Second half surge pushes Knights past Lamar

North Platte, Neb. – North Platte Community College women's basketball needed all twenty minutes of the second half to steal the win away from the Runnin' Lopes of Lamar Community College on Friday night, 73-68.

"This was a tale of two halves," said head coach Jeff Thurman. "We played well offensively and defensively in the second half, which propelled us to the win tonight."

Despite trailing by nineteen at the break, the Knights found a spark early in the second half to reverse the momentum and narrow the deficit to eight at the end of the third quarter. Diamond Moore-Heath ignited the Knights offense early by connecting on a floater in the opening forty-two seconds.

The Runnin' Lopes lead was extended back to nineteen, until Janay Brauer connected on a stop and pop three pointer in transition to energize the Knights bench. The three also ignited an 8-1 run for the Knights, as the deficit was trimmed to twelve before the media timeout with 6:09 to play in the third quarter.

Out of the short break, the Lamar lead grew to fourteen before the Knights began to chip away at the Runnin' Lopes lead. A layup by Pope once again sparked the Knights offense and another 8-0 run brought the Knights back within six, 46-52.

Lamar extended their lead back to ten inside the final three minutes, but the Knights were able to cut the deficit to eight by the end of the third quarter, setting up for an electric final ten minutes.

The momentum never swayed as a 10-0 run to open the fourth quarter gave the Knights the four-point advantage with 3:31 to play. In the closing minutes, Lamar trimmed the deficit to one, before Avery Johnson found Jordyn Moon cutting baseline for the open layup.

The short run continued inside two minutes to play, as Brauer connected on a shot from the perimeter to push the Knights lead to six. Lamar momentarily halted the run with their own bucket to cut the deficit back to four, before a short 3-0 run pushed the Knights lead to seven inside forty seconds to play, 71-64.

Lamar made one last attempt to swing the momentum in the closing seconds, but the Knights answered every bucket and closed the game out at the free throw line.  

The Runnin' Lopes jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the opening three minutes of the first quarter. North Platte cut the deficit in half, as Pope dished the ball inside to Moore-Heath for the layup with 7:10 remaining in the opening quarter, 3-6.

Lamar responded with an 8-0 run before the Knights temporarily halted the momentum with a pair of free throws from Pope, 5-14. Lamar held North Platte to just two more baskets for the remainder of the quarter and extended their lead to thirteen after the opening ten minutes, 9-22.

Knights attempted to swing the momentum in their favor to start the second quarter as Moore-Heath connected on two free throw opportunities. Lamar answered with a bucket in transition, before Brauer connected on her first three pointer of the night to cut the deficit to ten, 14-24.

A short 6-0 run by Lamar extended their lead to fourteen inside six minutes to play in the second quarter. North Platte answered with their own 5-0 run to narrow the deficit to nine, as Moore-Heath found Moon cutting baseline from the high post for the open layup, 22-31.

Lamar answered with a 14-4 run over the closing minutes to extend their lead to nineteen as the teams headed into the halftime break, 45-26.

Knights finished the night with four starters in double figures. Pope (21), Brauer (14), Moon (13), and Moore-Heath (10) rounded out the top scorers for North Platte, while Johnson chipped in 13 rebounds and nine points in twenty-five minutes off the bench.  

Knights (9-4) close out the first part of their season against No. 10 Kansas City Kansas Community College on the final day of the North Platte Community College Classic on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Blue Devils dropped their opening game of the classic to Central Community College, 73-69.