Platte County sees late lead slip away in 2OT loss to conference frontrunner

No one moment stood out as the obvious deciding factor.

Instead, a collection of Platte County’s missed opportunities compounded in a 62-59 victory for Grain Valley in double overtime on Tuesday at Pirate Fieldhouse. The Eagles overcame a nine-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to take the lead in late regulation but had to force a late turnover to extend the game and then split a pair of free throws in the closing seconds of the first extra session to force a second.

Platte County senior guard Lauren Stone even took a potential game-tying 3-pointer on a decent look from the right corner as time expired, but the shot came up short.

“I told (the players): you can’t pinpoint that to one possession or one thing,” Platte County coach Eric Mitchell said. “It was a combination, a series of things. I told the girls in the locker room we just didn’t exectue well enough late in the game. That’s on all of us — coaches, players, everybody. We’ve got to get better.”

Platte County (13-6) entered with a chance to stake a solid claim to a potential share of the Suburban Conference White Division title and ended up in solid position to avenge a loss from the previous meeting between the top two contenders.

Instead, a turnover-plagued portion of the fourth quarter allowed Grain Valley to storm back and take a 51-49 lead late in regulation. The Eagles then held possession and ran clock while Platte County gave up fouls in an effort to put them at the free throw line.

Eventually, Grain Valley called a timeout to draw up an inbounds play from under the basket. The pass out of the stoppage went deep and attempted to go over the defense, but Platte County junior Rylee Carr hawked the ball down out of the air and went in for a tying layup with just 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

“Our effort was good tonight,” Mitchell said. “I’m not concerned about our effort at all. We’ve got to get a little better on the execution side. You’re playing a team that’s leading the conference with one loss. That’s a quality ball club. You can’t make a lot of mistakes and expect to walk away with a win.”

In a bizarre closing sequence, Platte County then forced a turnover and held possession with a chance to win, but after a timeout with 6.4 seconds left, Grain Valley grabbed a steal but couldn’t get a shot off from near midcourt before time ran out.

The first overtime featured a pair of long possessions, but Grain Valley induced a jump ball on the rebound off of a missed shot to immediately take the ball back. The Eagles eventually drew a foul and split two free throws to take the lead back, and sophomore guard Madison Rust, who scored a game-high 22 points, used a steal and coast-to-coast layup to extend the advantage to 54-51 with 1:06 on the clock.

Platte County’s final lead came during the next minutes. The Pirates drew within one on an inside basket from senior center Addy Schlake, who scored a team-high 18 points, and a jump ball returned possession. Stone, who matched Carr with 17 points, missed a 3-pointer, but Schlake grabbed two offensive rebounds and made a contested putback on the second.

Platte County led 55-54 with 10.3 seconds on the clock but looked disorganized while going back on defense.

“That’s a learning experience,” Mitchell said. “That’s just something that hopefully if we’re ever in that situation again they’ll understand we’ve got to play horn to horn, whistle to whistle, and the game’s not over.”

Grain Valley took advantage, and junior forward Aspen Reed drew a foul on a layup attempt in transition. She shot two free throws with 3.2 seconds left, making the first before a lane violation nullified the second.

Platte County senior point guard Haley Barlow attempted a desperation heave early and from beyond half court, and the game went to a second overtime with the score tied 55-55.

“We’ve got to get in more of those situations in practice and work on executing and being cleaner in those situations,” Mitchell said. “Hopefully, when we get in those again, we’ll come out on the other side.”

Grain Valley shot 7 of 10 on free throws in the second overtime, taking advantage of a lengthy amount of time in the bonus.

Platte County took the ball back down three points in the closing seconds and took a timeout with 4.7 seconds left. The designed play led to Stone taking a somewhat rushed 3-pointer that came up short. She finished 5 of 17 shooting from beyond the arc.

Schlake, Stone and Carr accounted for all but seven of Platte County’s points. Grain Valley didn’t hit a shot from the floor in the second overtime.

“Grain Valley had one foul into the second overtime, and it’s really hard when you’re sitting at five because any foul we have, they shoot. They can still foul, and you’re not shooting,” Mitchell said. “They can get some extra possessions that way. We had to foul some to get back into the game in the fourth quarter, and that’s kind of what happened.”

After Grain Valley jumped to a 5-0 lead, Platte County followed a recently familiar pattern to an early lead. Schlake, who added 10 rebounds to post her sixth double-double this season, scored the first four points for the Pirates, and Barlow’s two free throws at the 3:54 mark gave them a first lead at 6-5.

The run eventually hit 11-0, including a nifty underneath layup for Carr that led to a three-point play.

