The North Platte Community College Lady Knights defeated the Central Community College Lady Raiders in a key National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Division II contest 81-68 at McDonald – Belton Gymnasium.

The game was designated as “Mentoring Night.”

The Lady Knights jumped out to an early lead, 6-0 with field goals by Ester Micheva and April Stull and free throws by Sarah Mahr.

The Lady Raiders rallied to tie the score at 13 with 16:25 to go in the first half on a field goal by Adrianna Beck.  It was the last tie of the game as the Lady Knights led for the remainder of the game.  The score at half time was 40-26.

The Lady Knights held the Lady Raiders to 14 points below their season average of 82.1 points per game.

In the second half the Lady Knights continued to dominate the game leading by as much as 18, 44-26.  The Lady Raiders rallied to cut the Lady Knights lead to four, 68-64.  The Lady Knights put it away down the stretch by making 11 of 14 free throws.

The Lady Knights improve to 11-10 on the season and 2-1 in the region, which puts them currently in second place.  Southeast Community College is currently atop the region.

The Lady Knights had four players score in double figures, led by T’Keyah Stapleton with 18 points off the bench.  Aliyah Brown contributed 16 points, Stull added 14, and Mahr scored 11 points.  Brown also had eight rebounds and four steals to lead the Lady Knights in those categories.

The Lady Raiders drop to 12-9 on the season and 0-3 in the region.  McKenna Rossmeier led the Lady Raiders with a game high 20 points.  Beck and Montrese Weller each contributed 13 points.

The Lady Knights take to the road on Sunday and travel to Crete to play the Doane College JV Lady Tigers.  Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CST.