Story by Daniel Stinman Area Director of Marketing and Public Information
La Junta, Colo. – North Platte Community College women’s basketball team squared off with the Otero Junior College on Saturday afternoon in La Junta, Colo. The Knights could not overcome a big third quarter by the Rattlers as the home team emerged victorious at the McDivitt Center Gymnasium, 81-67.
Knights jumped out to an 11-8 advantage in the first nine minutes of action against the Rattlers. Jennessy Aragon-Dennis extended the Knights lead to six in the closing minute of the first quarter when Kayla Pope found her teammate in the deep corner for an open three pointer, 14-8. Pope added to the lead in the final seconds connecting on the front end of a two-shot foul as the Knights led after one, 15-8.
The Rattlers trimmed the Knights lead to one in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Pope answered for the Knights as Janay Brauer kicked the ball out from lane to her teammate for an open three to extend the lead back to four, 20-16.
Rattlers wouldn’t let the Knights push their lead any further than four over the next 5:30 of the quarter. The Rattlers cut the deficit to one and eventually took the lead at the 2:45 mark of the quarter, before Pope responded with a running floater to give the Knights back the lead with 2:37 to play, 29-28. Rattlers quickly answered and outscored the Knights 6-2 to take the 34-31 advantage into the break.
Diamond Moore-Heath added the Knights first basket of the half just nineteen seconds into the third quarter to cut the deficit to one, 34-33. The Rattlers responded going on a 10-2 run to stretch their lead to nine by the 6:54 mark of the quarter.
Janay Brauer halted the run momentarily on a deep corner three before the Rattlers offense exploded again for another 11-0 run, to push their lead to seventeen with 5:03 to play, 55-38. The Knights were held to only one more field goal for the remainder of the quarter as the Rattlers pushed their lead to twenty-five at the quarter break, 69-44.
The Knights responded in the fourth quarter cutting the deficit to fourteen as Moore-Heath rebounded her own shot and laid it off the glass for two with 5:52 to play, 72-58. The Knights continued to work on the offensive end answering the Rattlers baskets for the next three minutes.
Trailing 77-63, Jocylin Sellers cut the deficit to twelve after she hit both free throws with 1:29 to play. The Rattlers added the final basket in the closing twenty seconds of the game to close out the Knights.
Moore-Heath (15), Pope (13), and Brauer (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Knights on the afternoon.
Knights (3-8) will continue their four-game road trip as they journey to McCook, Neb. to take on the Indians of McCook Community College on Tuesday, March 2. The Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference matchup will tip-off at 5:00 p.m. inside the Peter & Dolores Graff Events Center.