Harrison, AR – For just the third time in program history, the Women’s basketball program was going to take part in the national tournament. They drew the #16 seed after winning District F and would face off against #1 Illinois Central Cougars (31-1) to start the tournament.

The Knights knew they would have a tough battle but they were more then ready to meet the challenge.

From the tip however it was all Cougars. They would jump to a quick 5-0 lead after three minutes of play prompting a time out from head coach Jeff Thurman.

After the time out the teams would trade buckets and make it a 7-2 game. From there the next three minutes was both teams testing each other. Neither scoring the ball, both teams playing challenging defense. The Cougars would break out of the trend and behind a furious fast break attack would take the large lead 24-9 after the first quarter.

The Second quarter is where the Knights defense would really start to show its teeth. They would clamp down on the transition defense and would hound the cougars all quarter. All this would happen while the Knights started to show some energy on offense as well.

The Cougars would outscore the Knights in the second by only 2 points and would have the 42-25 lead at halftime.

After halftime, the Cougars from Illinois Central would show why they are the #1 team in the nation.

I would take them just over a minute to push their lead over the 20 point margin, something they were not able to do in the first half. With 8:38 left in the 3rd Illinois would have their first 20 point lead.

The Cougars would not stop the pressure and put a clamp on any offense North Platte tried to start. at the 5:5o mark they had their largest lead of the night 54-28 over the Knights.

At the end of three-quarters of play the Cougars held on to a 65-39 point lead.

At the start of the 4th the Knights showed signs of life and would jump out with a 7-2 run and then take a time out with 5:21 left in the game. At that point the score stood at 67-46.

The Knights would continue to pressure the Cougar defense and would force an Illinois time out with 3:37 left to play and a 70-53 score.

It was too little too late for the Knights however, the lead Illinois built was too large and the Knights fell 76-55.

Madisyn Francis lead the way with 19 points for the Knights. Also scoring in double figures was Nahatabaa Nacona with 13.

The best the Knights can finish is now 7th place. They will play #8 South Suburban (who lost to #9 Union County) on Thursday morning at 11am.