes.
The second quarter surge gave North Platte enough of a cushion to pull out its first conference win of the winter, not counting tournament play. The Lady Panthers took advantage of their 23 steals, scoring 30 points off turnovers.
Hoffman was on fire from downtown – making four of her nine attempts – to lead North Platte in scoring with 12 points, followed by Ramsey who had 10 points and six rebounds. Allyson Smith ended with four points and four steals, along with seven assists – which is a season-high for any Lady Panther – and DeBord scored seven points and forced four steals.
Ever since the 2013-14 season, North Platte has participated in the Lawson Invitational Tournament, but will compete in the Osborn Invitational Tournament this year. The Lady Panthers are the No. 1 seed and have favorable matchups to potentially reach the championship with the first round starting on Jan. 9 and the final games wrapping up on Jan. 13.