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Leeton girls lose to Platte Valley, finish fourth in Class 1

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SPRINGFIELD — Both Leeton and Platte Valley battled foul trouble over the course of the MSHSAA Class 1 Show-Me Showdown third-place game.

For Platte Valley, the issues went primarily toward junior Maggie Collins. For Leeton, it went against Jadeyn Johnson. Come to the final result, Johnson’s absence made the biggest difference.

The Bulldogs played without their primary inside player through the last five minutes. The factor set up a trend that resulted in a 46-42 loss Friday, March 10, inside the Hammons Student Center in Springfield.

“Jadeyn going down with that fifth foul with five minutes to go really left us kind of taking a knife to the gunfight in the post,” Leeton head coach Travis Fleming said. “We just gave up some size. They did a great job of finding it inside. To be honest with you, we were just trying to foul it.”

Collins led Platte Valley (28-4) with 14 points, six arriving inside the last eight minutes. She had two from the free-throw line with 2:03 remaining, ultimately building to a three-point game.

More than a minute later, junior Brylie Angel knocked down one at the line, officially making it a two-possession difference. Leeton (26-5) sophomore Jayden Parsons turned the ball over on the next possession, setting up a layup from senior Kayley Hauber in conversion.

The mark put Platte Valley up 45-39 ahead of the final 48 seconds. Senior Bailey Fleming hit a three on Leeton’s next trip down field, accounting for the Bulldogs’ last made shot.

“We had a turnover there with a one-possession ball game,” Travis Fleming said. “I don’t have a problem with the look. It just wasn’t the correct pass. We tried to throw it. We always talk about windows. There’s a window on this side and a window on that side. My young point guard tried to go into the window and just took away too bad of an angle and put the thing out of bounds.”

In the larger picture, the final sequence wouldn’t have been possible if Leeton hadn’t played back from behind for the second consecutive contest.

The Bulldogs trailed 10-5 at the end of the first quarter and 24-17 at halftime. The game’s gap didn’t grow past 10 points, which arrived with Platte Valley up 20-10 with 4:54 left in the first half.

“There’s no doubt that the ole teeter totter got a little slant against us,” Travis Fleming said. “I’m really proud of the effort they gave to battle that thing back. They made a little run and I think they cut it to seven at half.”

Leeton opened the second half on a 6-0 run, arriving through a layup plus an and-one from junior Chezney Early and a layup from Johnson.

The gap grew back to nine, though a 5-0 stretch beginning with a free-throw from sophomore Jillian Mudd, a layup from Johnson and a jumper from Bailey Fleming brought it back down to 35-31 by the end of the third.

“Through the first half, things were kind of going our way,” Platte Valley head coach Tyler Pedersen said. “But in the third quarter, we started getting in a lot of foul trouble. They had all of the moments. There was all kind of adversity there.”

Leeton briefly took a 37-36 lead with 5:57 left, though Collins hit two consecutive free throws to put the lead back in Platte Valley’s hands. Platte Valley’s lead mostly stayed within a possession from that point on, but it briefly grew to six points in the last minute.

A steal from Platte Valley senior Sarah Langford off a Leeton sophomore Brooklynn Fleming turnover set the final trend barely inside the two-minute mark.

Leeton went 1-of-4 from the field through the final stretch, with the lone successful make arriving through Bailey Fleming.

“The good news for us as a whole, Class 1 girls basketball doesn’t necessarily get a lot of love, but the game we played yesterday and the game we played today definitely gave everybody that paid their admission fee to MSHSAA, they got what they wanted to see,” Travis Fleming said. “Great ball game.”

The loss completed Leeton’s third final four appearance. Of its four losses on trips to Springfield, three came against Platte Valley.

The final four accounted for Platte Valley’s fourth consecutive appearance. It marks the first time the co-op between Jefferson and South Nodaway has played for third along the stretch, finishing second in 2019, first in 2020 and first in 2021.

Leeton finished second in 2021 and third in 2022, with its lone Show-Me-Showdown coming against Platte Valley both years.

“Leeton, they do a lot of things right,” Pedersen said. “All through our run, they’ve been down here too. I think that says a lot about their program. You just feel fortunate in a game like that when you beat a good team because it takes winning plays … Our girls found a way to get it done. That says a lot about ours, but it doesn’t really take anything away from how special Leeton’s run is either.”

Bailey Fleming paced Leeton with 12 points while Johnson had 11, sophomore Hadley Shaffer had six, Mudd had five and Parsons had two.

Leeton was outrebounded 32-24, with 15 of Platte Valley’s rebounds arriving through Collins. The Bulldogs won the turnover margin 15-11.

“Team effort all the way around,” Travis Fleming said. “Team effort to just come back and battle … In the end, it just came down to the same as yesterday. These games, you got to have the ball bounce your way a little bit. We got to execute in the stretch. We just didn’t execute.”

Joe Andrews can be reached at 660-747-8123.


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