Knights defeat ranked Blue Devils to close out North Platte Community College Classic

North Platte, Neb. – A strong opening start to the season has the North Platte Community College women's basketball team off to their best start under head coach Jeff Thurman. The victory over No. 10 Kansas City Kansas Community College was an excellent finish to the opening part of the season.

"This was a great win over a very talented team," said Thurman. "We knew exactly what we had to do, especially on the defensive end to close out the semester on a positive note."

The Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead on a layup in the opening forty seconds of the contest. Diamond Moore-Heath answered by going to work inside and getting back-to-back buckets to fall to give the Knights their first lead of the game with 6:42 to play in the opening quarter.

The Blue Devils retook the lead on their next possession by connecting on a shot from the perimeter, 4-5. North Platte returned the favor inside six minutes to play in the first quarter, as Janay Brauer added her name to the scoring column with a layup to give the Knights a one-point advantage. Defenses tightened up for the remainder of the quarter, as the Knights outscored the Blue Devils 4-2 to take a three-point lead into the quarter break, 10-7.

North Platte came out strong to open the second quarter, as a free throw line jumper by Kayla Pope extended the Knights lead to six, 13-7. The Blue Devils trimmed the Knights lead down to three over the next forty seconds, before a short 7-2 burst by the Knights extended their lead to eight with 5:50 to play before the break.

Over the next two minutes, the Blue Devils cut the deficit down to three on a long-range jumper to try and swing the momentum in their favor. The Knights answered with back-to-back three-point shots from Janay Brauer and Isa Valenzuela to extend their lead to nine as the clock moved inside the final three minutes.

KCKCC mounted a short 4-0 run to pull back within five, but the Knights closed the quarter with a short run to take an eleven-point lead into the halftime break, 32-21.

The Blue Devils came out strong as they trimmed the Knights lead to seven by the midway point of the third quarter. A pair of free throws from Jada Ballard halted the momentum shift and extended the North Platte lead back to nine, 41-32.

The Blue Devils attempted to grab the momentum by cutting the Knights lead to four over the next two minutes, 46-42. Inside the closing minute of the quarter, the Knights recaptured the momentum and closed with a 5-0 run to take a nine-point lead into the final ten minutes.

Blue Devils attempted to steal the momentum back in the opening five minutes, but the Knights still held a nine-point lead by the midway point of the fourth quarter, 60-51. Over the next two minutes, the Blue Devils trimmed the deficit down to eight, before Brauer connected on a crucial three to extend the lead back to double digits, 68-57.

The North Platte lead grew to fifteen inside the final two minutes, as the Blue Devils extended pressure left Jordyn Moon open on the block for the uncontested layup, 72-57. North Platte saw their lead shrink to ten inside the final sixty-five seconds, before earning three consecutive trips to the free throw line.

North Platte went nearly perfect inside the final minute connecting on 5-of-6 free throw opportunities, which sealed the upset win over the Blue Devils, 77-64.

Pope and Moore-Heath combined for forty points on the afternoon, as they paced the Knights with twenty points apiece. Valenzuela contributed 12 points off the bench on 4-of-9 shooting, while Moon led the Knights on the glass with ten rebounds to accompany her four points.

As a team, the Knights shot 42 percent (26-61) from the field, but just 8-of-26 from the perimeter on the day. North Platte edged the Blue Devils in the rebound category, 41-40, while holding KCKCC to just 13.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Knights (10-4) will open the second part of their season on Tuesday, Jan. 4 against Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, Mo.