Platte County honored three seniors pregame, avenged a previous loss and set up Eric Mitchell for another superlative in what will be his fourth and final season as head coach. The Pirates were stronger on defense in a 46-36 victory over Fort Osage on Thursday night to help extend a season-long win streak to five.
Platte County senior guard Addie Ayers goes up for a shot against Fort Osage on Thursday at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Platte County (12-12) now goes into Class 5 District 8 play with momentum after a season-long process of building experience and figuring out rotations with seniors Rylee Carr and Addie Ayers the lone returning players with significant previous varsity experience. With a win over Winnetonka (7-17) in Monday’s first round matchup at home, the Pirates guarantee a winning percentage no worse than .500 with Mitchell having guided them to consecutive winning records in each of his first three seasons as head coach.
On senior night, Ayers scored a game-high 16 points with four 3-pointers for Platte County, and Carr (15 points) finished in double figures for scoring in a 14th-straight game as the driving force behind a late-season surge.
Fort Osage won the first Suburban Conference White Division matchup between the two teams behind eight total 3-pointers, but Platte County held the Indians to just 14 points in the first half Thursday night. The Pirates then slowly extended out a six-point lead at halftime to double digits despite 18 total turnovers.
Ayers hit 4 of 7 3-point tries and made all four free throw attempts and came up just three points shy of the career-high of 19 she set earlier this season in a win over Ruskin.
Carr, junior forward Macy Doll and sophomores Millie Parker (eight points) and Madeline Arthurs all grabbed six rebounds for Platte County. Only five players scored with Arthurs adding four points and freshman point guard Clare Stephens three on one 3-pointer. The Pirates’ win helped them finish 11-3 in conference play overall, having also lost twice to Grain Valley.
Platte County sophomore guard Millie Parker looks to shoot against Fort Osage on Friday night at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Fort Osage shot just 22.4% from the floor.
Platte County’s seniors have helped lead the Pirates to the Class 5 District 8 title game two of the past three seasons with a top-two seed for each of those tournaments. The Pirates drew the No. 4 this time around after a down-then-up regular season against a difficult schedule curated to coincide with the team’s improved play under Mitchell.
However, Carr and Ayers were the lone major contributors in 2024 and 2025 back this season, while fellow senior Emily Huehl and Doll were on the end of the roster last season. The Pirates have started eight different players this season with Stephens and freshman Emma Schank also seeing time at point guard.
Platte County lost last year’s district title game to St. Teresa’s Academy and the 2023 edition to Lincoln Prep. To earn another trip, the Pirates will have to beat Winnetonka and likely No. 1 seed Kearney (16-10), which hosts the final two rounds. Lincoln Prep (13-9) and St. Pius X (9-15) own the No. 2 and No. 3 spots on the opposite side of the bracket.
Platte County 57, William Chrisman 40
Parker’s double-double of a career-high 18 points and game-high 14 rebounds highlighted a blowout victory Monday night in Independence.
Four players finished in double-figures with Carr adding 14, Ayers 11 and Arthurs a career-high 10 to help Platte County sweep the two-game conference series. Both were double-digit victories for the Pirates, who shot 39.3% from the floor on Monday but grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to aid the offense.
Stephens round out Platte County’s scorers with four points. Ayers added five assists.
