Platte County’s dream season hits premature end with upset loss in district semifinals

KEARNEY, Mo. — Even under dire circumstances, Platte County found a way to create glimmers of hope in a Class 5 District 8 semifinal on Friday night.

For a second time this season, Kearney’s zone defense caused problems start to finish, but this time around, the Pirates couldn’t complete a comeback at Kearney High School. The Bulldogs held on for a 37-33 victory after scoring the final three points in tense closing sequence between the rivals.

At one point in the second half, top-seeded Platte County trailed by more points than their offense had produced to that point after going scoreless for the entire second quarter. The Pirates came all the way back to tie the score at 31-31, but a late turnover provided Kearney an escape route that prevented an extension to one of the best seasons in program history.

Platte County finished 21-5 overall but saw the hopes of a playoff return in a resurgence under second-year coach Eric Mitchell squelched in crushing fashion again.

“It just didn’t happen for us tonight,” he said. “I’m extremely proud of that group of kids. They’ve fought through a lot over a couple of years and laid a great foundation for our program.”

Platte County recorded a 12-game winning streak and ranked No. 9 in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class 5 poll for most of the season. The Pirates recorded their best record since going 20-6 in 2009-10 and were in position to win the program’s first district championship since capturing the Class 4 state title in 2008-2009.

Instead, Kearney sophomore Brooke Paalhar scored a game-high 19 points, and the Bulldogs went 15-for-19 on free throws to reverse the result of a regular season loss by a similar score of 38-34.

Platte County seniors Lydia Doole (11 points, four rebounds and three steals) and Delaney Childers (two points and two rebounds) played their final game and shared a difficult embrace after the final buzzer. However, the Pirates went just 4-for-20 on 3s and only attempted 10 free throws while tying for their second-lowest point total of the season.

Yet, Platte County held a possession late down just two points.

“I kept telling them to try and stay loose, stay in it, stay in it,” Mitchell said. “Those girls are tough. There’s many times this year that they could have just said we can’t do this, but that’s not who they are. They’re fighters, and they’re scrappers.”

Paalhar’s third and final 3-pointer came in the third quarter and put Kearney ahead 25-12. She had 15 of her 19 points at that juncture.

Platte County went into halftime with only 10 points, and a driving layup from junior forward Lauren Stone with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left in the third quarter marked just the Pirates’ second basket in a span of about 12 1/2 minutes. That jumpstarted a quick 9-2 run, capped with the second of Doole’s three 3-pointers.

Kearney avoided letting Platte County getting any closer than 27-21 in the third quarter, and sophomore Addie Taylor, who finished with 10 points, concluded a disjointed possession with desperation 3-pointer that banked in at the buzzer.

“That was a big shot, and they hit some big shots tonight,” Mitchell said of Platte County going into the fourth quarter down 30-21. “Give them credit. It seemed like when they needed a big shot, they hit a big shot.”

Kearney would not have another field goal the rest of the way.

Doole’s final 3 and an another layup for Stone, who finished with six points, drew Platte County within 30-26 with 5:52 left in regulation. No one scored for the next two minutes when a third-chance putback from Pirates junior center Addy Schlake trimmed the deficit to two — the closest the game had been since the first quarter ended with Kearney up 12-10.

Platte County finally evened the score when sophomore reserve Rylee Carr stepped up and drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:14 left.

“I never counted them out,” Mitchell said. “We thought we had to keep chipping away at it and see if we could give ourselves a chance. I felt like we did.”

At that point, Kearney had only a split of two free throws from Taylor in the fourth quarter.

With 1:13 left in regulation, Platte County fouled Paalhar on a 3-point attempt, and she hit all free throws to put the Bulldogs back in front at 34-31. They led the rest of the way, even after the teams exchanged turnovers to start the final minute.

Carr, who finished with eight points, put back a missed 3-pointer from Stone — part of Platte County’s big advantage on overall rebounds (23-16) with 10 coming on the offensive end. The Pirates were down 34-33 with only 11.9 seconds left but had a chance after Paalhar split a pair of free throws with 9.7 seconds on the clock.

Out of a timeout, Platte County rolled the inbounds pass down the court to delay the start of the clock, but the ball reached near midcourt where a Kearney player won an ill-time scrum for a steal. The officials then award the Bulldogs a timeout with just 7.8 seconds left.

Taylor hit Kearney’s final two free throws to push the lead to 37-33 with not enough time for Platte County to make up the two-possession difference.

“Kind of hit a lull there — quite a long lull,” Mitchell said. “That’s just tough sometimes to overcome, but I give these girls credit. They’re fighters, and even when it looked bleak in the second half, we found a way to get back in it. We just didn’t make the plays down the stretch that we needed to make.”

The rematch between the two teams played out almost identical to the first with Kearney leading the majority of the game thanks to timely shooting and a zone defense that forced Platte County to consistently work through lengthy possessions. The Pirates shot 32.4 percent overall with the majority of shots either open 3-pointers or contested looks around the rim.

Platte County opened with a 3-pointer from Doole and held leads of 3-0 and 5-3, but Kearney answered a pair of missed free throws with back-to-back triples from Paahlar. The Bulldogs wouldn’t trail again despite only scoring six points total in the second quarter.

Kearney committed 14 total turnovers, but very few led to quick, easy looks. The Bulldogs’ zone defense also limited touches for Schlake, who finished with six points on just three shot attempts and no free throw attempts while also grabbing five rebounds.

Platte County also went 1-for-4 on free throws in the first half and missed two more in the third quarter.

“The first 2 1/2 minutes were really good,” Mitchell said. “There were two key things there in the first half. We did not do a good job defensive rebounding. We gave them too many second-opportunities, and when we put them at the line, they executed and hit some of those free throws and we just left a lot out there. We didn’t make the ones we needed to.

“We just didn’t do a good enough job executing those transition looks and doing some of those things to help ourselves.”

Kearney (8-19), which went on to lose Monday’s Class 5 District 8 title game to second-seeded Smithville, went into halftime up 18-10 and found just enough offense in the final two quarters.

Platte County went nearly 10 minutes between a putback from Carr late in the first quarter and a layup from Schlake early in the third. Kearney answered right back with four points from Paalhar sandwiched around two missed free throws from the Pirates.

That led to a double-digit deficit Platte County couldn’t overcome in an effort to return to the district final. A year ago, the Pirates went 18-9, finishing above .500 and recording a postseason win for the first time since 2018-19 before coming up one win shy of the playoffs after a loss to Lincoln Prep in the Class 5 District 8 title game.

Platte County lost two starters but coalesced behind the offense of Stone, shooting and leadership of Doole, defensive prowess of Childers, inside presence of Schlake, steady ball handling from junior point guard Haley Barlow and a diverse bench, which ended up including Carr — the second-leading scorer on this year’s roster. The Pirates went on to claim a share of the Suburban Conference White Division, a first for the program in more than a decade.

The return of the top three scorers next year plus Barlow, sophomore Addie Ayers and freshman Amani Harlin provides a solid core to continue the two-year run of success, and Mitchell knows the past two senior classes have changed the expectations for the program moving forward.

“That’s been my goal all along,” he said. “Everybody wants to talk wins and losses, and I probably do, too. But ultimately, we wanted to build, as a staff, a foundation the school’s proud of, the community’s proud of and something (the players) can look back on as a really positive experience because life isn’t always going to be easy.

“High school sports teaches you a lot about life, and tonight was one of those nights where you have to learn there’s tough things you have to fight through and deal with that don’t always go your way.”