INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Rylee Carr’s mercurial temperament can serve as both her biggest restriction and asset.
Platte County senior guard Rylee Carr goes up for a shot against Truman on Thursday night at Truman High School in Independence.
Both were on display for Platte County’s star senior guard in what ended up an encouraging 46-39 road win Thursday night at Truman High School. She finished the game against Truman with four fouls, mostly due to frustrations shown during an increasingly stagnating third quarter, and a season-high 25 points — the last six came unanswered in what became the closeout stretch for the Pirates.
Platte County has now won six of the past 10 overall with Carr scoring in double figures in each of those games, having gone for exactly 20 on two other occasions.
“Rylee, that’s just kind of who she is and how she plays,” Platte County coach Eric Mitchell said. “We relied on her a lot to night, and she stepped up in a big way for us, hit some big shots for us. Just keeping her in the game was the big thing and making sure she stayed in the game was key for us.”
Platte County (8-12, 7-3 Suburban Conference White Division) went into the fourth quarter down by four points, and neither team scored for more than 3 minutes while combining for six fouls. After the sixth, the Pirates closed within 37-36 when junior forward Macy Doll split a pair of free throws then banked home a short shot off of a turnover.
Truman didn’t have a field goal in the fourth quarter, and Carr’s run of six straight points started with a tough one-handed offensive rebound of senior guard Addie Ayers’ missed 3-pointer and a putback.
Platte County freshman guard Clare Stephens defends against Truman on thursday night at Truman High School in Independence.
Platte County led 42-38 with 1:24 left in regulation, and freshman point guard Clare Stephens (five points), sophomore forward Madeline Arthurs (five points) and Ayers combined to go 4 of 6 on three trips to the free throw line in the remainder to close out the win.
“That’s the million dollar question if we can figure that out, and that’s been our challenge: can we as a defense lock in for four quarters of that,” Mitchell said. “We do it at times, but we had a really bad second quarter tonight and let them back in the game. It’s something we’ve got to continue to practice and hammer on.”
Carr scored seven in the first quarter and pushed Platte County to a 12-3 lead early in the second quarter. Ayers, who finished with seven points but didn’t hit a 3-pointer for a second straight game, then hit a couple of difficult mid-range jump shots as the Pirates’ lead slowly dwindled away.
Truman went into halftime up 21-20, and the third quarter went back and forth.
Stephens hit a 3-pointer in a big spot to break a 28-28 tie, and Arthurs’ second field goal of the second half gave Platte County a 33-31 advantage. However, the Patriots answered with back-to-back 3s, the second coming from freshman Tatiana Torres-Wentworth from deep on the right wing as the third quarter buzzer sounded.
Platte County sophomore Madeline Arthurs stands at the free throw line during the fourth quarter against Truman on Thursday night at Truman High School in Independence.
Carr picked up her second and third fouls during the closing stretch of the third quarter — one for running through a defensive player off the ball for one of her 11 turnovers. Her fourth came in the scoreless opening to the fourth quarter and created a potential issue for Platte County, which played without sophomore guard Millie Parker and used a rotation of just seven players. Doll matched Carr for the Pirates’ team-high with nine rebounds but scored her only three points to jumpstart the strong finish.
“In the fourth, I think I called a timeout because I didn’t like our body language at all,” Mitchell said. “I challenged the girls to have the belief that we could still win this basketball game. They did a better job from that point on and had the mindset for a comeback.”
With Parker away on vacation, Platte County sophomore Rose Forbes (one point) and freshman Emma Schank saw increased minutes at the guard spot, but Carr’s 25 points came in a big spot and were the most for her in a single game since putting up 32 in a Class 5 District 8 win over East (Kansas City) in 2024. She made sure the Pirates survived, preserving a chance to finish the regular season at .500.
Platte County senior guard Addie Ayers takes a 3-pointer against Truman on Thursday night at Truman High School in Indepedence.
Platte County hosts Belton (5-16) on Tuesday before road games at Raytown (5-14) and William Chrisman (9-13) and then a finale against Fort Osage (10-11), which won the first meeting between the two teams 50-45 in early February. The Pirates won the first conference matchup with the other three teams left on the schedule.
After that, Platte County likely draws a top three seed in what appears to be a wide open Class 5 District 8 bracket.
“Our consistency still isn’t where I’d like it to be, but we’re working on getting there,” Mitchell said.
Grain Valley 65, Platte County 40
The Pirates entered the Truman game off of a second double-digit loss to the White Division leaders Tuesday in Grain Valley.
After going scoreless in the previous matchup between the two teams, Carr scored 19, but Platte County went just 1-for-13 on 3-pointers and faded in the second quarter after a strong start. Parker hit the lone shot from beyond the arc and finished with nine points while Ayers added eight. The other five players to record a state combined for four points — two each for Arthurs and Forbes.
“If we could have eliminated the second quarter, we played OK in the other three quarters,” Mitchell said. “We just had a really, really bad second quarter that kind of magnified our entire night.”
