The North Platte girls’ basketball team (12-3) relied on hot shooting to take down KCI rival West Platte (6-6) in the 28th Annual Lawson Invitational Tournament Semifinals when the Lady Panthers knocked down seven 3-pointers to come out on top 58-39 on Jan. 13.
Jaylin Burgess sunk a shot from downtown in the opening minute to set the tone for the second matchup between the conference rivals after West Platte defeated North Platte 44-42 in the opening round of KCI to snap a 7-game losing streak to the Panthers on Dec. 6. Gracie Ramsey beat the first quarter buzzer to give the Panthers a 12-3 margin and Gracelynn Hoffman sunk a pair of treys in the second quarter, and the Blue Jays trailed 29-14 at the break.
“Here in the last week or so they have been shooting the ball a lot better,” West Platte head coach John Kruse said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of taking it away, but at the same time they did hit some contested ones and we just didn’t shoot the ball that well, so it was a bad combination.”
North Platte continued to score efficiently in the second half, extending its lead to 47-26 with one quarter to go. The victory gave the Panthers their seventh straight win with them beating their opponents by an average of 28 points per game.
“We have some pretty good players, and we have a lot of players that we can mix in if someone is having an off night,” North Platte head coach Karl Matt said. “If we keep getting better defensively and handle the ball better like we have been doing, this team has a chance to do some pretty nice things.”
West Platte was short-handed heading into the game without Madisyn Matlick, who was out with an injury, and Hailey Shepardson who was sick. Avery Holmes stepped up for the Blue Jays when the sophomore converted on three of the team’s four made shots from downtown to give her 10 points in the game.
“I’m proud with the way some of the younger girls came out and played tonight. They all came in and played well and gave us energy and I had told them that we were going to need them in this tournament, so be ready,” Kruse said.
Julia Pattison led West Platte with 11 points and Emma Downing scored 10 points. For North Platte, Hoffman knocked down four treys to give her 12 points and Josie Roach led all scorers with 22 points.
North Platte junior Gracelynn Hoffman (#23) knocked down four of the Panthers seven 3-pointers in the 58-39 win over West Platte on Jan. 13.
The victory advanced North Platte to the championship game where it ran into a tough Class 4 opponent in Chillicothe (12-1) and the Panthers fell 46-18 to finish in second place on Jan. 14. The short-handed Blue Jays also came up short against Lawson (7-9) in the third-place game when West Platte lost 40-23 on Jan. 14.
West Platte won a one-sided affair in the opening round when the Blue Jays bested Gallatin (0-12) 49-16, while the Panthers dominated Richmond (6-8) in the same round, winning 62-29 on Jan. 11. After North Platte led 23-22 at the break, its defense suffocated the Spartans’ offense, only allowing seven second half points.
Richmond only scored two field goals in the final 16 minutes – neither of which was in the fourth quarter as the Panthers only allowed one Spartan point in the period. Burgess led all scorers with 16 points, followed by Roach with 15 points and Hoffman with nine points as the Panther trio each knocked down three shots from downtown.
“We have some kids that have been shooting the ball a lot better and made nine 3-pointers against Richmond. It’s just a matter of each night you have to get out and try to get better,” Matt said.
Roach and Burgess were both selected to the all-tournament team when the duo knocked down a combined ten 3-pointers over the course of the tournament. Roach scored seven of the Panthers’ 18 points against Chillicothe and averaged 14.6 points in the three games, while Burgess scored 13 points against West Platte and 16 points against Richmond.