South Platte Stuns Leyton in MAC Championship Game

BRIDGEPORT-- Call it overconfidence or just an off game, but also give the South Platte Lady Blue Knights their due as they were able to knock off the previously unbeaten Leyton Lady Warriors to take the MAC Tournament crown on Saturday, January 25, 2025, in Bridgeport.

Many local basketball fans and observers, including this reporter, were very confident that Leyton would get through their entire regular season slate without a blemish, but it simply wasn't meant to be. The Lady Blue Knights were one of the few teams to give the Lady Warriors a competitive game so far this season, with a 48-to-36 loss at Leyton on December 13. In that game, the South Platte girls showed grit, and their length and athleticism kept them in the contest until the end. In this matchup, they found the winning formula and pulled off a convincing 56-to-47 victory over the unbeaten Lady Warriors.

In the MAC finals match-up, the Lady Blue Knights started hot while the Lady Warrior's shooting was cold. Up 14-to-8 after the first period, South Platte kept up their momentum and put up 14 more points in the second period while limiting Leyton to just six points, to take a 28-to-14 lead into the halftime break. Leyton finally seemed to get their shooting stroke down in the third period, putting up 17 points against South Platte's 11, but the Lady Warrior defense could not shut down the Lady Blue Knights in the fourth, and they kept pace with Leyton and came away with the 56-to-47 win. South Platte senior Isabelle Reichman put up 20 points to lead the South Platte offense. Leyton senior Zaili Benish led the Lady Warriors with 17 points in the loss.

After the game, Leyton Head Coach Jed Benish said, "This was a tough loss. South Platte didn't do anything differently from the first time we played, but they just executed better than we did. They had a really hot night shooting, and we struggled a bit offensively. Ultimately, we just had an off night and didn't seem prepared and as the coach, that is on me and not the girls. I thought we had a good game plan going in, but I just didn't get it relayed to the girls well enough. Sadly, it is also a reality of having so few girls on the team and the inability to practice the things I know the other team is going to do against us."

On moving forward after the loss, Benish said, "I am not normally one to say a loss is good, but in this case, I think it will help us focus on the things we need to work on. Coaches and players will come out of this better and ready for the last stretch of the season. We will regroup and finish strong."

Leyton was next scheduled to travel to Banner County on Tuesday, January 28, and then host Minatare on January 31.