Clock expires on Knights comeback
McCook, Neb. – North Platte Community College women's basketball team put their undefeated record on the line against Colby Community College on Friday evening. The Trojans held off the final North Platte run to hand the Knights their first loss of the season, 62-56.
"It was a tough night for us," said head coach Jeff Thurman. "We showed a lot of heart and fight but give Colby credit for making the plays needed down the stretch."
In the opening quarter, the Knights opened the scoring with a three pointer by Jordyn Moon inside the first eighty seconds of the game. North Platte was shutout over the next five minutes as the Trojans went on a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the game. Diamond Moore-Heath earned a trip to the free throw line and halted the Trojans momentum momentarily by connecting on her two free throw attempts, 4-6.
As the Colby lead grew to four, the Knights narrowed the deficit down to one as Moon connected on one of two free throw attempts, and Avery Johnson was able to get her bucket to fall with 1:11 remaining in the first quarter, 7-8. North Platte kept the deficit to one possession over the closing seconds as Colby held a two-point lead at the end of the first ten minutes, 9-11.
The Trojans lead grew in the second quarter as a 10-2 run over the first five minutes gave Colby their largest lead of the first half, 11-23. The Knights managed to trim the deficit back to eight with 1:14 remaining as Janay Brauer connected on a no look pass to Johnson for the open layup, 17-25. Colby answered by connecting on a three in the final minute and sent the game into intermission with an eleven-point lead, 17-28.
The next ten minutes belonged to the Knights as they tightened the game up to one possession with some excellent perimeter offense. Out of the break, Colby initially extended their lead to thirteen, but the Knights offense came to life as a 9-2 run capped off by back-to-back three pointers by Brauer cut the deficit down to four, 34-38.
A bucket by Colby halted the run momentarily but Fumnanya Ijeh inched the Knights closer as she banked in her straightway three to cut the deficit to three at the end of the third quarter, 37-40.
Moon kept the party going from beyond the arc with a three pointer on the Knights opening possession of the fourth quarter to tie the game up, 40-40. Colby managed to regain the lead on their next offensive possession and extended it to seven as the clock moved inside the final eight minutes.
North Platte found their spark offensively as Moore-Heath was able to get her offensive putback to fall to pull the Knights back to within five. A double clutch layup by Kayla Pope continued to ignite the Knights offense and the 7-2 to run evened the game once again inside five minutes, 51-51.
Unfortunately, the media timeout and a short offensive burst by the Trojans ended the Knights chance of completing the comeback.
Moon was the Knights top performer on the evening, finishing with a season high 12 points and eight rebounds.
North Platte (2-1) will close out the Cobblestone Hotel & Suites Classic on Saturday afternoon against Air Force Prep. Tip is set for 1pm inside the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center in McCook.