Knights suffer setback against No. 13 Cougars

Scottsbluff, Neb. – North Platte Community College women's basketball traveled to Scottsbluff for one last game on the eve of Thanksgiving. Knights had an answer for the Cougars over the opening thirty-three minutes, but some hot shooting late propelled Western Nebraska to the win on Wednesday night, 78-59.

"I'm proud of our fight tonight," said head coach Jeff Thurman. "Western Nebraska took us out of what we wanted to do offensively, but we found a way to compete against a very good team."

Diamond Moore-Heath opened the scoring by going behind her back to generate space from her defender and connecting on short range jumper. Western Nebraska quickly answered with a short 4-0 run to take their first lead of the game.

Janay Brauer answered the Cougars run by driving the lane and getting her floater to fall to even the game up, 4-4. Western Nebraska recaptured the lead on an old fashioned three-point play, but Brauer showed off her range by connecting on a deep three pointer to tie the game up once again.

The Cougars lead grew back to three inside four minutes to play in the opening quarter, before Avery Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and got her putback to fall to pull the Knights back within one, 9-10. Western Nebraska responded by outscoring the Knights 9-3 over the closing minutes to take a seven-point lead into the quarter break, 12-19.

North Platte cut the deficit down to two with 7:16 to play in the second quarter, after Kayla Pope banked in her runner and Brauer connected on the three from the left corner, 17-19. Western Nebraska answered with an 11-0 run to extend their lead to thirteen inside three minutes remaining before the halftime break.

The Knights offense responded with a 9-2 run, capped off by a Pope three to narrow the deficit to six with 1:07 to play, 26-32. Western Nebraska halted the momentum shift before the intermission by connecting on their second buzzer beating three to extend their lead to nine, 26-35.

Knights regrouped during the halftime break and slowly cut into the Cougars lead over the next ten minutes. Pope got the Knights rolling with a high arcing three to trim the Cougars lead back to six, 29-35. North Platte and Western Nebraska traded buckets over the next five minutes, before the Cougars extended their lead to eight with 3:14 remaining in the quarter.

North Platte found the offensive spark they needed as an 8-2 run, capped off by a Brauer free throw line jumper pulled the Knights back within two, 46-48. Western Nebraska responded to the Knights run by connecting on a three in the closing seconds to stretch their lead to five by the end of the third quarter.

Over the final ten minutes, Western Nebraska outscored the Knights 25-11 to seal the nineteen-point victory.

North Platte was led on the offensive end by Pope who tallied 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting from the field. Moon led the Knights on the glass grabbing ten rebounds to accompany her six points in twenty-six minutes of action.

Knights (6-2) will head to Creston, Iowa this weekend to take on the Spartans of Southwestern Community College. Tip is set for 1pm inside the Spartans Gymnasium on Saturday, November 27.