Platte County bullies another opponent to run winning streak to 7 straight

Combining lengthy breaks between games and the lopsided nature of recent results, Eric Mitchell wants to keep expectations tempered.

Platte County’s second-year coach watched the Pirates thrive after halftime on the way to a 54-19 blowout of Central (St. Joseph) on Thursday night at Pirate Fieldhouse but rightfully acknowledged some struggles in a dominant yet uneven first half. They have now won seven straight since a loss to Lafayette (St. Joseph) in early December but have received little resistance while bullying a slate of mostly overmatched opponents in the current stretch.

Having improved to 10-2, Platte County currently ranks No. 10 in the most recent Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class 5 poll but likely will know much more after a pair of home games this week.

“We kind of knew that coming in. We get back into that third week, and it’s really going to amp up,” Mitchell said. “Grain Valley is a really quality team followed by a district opponent and athletic Winnetonka team. We’re hurting for reps, the game reps that are valuable. We have so many younger players that are getting a lot of minutes, and every game rep we can get is really, really key right now.”

Platte County junior forward Lauren Stone finished with a game-high 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds thanks to a fast start, while senior guard Lydia Doole hit two of her three 3-pointers in the third quarter. The Pirates’ 27-5 halftime lead swelled to a 31-point advantage entering the fourth quarter, which featured a running clock for most of the final 8 minutes against Central (0-15).

Doole finished with 11 points and four of Platte County’s 13 steals, the statistical evidence of a harassing defensive effort that repeatedly led to easy offensive looks. In addition to Doole’s outside shooting, sophomore reserve Addie Ayers and Stone also knocked down a 3-pointer each in the third quarter. The Pirates hit seven total and shot 45.7% from the field.

“We wanted to really working on sharing the basketball,” Mitchell said. “It’s hard. They’re kids, and they see an open shot and want to take it right away. Sometimes they don’t realize that if they’ll reverse the basketball they’re going to get it back for potentially a better shot. They’re learning and getting better with it.”

Platte County did start somewhat slow, committing a turnover on the opening possession and falling behind 3-0 after Central’s Mikenna Main hit an early 3-pointer. The Pirates then scored the final 13 points of the first quarter — seven from Stone — even with both junior center Addy Schlake and senior guard Delaney Childers running into foul trouble.

This led to increased minutes for Ayers (three points, one rebound, one assist and one steal), junior Haley Schank (four points, six rebounds) and developing freshman Amani Harlin (four points, two rebounds) off Platte County’s bench. Schlake finished with six points and just three rebounds, while Childers was one of three Pirates with two steals and one point.

“It’s a good lesson,” Mitchell said. “We talked to them about halftime that you get certain (officiating) crews that let you play really, really physical, and you’ll get other crews that are not. You’ve got to be able to adjust, and that’s something we have to get better at as a team is making those in-game adjustments. (The foul trouble) didn’t hurt us tonight, fortunately, and actually gave some of our younger players an opportunity to play a little bit more.”

Central’s final basket of the first half came early in the second quarter, while Platte County endured a scoreless spell of nearly 3 minutes that included four missed free throws. Stone ended the stretch on a left corner 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first half, and sophomore Rylee Carr — starter turned noticeable impact scorer off the bench — converted a driving bucket in what became a slow accumulation of 14 unanswered points.

The two big first half runs came despite a good portion of Platte County’s 13 turnovers.

Platte County junior point guard Haley Barlow contributed her first 3-pointer of the season during the second quarter, and the final blow came on a low-profile hustle play. Schank worked hard underneath on a missed shot from Carr to save the ball from going out of bounds on a tap-pass offensive rebound to Doole, who immediately buried a 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left on the clock while pointing credit to her teammate.

“People don’t see it a lot, plays like that,” Mitchell said. “That’s kind of what Haley does. She knows what her role is, and her role is to keep that possession alive. She hustled and got that ball tipped out for a big shot. Those are little things that we always talk about equal up to big things.”

Inclement weather forced the cancelation of Platte County’s scheduled Monday game with Excelsior Springs (5-6), which lost last year’s matchup between the two teams 81-14. Otherwise, the Pirates’ win streak likely would have been at eight ahead of Tuesday’s game against Grain Valley — the defending Suburban Conference White Division champions who won both of last year’s meetings between the two teams.

Platte County (2-0), Grain Valley (2-0) and William Chrisman (1-0) are all currently undefeated in White Division play.

During the current winning streak, Platte County’s average margin of victory has been 28.1 points per game, which includes a 12-point win over No. 9-ranked Smithville — an obvious oddity in the MBCA voting for the most recent poll. The closest of the seven games was a 44-37 victory over St. Pius X in the final game of December before the holiday break.

Since returning to action in January, Platte County’s wins have been by 42 (Raytown), 32 (Belton) and 35 (SJC) points.