Knights defeat McCook to stay unbeaten at home

North Platte, Neb. – The Knights outscored McCook Community College 26-11 in the third quarter, as the momentum helped seal their first win against their rival since the 2017-18 season, 72-46.

"We had a great defensive effort tonight," said head coach Jeff Thurman. "These student-athletes are something special and I could not be prouder of how we fought tonight."

Diamond Moore-Heath led the Knights with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Kayla Pope chipped in 14 points as the Knights improve to 20-8 on the year and 5-1 in Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference play. McCook slips to 17-10 on the season and 5-1 in NCCAC action.

North Platte shot 52.5 percent (31-59) from the floor, including 6-of-9 from the free throw line. Knights limited McCook to just 32.1 percent (18-56) shooting from field, while also holding their rival to just 4-of-13 from the perimeter.

Knights took the early lead, as Kayla Pope drove through the defense for the layup. North Platte pushed their lead to five by the midway point of the first quarter, before a jumper by Vanessa Jurewicz narrowed the margin to three with 4:31 to play, 10-7.

Knights pushed their lead back to five after Avery Johnson received the inbound and capitalized on the short jumper. Teams traded buckets for the remainder of the quarter, but the Knights continued to hold the five-point advantage at the end of the first quarter.

McCook cut the deficit to one in the opening minutes of the second quarter, but a short 4-0 run helped extend the lead back to five after a layup by Pope. The margin stayed above three for the remainder of the quarter, as the Knights lead grew to seven by the halftime break, 28-21.

North Platte came out strong in the third quarter, as the lead grew to twenty-two over the next ten minutes. Janay Brauer, who tallied 11 points on the night, connected on her first three pointer on the Knights first possession of the second half.

The three-point shot sparked a 12-3 run for North Platte, as the lead grew to nineteen with 6:16 remaining in the third quarter. McCook trimmed the deficit to sixteen inside the final three minutes, but some tough defense gave the Knights the 54-37 lead headed into the final quarter.

Knights quickly extended their lead to twenty-eight after Moore-Heath found Jordyn Moon in the paint for the open layup, 63-35. McCook could not rebound from the large deficit in the closing minutes, as the Knights closed out the twenty-six point victory to remain unbeaten at home this season.   

North Platte will return to the court on Thursday against the Trojans of Trinidad State College. Tip is set for 6 p.m. inside the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.