DEARBORN – Since finishing 2023 with five straight victories, the North Platte girls’ basketball team (11-1) kicked off 2024 with two more tallies in the win column in a comfortable manner.
North Platte sophomore Allyson Smith (#22) helped lead the Lady Panthers’ to a pair of one-sided victories since the New Year to win seven straight.
North Platte has now bested its last seven opponents, three shy of 10 in a row which was accomplished last season. For the third time since Ryan Davis retook the head coaching role just one year ago, the Lady Panthers surpassed 80 points in a 53-point route over Maysville (1-9).
North Platte had two weeks off and showed how well rested it was, erupting for 84 points on Jan. 3. While the score makes the game look one-sided, it wasn’t always that way.
Maysville scored the first six points of the game and led 13-12 but North Platte hit a shot at the buzzer to ignite a 52-2 run, including 28 straight. The Lady Panthers shot 5-of-27 from the field in the first eight minutes, following that up with an efficient 63 percent shooting in the second quarter.
North Platte also shot 57 percent from the field in the third quarter and 67 percent from the fourth quarter. The road team ended up having 12 different girls score, 11 of which who scored four points or more.
Lindsay Ramsey led the way with 15 points, nine rebounds and five steals, followed by Brianna DeBord with 12 points. Kenedie Summers and Camryn Kersten both scored nine points – with Summers adding seven boards and four steals – while Kate Wolf shot 4-of-6 from the field for eight points and five rebounds and Makenna Cartwright had six points and four rebounds.
Afterwards, North Platte matched up with Mid-Buchanan (5-6) and got revenge from its only loss of the season. The Lady Panthers lost by 11 in the KCI Conference Tournament early on but came out on top by 32 in the regular season matchup on Jan. 5.
Mid-Buchanan was missing two starters and that was evident by the 55-23 score. North Platte had another slow start, only making one of its first 12 shots but a buzzer-beating triple by Summers made the score 8-4 heading into the second quarter.
The Lady Panthers outscored the Lady Dragons 24-1 in the second quarter and walked away with a big conference win. North Platte ended up shooting 40 percent from the field and forcing 31 Mid-Buchanan turnovers, including 16 steals.
Summers led her team in multiple categories, finishing with 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep, six rebounds and four assists. DeBord had 14 points and six rebounds and Cartwright ended with 10 points; Ramsey and Kersten both forced four steals each.
North Platte is the reigning champions in the WildCards’ Invitational Tournament and is set to play Union Star (0-10) first. The tournament changed due to weather and the first game is scheduled for Jan. 10.