Platte County’s youthful roster continued to show the progress needed to make this season a success during the past week.
Last Saturday, freshman guard Lydia Doole sparked a 50-42 comeback win at Lee’s Summit in a game featured on the 810 Shootout, running Platte County’s win streak to three. The momentum carried over in a rematch with Benton on Wednesday in St. Joseph with the Pirates opening a seven-point lead in the first quarter.
Benton came back to win 52-31, dropping Platte County to 6-5 on the season. However, the positives have been impossible to ignore for the Pirates.
At Lee’s Summit, Platte County trailed by 12 early in the fourth quarter before Doole dropped in three 3-pointers to lead the comeback. The Pirates outscored the Tigers 25-7 overall in the fourth quarter.
Platte County continued to benefit from the inside presence of junior forward Kiersten Robbins, who scored in double figures for the third straight game since her return in the New Year after missing two games before the holiday break. Pirates sophomore Reese Pickett tallied a game-high 14 points, while Doole and Robbins added 12 apiece to account for the majority of the offense.
In addition, Platte County went 9 of 13 on free throws to seal the win with junior Amaira Peterson going a perfect 4-for-4.
Doole added team-highs of eight rebounds, six assists and five steals in the most complete game of her young career at Platte County. Joslyn Hupp, a sophomore guard, finished with six points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Platte County looked like a threat to run its winning streak to four in a rescheduled rematch with Benton, which won the first matchup between the two teams in blowout fashion in the first round of the season-opening Savannah Invitational. The Pirates were never close in the first meeting but jumped to a 17-10 lead after the first quarter on Wednesday.
Benton outscored the Pirates 32-7 over the next two quarters and pulled away for the win.
Platte County shots just 32 percent from the field and only made one 3-pointer, which came from sophomore reserve Morgan Stewart. Robbins made it four straight games in double-figure scoring with a team-high 12, but Peterson was next on the scoring list with five points.
On Monday, Platte County returns to Suburban Conference Blue Division play, hosting Winnetonka. The Pirates also travel to Smithville on Thursday to play the conference favorites.
