KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Platte County was clicking on all cylinders to begin its Suburban Conference Blue Division matchup at Winnetonka High School on Monday, Jan. 29.
The Pirates seemingly couldn’t miss in the game’s opening quarter and the intensity and momentum stayed on the Pirates side the rest of the night for a 74-18 win against the host Griffins.
“We came out hot,” Pirates coach Chris Stubbs said. “The goal tonight was to play, not just 16 minutes, but 32 minutes of really high intense basketball. That’s what we did.”
BRYCE MERENESS/Citizen photo
Platte County guard Hannah Valentine grabs an errant pass in the Pirates 74-18 win against Winnetonka on Monday, Jan. 29 at Winnetonka High School in Kansas City, Mo. The Pirates played stingy defense the whole game, allowing just five field goals and forcing 16 turnovers in the game.
The Pirates used a 2-2-1 trap full-court pressure defense which flustered the Winnetonka ball handlers. The turnovers turned into transition layups. When the Pirates were forced into a planned offensive set, they proved to be just as dangerous at hitting jump shots, or when the Griffins adjusted to limit the outside shots, passes into to the post.
“We had to make sure we still played our game, our tempo,” Stubbs said. “We were trying to push the tempo.”
The Pirates hit 12 field goals in the first quarter, including four 3-pointers, to jump to a 29-6 advantage after 8 minutes. Stubbs eventually called off the full-court pressure but the Pirates still played a high level defense, allowing just five field goals for Winnetonka in the game.
“We hit a lot of shots tonight,” Stubbs said. “We had a lot of open looks, we shared the ball well. It might be the best 32 minutes we have played all season.”
Rockey Chambers led all scorers with a game-high 14 points, including three 3-pointers. Hannah Valentine added 13 and Jaycie Stubbs scored 11 in the win. All but one player who saw game action cracked into the score column. Lauren Walker scored seven, Shayla Kohler added six, Meghan Amos and Mishell Simms each added five. Other scorers included Stephanie Carroll, three, and Taylor Farr with two points.
The 74 points in a season-high for the Pirates whose previous best was 67 in a win against Ruskin in December. Platte County has also not scored more than 70 points since another win against Ruskin in December of 2016.
Next up for Platte County is a visit from Raytown South on Thursday, Feb. 1. The Cardinals are currently winless on the season.
Platte County 57, Grandview 45
The Pirates offense got off to a running start on Thursday, Jan. 25 at Grandview High School.
Platte County put up 20 first-quarter points to take control, which lasted the remainder of the game.
The Bulldogs made a run in the fourth quarter after the Pirates’ starters had ceded to the backups.
Valentine finished with a game-high 22 points. Carroll finished with eight and Barmann and Walker each chipped in seven to round out the biggest contributions.