From the opening tip to the final buzzer of the season opener, the North Platte girls’ basketball team (1-0) was unstoppable en route to an 80-25 triumph over Midway (0-1) on Nov. 22.
The Lady Panthers set the tone for the contest – and the season – by scoring 20 of the first 21 points of the night. Senior forward Karli Guinn scored the opening four shots of the game, along with a free throw, to help North Platte take an early 9-1 lead.
“She’s pretty good and tough to handle, I’m really happy with her to have a good start to the season,” North Platte head coach Ryan Davis said. “She’s been working extremely hard this offseason and it showed tonight.”
Lady Panther 6-foot-4 post Karli Guinn scored 18 first half points in the Lady Panthers 80-25 season opening win over Midway on Nov. 22.
Guinn scored all 18 of her points in the opening half as she made eight of her 11 shot attempts on the night, along with eight rebounds in 12 minutes of action. The Lady Panther defense only allowed three made shots in the first quarter, taking a 33-8 lead entering the second quarter.
Midway only put two more made field goals – and seven more points on the scoreboard – before the first half ended as North Platte poured out three shots from behind the arc and scored 57 points before heading into the locker room. Camryn Kersten knocked down an elbow jumper with right over a minute left in the half and Gracelynn Hoffman banked in a deep 3-pointer at the top of the key at the buzzer.
“The first game of the year, you have your hopes up and think this could be how the season goes, and tonight it went our way. We had some girls step up and knock down some shots, we played hard and had some of our younger girls get some good quality time,” Davis said.
The Lady Panthers switched up the defense in the second half and were able to extend the bench, giving some underclassmen exposure to the varsity level. North Platte finished the game with only six turnovers, while forcing 31 Midway turnovers and holding the Vikings to only nine made shots on 40 field goal attempts.
“We played a little two-three zone in the second half, which is something we might have to do at times with matchups we have. We hit a bunch of shots there in the first half, but we have to make sure that we can focus throughout an entire game,” Davis said.
The Lady Panthers made seven of their 21 shots from behind the arc, led by sophomore Brianna DeBord who made four of her eight shots from deep to give her 16 points. Kersten shot an efficient six of seven from the field to end with 12 points and five rebounds.
Kenedie Summers finished with six points, six rebounds and three assists, while Jaylin Burgess had five points, six steals and four assists. North Platte will hit the road and take on Lone Jack (0-1) on Dec. 1.