Knights hold off Spartans to earn seventh win of season

Creston, Iowa – North Platte Community College women's basketball team rounded out the holiday weekend with a trip to Creston, Iowa to take on the Spartans of Southwestern Community College. The battle played out for all forty minutes, but it would be the Knights that prevailed on Saturday afternoon, 69-66.

"We battled through a lot of adversity, but we found a way to win," said head coach Jeff Thurman. "This group has a chance to do something special."

Knights opened the final quarter trailing by one, but Kayla Pope quickly drove the lane and kicked the ball out to an open Janay Brauer to put the Knights back on top, 52-50. Southwestern followed up with a layup and a trip to the free throw line to retake the lead moments later.

On the Knights next offensive possession, Avery Johnson grabbed the loose offensive rebound and laid it off the glass to temporarily give the Knights back the lead, 54-53. The nets went cold for the next ninety seconds for both teams, before Johnson connected on back-to-back free throw attempts to extend the North Platte lead out to three, 56-53.

Southwestern went on a short 6-0 run to retake the lead with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Knights responded as a straightway three by Pope knotted the game up again as the momentum started to sway in the Knights favor, 59-59.

North Platte retook the lead and pushed it to five as a cross court pass by Jordyn Moon found teammate Brauer open on the right wing for three, 64-59. Spartans narrowed the deficit down to one inside the final minute, but as the seconds rolled off the clock Pope was sent to the free throw line.

Kayla connected on both free throw opportunities to give the Knights a three-point advantage inside the final twenty seconds. The Spartans had a couple of opportunities from the perimeter on back-to-back offensive possessions in the closing seconds, but neither attempt was able to fall.

Offenses were rolling as the Spartans and Knights traded baskets over the opening minutes of the first quarter. Diamond Moore-Heath gave North Platte their first lead of the game as she received the inbound and got her floater to fall with 8:02 to play in the opening quarter.

Knights lead grew to four as Moore-Heath connected on a stop and pop free throw line jumper, 8-4. A 7-2 run by the Spartans gave Southwestern the lead back as the clock moved inside the final three minutes of the first quarter. Moore-Heath sparked the North Platte offense with another free throw line jumper, as the Knights closed the quarter on a short 5-0 run to take a four-point lead after the opening ten minutes.

Knights extended their lead to eight when Moore-Heath got her contested baseline jumper to fall just forty-five seconds into the second quarter, 19-11. Southwestern trimmed the deficit to four inside eight minutes to play, before an 8-0 run sparked by a Pope layup pushed the Knights lead to twelve, 27-15.

Southwestern cut the deficit to five inside the final minute of the second quarter, but the Knights were able to extend their lead to seven by the halftime break. Spartans brought the ball into the frontcourt and was faced immediately with heavy pressure from the Knights defense as Jada Ballard stole the ball and took it coast-to-coast for the buzzer beating layup, 31-24.

Out of the halftime break, the North Platte lead grew to eleven as full court pressure forced the Spartans into a turnover in the backcourt and the Knights capitalized on the open layup in transition, 35-24. The North Platte lead extended to twelve, before an 11-2 run by Southwestern cut the deficit down to three inside five minutes to play in the third quarter.

Knights and Spartans traded baskets over the next sixty seconds, before Southwestern mounted a 9-3 run to close out the third quarter with the 49-50 lead.

Pope and Moore-Heath led the Knights in scoring with 18 and 12 points, respectively.

North Platte (7-2) will travel to Norfolk, Nebraska on Tuesday, November 30 to take on the Hawks of Northeast Community College. Tip is set 5pm inside the Cox Activities Center.