West Platte senior Avery Holmes knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers in the Lady Blue Jays’ 61-30 win over Kingsville in the 12 Courts of Christmas at Hy-Vee Arena on Dec. 21.
KANSAS CITY – It’s been a tough start early on this season for the West Platte girls’ basketball team (2-6) prior to the Twelve Courts of Christmas where the Lady Blue Jays dominated Kingsville (3-6) at Hy-Vee Arena on Dec. 21.
Entering the day with four of its five losses being by two or less points, West Platte bounced back in a big way. The Lady Blue Jays moved to 2-0 at Twelve Courts of Christmas with a 61-30 victory.
“It’s great when we can get everybody involved and these are the ones that feel good about where we get to work on some things,” West Platte head girls’ basketball coach McKenzie Reagan said. “We will always take these games for sure and it’s a good little momentum going into next week for us.”
West Platte relied heavily on its zone defense and press to cause turnovers and score quickly in transition. More than two minutes passed before the Lady Blue Jays ran their offense as Julia Pattison put them up 5-0 in the fast break alone.
“That’s been something that we’re trying to rely on defensively, with our press. We have the guards that do a great job of being aggressive, putting pressure on the ball and getting after it. That helps us get some offensive looks when we don’t have to run half-court offense and that’s always a great day when you get to do that and transition,” Reagan said.
Avery Holmes knocked down a triple on the first real offensive possession to move the score to 8-0 but Kingsville fought back within one point with right under two minutes left in the first quarter. Pattison and Blair McHenry both scored a layup in the final 40 seconds to extend the lead to 18-11 entering the second quarter.
West Platte’s offense clicked in the next eight minutes, starting with two more 3-pointers in the first 1:10 by Holmes who knocked down five shots from deep on the night. The Lady Blue Jays nearly matched their season total in the first half alone – which was 48 points in their first win of the winter against Kansas City Lutheran (1-4) – as they headed into the break leading 42-18.
“She (Avery) had a great night and sometimes our outside shooting is hit or miss against zone, but tonight was a good night. What we did a better job of tonight offensively was moving the ball against zone and we’ve struggled in the past in some games with that, so she was able to get a lot of open shots for that,” Reagan said.
Kingsville scored the first bucket of the second half and West Platte responded with 14 straight points for the next four minutes of play. The Lady Blue Jays led 58-22 after three quarters and cruised to the 31-point triumph.
West Platte was coming off a tough 36-35 loss to Bishop LeBlond (6-1) on Dec. 18. The Lady Blue Jays will head to St. Joseph to play in the Bishop LeBlond Holiday Tournament starting on Dec. 27.