Platte County sophomore Rylee Carr goes in for a layup against Lafayette (St. Joseph) on Monday at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Platte County created moments of intrigue but never fully recovered from a sluggish start in Monday’s 51-38 nonconference loss to Lafayette (St. Joseph) at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Lafayette scored the first 12 points of the game and never trailed, consistently hitting outside shots at critical times. The Pirates closed within 28-26 only to cede a 7-0 run to close that third quarter.
Eight players scored for Platte County, but sophomore Rylee Carr led the way with seven.
“There’s just too many up and downs all over the place on both ends of the floor, trying to find that right mix,” Platte County coach Eric Mitchell said. “We struggled a little bit with that tonight.”
Platte County (3-2) went into halftime down 24-17 but mounted a comeback behind junior center Addy Schlake and freshman Amani Harlin. Schlake scored four of her six in the third quarter, while Harlin hit a pair of jumpers to account for all four of her points. Harlin’s second basket pulled the Pirates within 28-24 with 3 minutes, 16 seconds left in the third quarter, and Schalke’s final two points made it 28-26.
After scoring just four points in the first 6 minutes of the second half, Lafayette closed with seven unanswered, including one of five 3-pointers, to take a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter.
Platte County sophomore guard Addie Ayers dives for a loose ball against Lafayette (St. Joseph) on Monday at Pirate Fieldhouse.
“We chip away, chip away, but give credit to Lafayette,” Mitchell said. “Every time we got (the deficit) knocked down, they went on a run. They did a great job tonight that every time we got it knocked down, they put the pressure back on us. They hit a lot of big shots.”
Lafayette led 45-33 late before Platte County sophomore reserve guard Addie Ayers banked in a 3 with 1:39 left in regulation. The Pirates did not come any closer and were undone after shooting just 29.8% percent from the floor.
Ayers finished with six points for Platte County, junior point guard Haley Barlow added five and junior forward Lauren Stone scored her four points in the fourth quarter. Of the Pirates’ 14 made shots, four were 3-pointers — one each from Carr, Ayers and seniors Lydia Doole and Delaney Childers.
Schlake grabbed a team-high eight rebounds — six on the offensive end — while Harlin added five.
“I thought we were going to give ourselves a shot, but we didn’t execute at either end,” Mitchell said.
Lafayette hit two 3-pointers in a 12-0 run to start the first quarter, and Mitchell took a timeout with 3:52 on the clock to try and regroup.
Platte County junior Addy Schlake fights for a loose ball against Lafayette (St. Joseph) on Monday at Pirate Fieldhouse.
Platte County responded with an 8-0 run that included Childers’ 3 for her only points and five from Carr. However, the Irish pushed right back and led by double digits twice more at 18-8 and 20-10, and the advantage went to 14 early in the second quarter.
Ayers answered with a three-point play that started a 7-0 Platte County run, which also included Doole’s 3 and a free throw for Schlake with no time on the clock. However, Lafayette still led by seven at the break.
“That’s never a good spot to be in,” Mitchell said of playing from behind start to finish. “We just for whatever reason tonight were not playing the way we are capable of playing. I’ll take responsiblity for that. We didn’t come out with the right mindset to get the stops early and execute offensively.”
Platte County ended up with only three short runs and never fully erased the early deficit. The Pirates hit only one 3 in the second half — Ayers’ bank shot late — and then went a lengthy break ahead of Monday’s nonconference game against St. Michael the Archangel.
