Platte County bullies way past Belton while looking to start winning streak

The difficulty level undoubtedly goes back up soon, but the chance to stack wins and confidence can’t be ignored.

Platte County dominated Belton start to finish on the way to a 58-28 victory in Suburban Conference White Division play Thursday night at Pirate Fieldhouse. Lauren Stone, a senior guard, continued a hot stretch on offense with a game-high 21 points in the victory, forming a potent inside-outside combo with senior center Addy Schlake (14 points, nine rebounds).

Now with back-to-back wins in league play, Platte County (7-4, 3-1) added more challenge to the nonconference schedule with hopes the ups and downs pay off in the stretch run in pursuit of breaking a lengthy playoff drought.

“It’s not even always about winning, but it’s just getting better and growing as a team,” said Stone, who hit two 3s and all five of her free throws while adding four rebounds and two assists.

Platte County started to pull away in the second quarter when Stone hit her first 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 9 seconds left before halftime. Schlake had already reached double-figures in scoring, and out of a timeout, Belton scored to close the deficit to 29-14 only for Stone to hit her other triple. She ended up accounting for Platte County’s last seven points of the first half.

Belton went into the break down 36-14 only after Platte County drew up a play on the final possession for Stone, who missed a somewhat rushed 3 from the right wing. She went into halftime with 12 points, while Schlake had 10.

“That definitely is what we’re best at is having the outside shots but also being able to feed it inside,” Stone said.

Schlake put up Platte County’s first four points out of halftime to wrap up her scoring, and senior point guard Haley Barlow added a steal and layup to increase the run to 13-0. The Pirates led 42-14 at that point and seemed in position to put a 30-point running clock into effect for the fourth quarter.

Instead, Platte County hit some struggles on offense.

Stone didn’t score in the third quarter but closed with nine of Platte County’s 11 points in the fourth. Rylee Carr, a junior forward, finished with nine points to go with 10 rebounds, while senior forward Haley Schank added five points, four rebounds and three assists.

Barlow (four steals) and Platte County sophomore reserve forward Amani Harlin finished with four points apiece. The Pirate led by as much as 34 late in the fourth quarter with junior Addie Ayers (five assists) and freshman Kinleigh Howren (one point, two assists) — a pair of reserve guards — rounding out the contributors.

Most importantly, Platte County players were smiling and appeared to be enjoying camaraderie in the blowout after some trying stretches early in the season.

“We’ve always been such a close team,” said Stone, who has scored in double figures during each of Platte County’s past five games. “All the girls get along so well. We’re a really tight family, basically, and I think just having all these practices over break made us so close with each other and ready to get out there and keep playing.”

Platte County never trailed but Schlake and Carr combined to go 1-or-4 on free throws in the opening minutes. However, Schlake rebounded Carr’s second miss for a putback and an early 3-0 lead in what ended up a game-opening 9-1 run capped with a layup from Stone.

Belton went 3 of 8 on free throws in the first quarter and couldn’t take advantage of two fouls each on Schlake and Barlow with Platte County utilizing a harassing full-court press.

“There’s some things we’re trying to adjust to and some things we’re trying to correct and some things we’re trying to see if they’re things that can help us later on in the year,” Platte County coach Eric Mitchell said. “Having longer stretches, playing better for longer stretches, making the easy shots and free throws are things we have to continue to improve while we grow.

“Yes, we’re playing an opponent, but we need to clean up and focus on us and doing the things that we can do the best and be really good at those things. That will put pressure on the other team.”

Platte County briefly led 15-2 when Carr grabbed an offensive rebound and splashed in a deep jumper from the left baseline late in the first quarter.

Belton didn’t hit a field goal until 36 seconds into the second quarter, and Platte County went into a timeout with a 20-5 lead. Howren ended up with extensive minutes at point guard in the first half, while Harlin and Schank scored four apiece before halftime with playing time increased due to the foul trouble.

“I think (the press) is something we need to keep working on, but it definitely helps us bring our energy up by getting those steals,” Stone said. “It’s definitely a little hard on us when we get the fouls and we’ve got to kind of relax a little, but I think we have a lot of versatility between the girls.”

Platte County’s eight-player rotation appears to have mostly taken shape with a seemingly good chance to build the first three-game winning streak of the season. The Pirates play at Raytown and William Chrisman this week before test vs. Smithville (9-4) and at Park Hill (9-4) to close out January.

Platte County 68, Truman 24

Stone, Carr and Howren all scored in double figures for the Pirates during a road conference win Monday in Independence.

Truman scored just four points in both the second and third quarters and faced a running clock for the entirety of the fourth quarter. Platte County led 61-20 going into the final 8 minutes when Howren scored four of her career-high 11 points. Stone hit four 3s in the first half for the Pirates on the way to a game-high 18, while finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Schlake, Barlow and Ayers rounded out the scorers with eight each.

Platte County led 21-12 after the first quarter before the defense locked up Truman, which committed 30 turnovers. Barlow finished with seven assists and six steals, while Howren added four steals and hit a 3-pointer in the first half.

Ayers hit two more of Platte County’s seven 3s, and the Pirates were 9 of 11 on free throws overall.

Grain Valley 60, Platte County 48

The Eagles took the lead in the White Division conference title race, producing 23 points off of 26 turnovers during last Thursday’s matchup in Grain Valley

Platte County returned from a lengthy holiday break and shot just 30.8% from the field. Stone hit four 3-pointers and finished with 23 points — two off of a career-high she set last season against St. Michael the Archangel — to keep the Pirates close.

Carr added a fifth 3 for Platte County not he way to 13 points to go with five rebounds, while Schlake just missed a double-double, finishing with eight points and 13 rebounds to go with two blocks.

Last season, Platte County and Grain Valley split two matchups and ultimately the conference title because of those results. Fort Osage, Ruskin and Truman increased the White Division’s membership to eight this year, but the same two teams have separated early this season with a rematch looming next month.