Lauren Stone hit a pair of free throws — one on each side of a timeout — to lock up a 50-46 win for Platte County over St. Michael the Archangel on Monday in Lee’s Summit. The Pirates’ sophomore leading scorer finished with 10 points, while senior forward Joslyn Hupp led the way with 11 points.
The duo finished a combined 8-for-10 on free throws to help Platte County improve to 4-2 on the season.
St. Michael made a late run and led 34-32 after three quarters but shot just 30.4 percent overall from the field. Platte County continued to use a deep rotation with a multitude of contributors. Pirates junior Lydia Doole hit a pair of 3-pointers and totaled nine points, three rebounds and two assists, and sophomore forward Addy Schlake turned in the best performance thus far in her career with seven points, a team-high 12 rebounds and one block.
Platte County senior forward Reese Pickett ended up limited to three points but added four rebounds and a team-high four assists.
St. Michael closed to within 48-46 and took possession with a chance to tie or take the lead but missed a contested layup. Stone then went to the other end and hit a free throw to make it a three-point game and then came back out after the timeout for another make that turned it into a two-possession game with only 6.3 seconds left.
On the final possession, St. Michael misfired on an ultimately meaningless 3-point attempt. The Guardians closed the gap to 40-39 with under 4 minutes to play and then pulled within 45-44 near the 1-minute mark.
Platte County entered off of a win and made it two straight for the first time this season. The Pirates return to action Friday as the front end of a rare girls-boys doubleheader. They play at 5:30 p.m. at Platte County High School against Van Horn with the boys to follow against Kearney in non conference action.
In just six games this season, Platte County has already moved to halfway to the total of eight wins all of last season.
Platte County 50, Lafayette (St. Joseph) 41
The Pirates moved a game over .500 for the third time this season with a win in St. Joseph a week before the St. Michael matchup, creating an unusually long early-season layoff.
Pickett and Hupp totaled 14 points and seven rebounds apiece in an important showing for Platte County. The leading returning scorer, Hupp had yet to reach double figures prior to this matchup and in fact had just 17 points combined over the first four games. Pickett added three assists.
Schlake again led Platte County in rebounding with 10 but did not score, while sophomore point guard Haley Barrow added six points, three rebounds and a team-high four assists. Stone notchd eight points and eight rebounds. The Pirates led 32-28 and maintained and built the lead throughout a strong second half to avenge a loss from last season.