Schlake scored seven in the first quarter, and Grain Valley didn’t draw back level until 16-16 early in the second quarter. Stone answered with back-to-back 3s for her first of nine points in the first half.

“There was good stuff there,” Mitchell said. “If (Lauren) has a good look, she needs to take that. If she’s willing to put herself out there, that’s what we are going to be.”

Grain Valley came back with a 7-0 run, starting with a four-point possession. Izabella Bollinger scored inside, and Rust rebounded and putback the missed free throw on a a three-point play opportunity, and Bollinger’s 3-pointer moments later put the Eagles up 23-22.

Stone’s third 3-pointer gave Platte County a 25-23 lead, but Grain Valley went into the break with a 28-27 advantage thanks to second-chance points and missed from throws from the Pirates, who were 2 of 6 at the line in the second quarter. The Eagles finished with 16 offensive rebounds to help make up for some overall ineffectiveness from the press defense that typically negatively speeds up opponents.

Schlake missed two free throws with 16.7 seconds left but rebounded the second for Platte County. That led to a missed 3 for Pirates junior reserve guard Addie Ayers, who finished with one point.

Grain Valley senior Kamryn Kelly missed a three of her own at the other end to keep Platte County’s deficit at one going to the break.

“We can’t give a team like Grain Valley extra possessions because of what we’re doing,” Mitchell said. “They like to speed you up and do a good job of that. We were trying to focus on taking care of the ball, and that’s an area where we have to work and get better at. We did a great job in the first quarter holding them off the glass, and then second quarter, we did not.

“That’s the name of the game for them, giving them second-chance points. You can’t give good basketball teams multiple opportunities to score, and they did a times tonight.”

Platte County’s defense held Grain Valley to just nine points in the third quarter. The Pirates were able to briefly take two leads early in the second half, most noticeably when Barlow scored a layup for the last of her two points and Carr immediately stole the inbounds pass and drew a foul, splitting two free throws with 6:52 on the clock.

Stone’s fourth 3 put Platte County up 38-37 and led to nine unanswered points for the Pirates to close the third quarter. The key sequence came on a press break that led to a layup for Schlake and then a Grain Valley turnover that allowed senior forward Haley Schank to hit an uncontested layup for her only two points.

Schank’s layup ended up being the last points for Platte County that didn’t come from Schlake, Stone or Carr the rest of the way, and the Pirates missed two point-blank shots at the third quarter buzzer that could have extended the lead. However, the Pirates went up 46-37 on the opening possession of the fourth on a bucket from Schlake.

“We left some points on the board,” Mitchell said.

However, Grain Valley went on a tying 9-0 run from there, forcing Platte County into a large portion of 19 turnovers during the prolonged scoring drought. The Pirates’ final lead of regulation came after the third 3 from Eagles senior Pyper Hartigan with Stone hitting her fifth at the 2:35 mark of the fourth quarter.

Hartigan hit her fourth 3 moments later to draw Grain Valley back level at 49-49.

“We had a couple breakdowns, but I thought we played pretty good on the defensive end,” Mitchell said. “There’s stuff we have to clean up, but I thought we were in some positions that were good spots. They grind on you. They’ll run that offense for 30 seconds and make you play defense for 30 seconds. That’s tough.”

Grain Valley (20-1) won the first meeting between the two teams 60-48 back in early January with Platte County ending a layoff of more than two weeks due to the holiday break and weather postponements. The Pirates were much more consistent in the rematch but ended up with another loss against a tough opponent with beneficial lessons but especially disappointing consequences in these circumstances.

Platte County improved to 8-2 in White Division play two days later with a 52-17 win over Truman to remain solidly in second place.

However, Grain Valley remains unbeaten and would need to take two unlikely losses in the final two weeks of the regular season to give Platte County an opening to earn a share of the conference title. The Pirates have four games left in the regular season — all as favorites in White Division matchups with Belton, Raytown, William Chrisman and Ruskin.

Platte County 52, Truman 17

Carr outscored the Patriots by herself and finished with game-highs of 18 points, six rebounds and seven steals in Thursday’s victory at Pirate Fieldhouse.

All 10 players to see the floor scored for Platte County in a dominant effort that ended with a 30-point running clock in the fourth quarter. Stone hit all three of the Pirates’ 3s to account for her nine points, while Schlake added eight points and five rebounds to go with three steals.

Platte County shot 42.6% from the floor overall with Schank (four), Barlow (three) and Ayers (two) also in the scoring column. The Pirates also received production off the bench from freshman guard Kinleigh Howren (two), sophomore forward Amani Harlin (two) and juniors Emily Huehl (two) and Malin Cole (two).