Story by Daniel Stinman Area Director of Marketing and Public Information
Beatrice, Neb. – North Platte Community College women’s basketball team evens the regular season series with Southeast Community College with a victory on Saturday afternoon, 69-62. The win helped the Knights extended their winning streak to four games with just three regular season games remaining on the schedule.
“This was a very good road win today for our program,” said head coach Jeff Thurman. “We need to have more focus in order to close out good teams down the stretch.”
In the opening quarter, the Knights jumped out to a 9-3 advantage, as Amber Wolever drove the lane and released a floater above the outstretched hand of a Storm defender. The Storm cut the deficit down on their next two offensive possessions to pull within two, 9-7.
The Knights stretched their lead back out to four when Jada Ballard connected on both of her free throw attempts with 5:03 remaining in the first quarter, 11-7. The Storm cut the deficit back to two before Jennessy Aragon-Dennis connected from beyond the arc to push their lead back to five, 17-12.
Knights extended their lead to nine at the 7:06 mark of the second quarter, as Kayla Pope connected on a deep corner three, 22-13. Southeast went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:32 to cut the deficit back to within two, 22-20.
Aragon-Dennis answered for the Knights connecting on a three pointer to push the Knights lead back to five. Over the next 3:23 the Knights extended their lead to eight on a Janay Brauer three, 32-24. Storm made a final run over the closing minutes of the quarter, but the Knights held on to a four-point lead at the half, 34-30.
Out of the break, the Knights went on an 8-0 run over the opening 2:13 to extend their lead to twelve, 42-30. The Storm answered the Knights run over the next 4:30 to cut the deficit back to two, 42-40. Ballard halted the Storm run after she collected an offensive rebound and put it back up to push the Knights lead back to four, 44-40.
The Knights extended their lead back to seven by the end of the third quarter when Ballard drove the paint and was able to lay it off the glass, 50-43.
In the fourth quarter, the Storm cut the deficit down to three in the opening 1:25, 50-47. The Knights responded with a 13-0 run capped off by an Aragon-Dennis pull up jumper with 3:57 to play, 63-47. Inside a minute to play, the Storm trimmed the deficit to seven, but the Knights held on for the 69-62 victory.
The Knights finished the afternoon with four scorers in double digits including Aragon-Dennis (14), Ballard (12), Pope (12), and Brauer (12). Diamond Moore-Heath collected 12 rebounds to lead the Knights on the glass.
Knights (7-9) will close out the regular season with three home games next week. McCook Community College will travel to the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on Tuesday night for their second matchup of the season. The Indians defeated the Knights back on March 2, 56-37. Tip is set for 5:00 p.m.