Platte County R-3 has officially opened the new and impressive Pirate Fieldhouse, but is still looking for a home victory in it.
With the debut of the facility being for the Platte County girls (8-3), it was a tough outing for the home team on Jan. 3. Raytown (9-1) was the Lady Pirates’ opponent and routed Platte County 56-32.
The contest started in Platte County’s favor, which scored five straight points – on a banked 3-pointer by Lydia Doole and layup from Haley Barlow – after Raytown scored the first bucket and then went more than three minutes scoreless. Late in the opening quarter, the game was tied at 10 but the Lady Blue Jays responded with a 15-2 run from that point to the second quarter.
Raytown went into the locker room with a 32-15 margin before outscoring Platte County 12 to four in the third quarter en route to the 24-point victory. Joslynn Hupp led the way for the Lady Pirates when she went four-from-ten from the field, scoring 12 points, grabbing eight rebounds and forcing three steals.
Platte County senior Chandavian Bradley had back-to-back fast break highlight reel slam-dunks in the boys first game in the new Pirate Fieldhouse when the Pirates lost to Raytown 56-32 on Jan. 3.
The next day, the Platte County boys (3-7) had a chance to bring home the first Platte County victory at Pirate Fieldhouse against the same opponent, but also came up short, 66-43. Raytown (5-5) was on fire to start the game, knocking down one of its four first half 3-pointers in the first minute. Trevor Redding scored a layup shortly after before the Blue Jays rattled off 10 unanswered points forcing a Pirate timeout.
Platte County scored a bucket right out of the timeout, but Raytown scored the final nine points of the quarter and led 23-4. Platte County had a more impressive outing to start the second quarter – with a Jaden Peterson layup and Connor Currence trey in the first 2:09 – but the Blue Jays closed out the half on a 17-2 run to lead 42-11 at the break.
After a corner 3-pointer by Parker Amos, fast break layup by Judah Vignery and a free throw by Kai Oates, Platte County scored the first six points in the second half and the deficit was cut to 42-17. Raytown pushed the lead to 53-25 before Chandavian Bradley had one of his three slam dunks with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.
Vignery scored the first two Platte County buckets in the fourth quarter and Bradley had two straight highlight reel fast break dunks with under four minutes left but that was too little, too late.
Afterwards, the Pirates fell 66-51 to Belton (7-6) on Jan. 6. The Lady Pirates narrowly defeated Belton (2-9) in overtime, 31-29, thanks to Doole’s nine points and Lauren Stone’s eight points on Jan. 5.
The Pirates will have another chance to earn their first win in the new gym against Grain Valley (6-4) on Jan. 17. The Lady Pirates won’t get another shot in Pirate Fieldhouse until a matchup with Kearney (2-6) on Jan. 26 as Platte County will have four straight road games, starting with a contest against St. Joseph’s Central (6-5) on Jan. 12.