Beatrice – The North Platte Community College Lady Knights basketball team defeated the Southeast Community College Storm 66-59 at the Truman Center in Beatrice on Friday night in a National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Division II matchup.

Lady Knights Head Coach Richard Thurin said, “We didn’t quite play as well as we did against McCook, but free throw shooting was good down the stretch.”

The Lady Knights held a 13-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Storm outscored the Lady Knights 18-12 in the second quarter to tie the score at 30 at the half.

In the third quarter the Storm outscored the Lady Knights 14-9 to hold a 44-39 lead.

At the beginning of the fourth, the Lady Knights went on a 5-0 run to tie the score at 44.

The Storm led 57-54 with 2:08 to play and the Lady Knights finished out the game on a 12-2 run to finish the game making eight out of 10 free throws down the stretch.

Thurin also praised the play of Djimonii Jackson.

Thurin said, “Djimonii played good defense and picked up on her scoring.”

Jackson led the Lady Knights in scoring with 18 points.  She also had seven steals in the game.  Two other Lady Knights scored in double figures. Sarah Mahr added 17 and Suhmer Mitchell added 12 points. Thomesha Wilson grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lady Knights.

The Lady Knights are now 8-7 on the season and 1-1 in Region IX Division II play.

The Storm had only one player score in double figures.  Jayla Brown led all scorers with 22 points.  Brown and Vashea Wilkinson each had eight rebounds.

The Storm are 9-9 on the season and 0-1 in Region IX Division II play.

The Lady Knights return home to face Northeastern Junior College on Tuesday, January 26 at 5:30 pm CST.