Story by Daniel Stinman MPCC Area Director of Marketing and Public Information
McCook, Neb. – The Knights looked to snap their current two-game losing streak on Tuesday night against rival McCook Community College at the Peter and Dolores Graff Center. The Indians emerged victorious defeating the Knights, 56-37.
“We had a tough day scoring the basketball,” said head coach Jeff Thurman. “Great thing about basketball is tomorrow is a new day.”
Knights and Indians used the first 2:45 of the opening quarter to get a sense of what the other team was looking to do. Indians used the next forty-five seconds to take the lead and stretch the deficit to five with 6:30 to play in the opening quarter.
Diamond Moore-Heath cut the deficit to three on a turnaround jumper in the lane to give the Knights their first basket of the game. The Indians went on a 6-0 over the next 2:30 before Moore-Heath collected an offensive rebound and laid it off the glass as the Knights cut the deficit to seven, 4-11.
Knights narrowed the deficit to two inside the final minute of the first quarter as Moore-Heath and Kanesha Hall each added buckets, 11-9.
Kayla Pope brought the Knights within one after she connected on the back end of a two-shot foul with 7:39 to play in the second quarter, 11-10. Over the next six minutes the Indians went on a 13-2 run to push their lead to twelve, 24-12.
Pope halted the run momentarily going coast to coast and laying it off the glass with fifty-eight seconds to play in the second quarter. Jocylin Sellers added one point for the Knights in the closing seconds as the Knights trailed the Indians at the break, 27-16.
In the third quarter, the Indians lead climbed back to thirteen before Jordyn Moon found Janay Brauer for a deep corner three. The Knights cut the deficit back to eleven by the end of the quarter as Pope connected on the front end of two free throw opportunities, 39-28.
Midway through the fourth quarter the Indians pushed their lead to nineteen with 3:53 to play. The Knights went 4-of-4 at the free throw line in the final 2:30 but the deficit could not be overcome as the Indians picked up the victory on Tuesday night, 56-37.
Pope was the lone player in double digits adding 13 points and seven rebounds to lead the Knights.
Knights (3-9) will look to rebound on Friday, March 5 when they take on Central Community College. The Knights won the first meeting of the season back on January 29, 80-79. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Raider Field House in Columbus, Neb.