Platte County’s lineup suddenly looked a lot different in the Pirates’ first Suburban Conference Blue Division victory.
With one starter gone and another out sick, sophomore guard Taylor Farr and junior forward Lauren Walker started in a 59-26 blowout of Winnetonka on Monday, Jan. 30 at Platte County High School. Platte County opened 0-2 in league play before the big win in the first game since high-scoring junior guard Rockey Chambers left the team for undisclosed reasons.
In addition, Platte County coach Chris Stubbs went without senior forward Liz Peterson, who missed the game due to illness.
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
Platte County guard Hannah Valentine (10) goes in for a layup against Winnetonka on Monday, Jan. 30 at Platte County High School.
“We didn’t feel like we played really well against the last two games against Kearney and Grandview,” Stubbs said. “The girls were pretty motivated. We tried kind of a different rotation since we’ve lost a couple players. We’re just trying to get more girls on the floor and maybe push the ball a bit more up tempo. That’s the way they like to play, and I think it worked for them.”
Walker started up front with senior forward Amy Lett, while Farr, sophomore Jaycie Stubbs and senior Ava White made up the back court. Only Jaycie Stubbs and White have been mainstays in the starting lineup while Lett, Farr, Walker and Peterson have rotated — especially during the recent stretch of games.
Jaycie Stubbs, who finished with 10 points, kickstarted a 13-0 run in the first quarter with an outlet pass to sophomore Janessa Barmann, who converted a layup. Less than a minute later, White made a pass around the Griffins defense to connect with sophomore Hannah Valentine for a bucket.
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
The Platte County bench reacts late in a win over Winnetonka on Monday, Jan. 30 at Platte County High School.
The first of two 3-pointers for Jaycie Stubbs made it 13-3 Platte County, which led 39-11 at halftime. The Pirates had lost three of four coming into the matchup with Winnetonka — a stretch that included conference losses to Kearney and Grandview when they failed to score more than 36 in either game.
“We played together well, and we’re trying some new things and they worked for us,” said White, who finished with eight points and five assists. “We have had trouble scoring and getting a tempo up, but today, we ran the ball and we just had a lot of fun.”
Walker led Platte County with 11 points in what ended up a balanced effort.
Behind the two double-digit scorers, Barmann had nine points followed by White’s eight. Stephanie Carroll added seven with a pair of 3-pointers, helping the Pirates’ bench account for 22 points.
Carroll’s second 3-pointer pushed Platte County’s lead to 47-14 in the third quarter, and Winnetonka, which made just six shots from the floor, faced a running clock from there.
With eight games remaining in the regular season, Platte County improved to 9-8 overall. All eight games left are in Blue Division play, starting with a road date at Raytown South on Thursday, Feb. 2 and continuing at home against Belton on Friday, Feb. 3.
This leaves plenty of time to make a move in the conference standings.
“We’re hoping to go 8-0 the rest of the season so hopefully that’s what we get,” White said. “If we keep playing like this I’m sure we can do that.”
Grandview 38, Platte County 36
Nataya Partee hit a shot in the lane with 4 seconds to go to hand the Pirates a frustrating Blue Division loss Thursday, Jan. 26 in Grandview, Mo.
Platte County trailed the whole way until taking its first lead late in the third quarter. Going into the fourth up 27-26, the Pirates never built on the momentum but tied the score with 27.2 seconds remaining.
Grandview tried to hold for the final shot with Partee, a 6-foot-2 senior post, delivering the winning shot.
Platte County shot just 14-for-57 from the floor and attempted just 10 free throws, making five. The Pirates didn’t have a double-digit scorer with Jaycie Stubbs hitting a pair of 3s to finish with eight points, while Farr added six.
Barmann, White and Walker all finished with five apiece in the loss. Walker added a team-high 10 rebounds for Platte County.