North Platte – The North Platte Community College Lady Knights basketball team (6-6) fell Wednesday night at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium to the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen (5-7) 67-51. The Lady Knights were out-scored 24-42 in the second half.

The Lady Knights got off to a hot start as they held the Plainswomen to only three points in the first five minutes of the game to claim a 9-3 lead. The second five minutes saw the Plainswomen make a strong push as they outscored the Lady Knights 4-8 to be trailing 13-11. The third five minutes was again won by Northeastern as they scored nine points to the Lady Knights five to take an 18-20 lead. The Lady Knights won the final five minutes of the first half to take a 27-25 into the halftime break.

In the second half, the Plainswomen came out firing and made 67 percent of their field goals in the half compared to 31 percent in the first half. North Platte would end the night with 24 turnovers on the night compared to 17 from Northeastern. The Plainswomen would get up by 10 points early in the half and hold of the Lady Knights the rest of the way on their way to a 16 point victory.

Aliyah Brown would be the only Lady Knight in double figures as she finished with 11 points. Leading scorer DaVontaye Merritt was held to eight points on the night. Philippa Faul led the Plainswoment in scoring at 12 points while Brooke Blair and Meg Pritchard each had 10 points.

North Platte will travel to Sterling on Feb. 4 to face Northeastern in a rematch of tonight’s game.

The Lady Knights will return to action in 2014 on Jan. 10 as they host Doane College JV with a tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.