Platte Valley girls basketball retooling for another run in Class 3A

Platte Valley has been a menace to Class 3A girls basketball the last two years. The Broncos only lost one game en route to two straight state crowns, dating all the way back to Jan. 30, the beginning of the COVID-delayed 2021 season.

This upcoming season, with the target squarely on their backs yet again, they’ll look to continue that success without top scorer Cora Schissler, who averaged 15.8 points per game.

“Every year you lose kids, you get new kids and you wonder like, ‘Oh, how are we going to do it without that kid, or those kids,’” head coach Tonya Schissler said. “But it all works out and it’s just fun for players to step into different roles and just fun to compete. I’m looking forward to this year too, just the challenge of changing things up from what we’ve done the last couple of years.”

The Broncos, luckily, will still have the shooting specs of their next two highest scorers with seniors Bree Bunting (15.6 points per game) and Andi Schissler (13 points per game) to help guide them to victory once again. 

They’ll be doing it without older sisters Cora Schissler and Brooke Bunting for the first time in their high school careers.

“I feel like in a way, it can be bittersweet because it was really fun winning with your siblings or knowing that you worked that hard from when you were younger playing with them, up to that point that we were at last year and winning,” Bree said. “But then I also think it’ll be kind of a pride thing, where you can see how much you’ve worked hard and that you can accomplish it by yourself as well.”

If the Broncos can maintain the level of intensity they took the court with in every contest last season, this year looks to be just as dangerous for any team that has the misfortune of crossing their path.

After all, most of the ladies just wrapped up a volleyball season that saw them claim another 3A state crown.

“I think our culture is something we really pride ourselves on,” Andi said. “Mostly everybody gets along, and we all hang out outside of basketball too. A lot of us are also in volleyball so that we can kind of learn to play with each other in volleyball and then move on to basketball.”