Tigers Down Platte Valley for Albany Title; Kaylee McElvain’s Triple Sparks Tigers, Anna Gladstone Named MVP

Worth County’s girls exorcized a lot of demons from their past Saturday, as they beat Platte Valley 39-25 for the Albany Tournament Title Saturday for their first win over a Jefferson squad since 2006, when Tiffany Troutwine was playing. That win happened two nights after they avenged their Quarterfinal loss to Stanberry in the Albany Tournament Semifinals. The win was their first Albany Tournament title since 2002, when April (Miller) Healy was a senior at Worth County.

It didn’t look that way at first, as the Tigers fell behind 10-2 right off the bat against the two-headed monster from Jefferson and South Nodaway in the first 3:38 of the game. Kaylin LaMaster and Ashley Mattson did the bulk of the damage as Worth County had trouble bringing the ball up against the jump press. The lead grew to 14-5 when Jacklyn Pappert started chipping in.

At that point, things looked pretty bleak for the Tigers. Platte Valley was looking like a well-oiled machine, with five players listed at 5’10”, and coach Tyler Pedersen able to run 10 players in and out as needed. It looked like they were bigger and quicker than everybody else.

Jill Hardy hit a three pointer to end the first quarter and cut it to 14-8, but Anna Gladstone picked up her second foul shortly afterwards. But then Kristin New suddenly scored off a steal to make it 14-10, and then the score was stuck there for the next three minutes. All of a sudden, New hit back to back jacks and Worth County, for all their struggles against the jump press, had the lead at 16-14. Anna, who came back in with two fouls, stayed away from her third and scored to make it 18-14.

A spark happened right before half as Kaylee McElvain got a steal and got it to Megan Cassavaugh as time was winding down. Megan got it back to Kaylee, and in a page out of Golden State’s playbook, knocked down a 30-footer as time expired to get Worth County a 21-14 halftime lead.
From there, Worth County played lockdown defense and held Platte Valley scoreless for the second straight quarter as Kristin New got a steal, got it to Jenna Smith, and got it to Anna Gladstone to make it 23-14 to start the third quarter.

The score was stuck at 23-14 for the next five minutes until Anna Gladstone’s steal opened the floodgates again. Free throws from Gladstone and Kristin New made it 27-14, and then Jenna Smith, starting in place of Merrideth Spiers (school-related music event), hit a 3-pointer after a New kickout at the third quarter buzzer to make it 30-14.

At that point, Platte Valley Coach Tyler Pedersen did the Chinese Fire Drill, with five coming in and five taking a seat. Kaylee McElvain’s free throws made it 32-14, but the lid on the basket could not stay on forever at Albany, and Jaclyn Pappert’s guarded three broke the two-quarter scoring drought to make it 32-17. The lead was not safe by any stretch, as Anna Gladstone picked up her third foul at the end of the third quarter and her fourth at the start of the fourth.

Sarah Langford, a freshman guard, pushed it up and hit two free throws and then Pappert scored off a drive, and all of a sudden, Platte Valley was threatening, only down 32-21 with plenty of time to spare. But then Kaylin LaMaster, who had sparked Platte Valley early, picked up her fifth foul and Worth County was able to restore order. Anna Gladstone and Kristin New hit free throws and Kaylee McElvain hit her second backbreaking triple of the night, scoring from the top of the key with 3:20 left to make it 37-21. Stephanie Turpin countered with two free throws, but Kristin New and Anna Gladstone hit two free throws before Platte Valley threw in the towel with 1:57 left.

Named to the All-Tournament Team were Anna Gladstone and Kristin New, with Anna Gladstone being named MVP. The award was named Saturday after the late Rodney Harris, long-time scorekeeper at Albany and long-time radio personality, whose family was honored at the tournament Saturday.