North Platte – The 16th-ranked North Platte Community College Lady Knights basketball team (2-4) fell Tuesday evening at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium. The Lady Knights were defeated by the Northeast Community College Lady Hawks (7-0) by a score of 68-47.

Both teams started the first half slow as both teams struggled to score in the opening minutes. The Lady Hawks got on the board first as they scored the first 12 points of the game and forced two timeouts from the Lady Knights. Jordan Dickerson would hit a 3 pointer to break the scoring drought for the Lady Knights. DaVontaye Merritt would score the next four points of the game to cut the lead to 7-12 which forced a timeout from the Lady Hawks.

The runs would continue as the Lady Hawks would score the next eight points before the Lady Knights answered with four of their own to cut the deficit to 11-20. The teams traded baskets the rest of the half as the Lady Hawks took a 15-33 lead into intermission.

During the second half the teams exchanged baskets before Northeast would win the half 32-35 on their way to a 68-47 victory.

The Lady Knights were led by DaVontaye Merritt who finished with 17 points on 7-11 shooting from the field to go along with three free throws. Jordan Dickerson, Samantha Hyattand April Stull all had six points for North Platte. Kirra Hill-Carter led the Lady Knights with eight rebounds and Kristian Roth had seven.

The Lady Knights return to action on Friday Nov. 22 at 5:30 p.m. as they take on Northwest Kansas Technical College. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 1410 and will be streamed online. The game precedes the men’s basketball game with Otero Junior College at 7:30 p.m.