The North Platte Community College Lady Knights lost to the Northwest Kansas Technical College Lady Mavericks 59-57 Monday night at McDonald –Belton Gymnasium.
The Lady Knights, 9-7 on the season, jumped out to a 6-0 lead on baskets by Sarah Mahr and April Stull.
The Lady Mavericks came back and went on a 15- 8 run to take their first lead of the game 15-14 with 8:40 left in the first half. The lead changed four more times until the Lady Mavericks took the lead 20-18 with 4:15 to go in the first half.
The Lady Mavericks held a 30-21 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Knights came out and scored the first six points of the second half to cut the Lady Mavericks lead to three, 30-27.
The Lady Mavericks then went on another run and pushed the lead to 14 points with 11:12 left to play.
The Lady Knights started to chip away at the Northwest Kansas Tech lead and cut it to three with 2:16 left to play.
Neither team scored for the next two minutes. With 0.16 left in the game, Zulema Viescas hit a three pointer to tie the game at 57 each.
The Lady Mavericks went the length of the court, Leticia Rodriguez made the game winner with 0.8 seconds left in the game.
“We need to get our rhythm back,” Lady Knights Head Coach Richard Thurin said. “We play good enough defense, but we just need to score.”
The Lady Mavericks improve their record to 5-14 with the win. Lady Mavericks head coach Landon Steele said, “We have played several Top 25 teams recently, including Cowley County and Western Nebraska.”
The Lady Knights were led in scoring by April Stull, who scored 17 points. Stull also had 9 rebounds.
The only other Lady Knight to score in double figures was Ester Micheva, who had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Lady Mavericks were led in scoring by Nyachiang Bile and Leticia Rodriguez, each scoring 15 points. The only other Lady Maverick to score in double figures was Rayven Smith with 11 points.
The Lady Knights take to the road this weekend and play key games in the sub-region against Central Community College on Friday, and then travel to Beatrice to play Southeast Community College.
The game against Central is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CST, and the Southeast game is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. CST.