North Platte – The North Platte Community College Lady Knights basketball team were defeated by the Otero Junior College Lady Rattlers, Saturday afternoon, 61-48, at the McDonald – Belton Gymnasium.

The Lady Knights started out the game on a 4-0 run for the largest lead by either team in the first quarter. There were seven lead changes in the first quarter and the Lady Knights held a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Knights opened up the second quarter by scoring the first four points to make the score 18-13. The Lady Rattlers went on a 15-2 run to grab their biggest lead of the first half at 28-20. The Lady Knights cut the Lady Rattlers lead to 28-25 at the half by going on a 5-0 run.

In the first half, the Lady Knights shot 9-31 from the field for a 29 percentage compared to the Lady Rattlers, who shot 10-23, including six three pointer for a 43.5 shooting percentage.

In the third quarter, the Lady Rattlers outscored the Lady Knights 15-14. The Lady Rattlers did lead by 10 on a couple of occasions but the Lady Knights rallied to only trail by four at the quarter 43-39.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady Rattlers allowed only nine points and scored 18 points to open up the game and seal the win.

The Lady Knights are 2-16 on the season. Naria Hall led the Lady Knights with 18 points. Allison Tichy was the only other Lady Knight to score in double figures with 11 points. Hall also had nine rebounds to lead the Lady Knights.

The Lady Rattlers, 9-13 on the season, were led in scoring by Alyssa Lovato with 14 points. Berklee Lerohl and Alba Vera-Ponte each had 12 points and Kalani Poloa had 10 points. Vera-Ponte and Grace O’neill each had seven rebounds to lead the Lady Rattlers.

The Lady Knights are next in action on Thursday, Feb 8 when they travel to play York College Junior Varsity. Tip-off is at 4 pm.