Basketball Recap: North Platte Takes a Loss

North Platte lost against York back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. The North Platte Bulldogs lost 56-30 to the York Dukes. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 154th, while the Dukes are ranked 26th).

Despite the loss, North Platte saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Jaycee Burk posted seven points in addition to five boards and four steals. That's the most steals Burk has posted since back in December of 2024. Jaicee Fox also deserves some recognition as she scored her first points of the season.

York was led to victory by Lainey Portwine and Kinslee Kern. Portwine almost dropped a double-double on nine points and 13 rebounds, while Kern went 6 for 13 en route to 15 points. With that strong performance, Portwine is now averaging an impressive 8.3 boards per game. Murfee Nickels was another key player, putting up five points.

North Platte's defeat was their seventh straight at home, which dropped their record down to 5-11. As for York, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 13-2.

North Platte will challenge Chadron at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. As for York, they will get to enjoy the win for a while: their next game is against Douglas County West at 6:00 p.m. on February 7th.