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.

NORTH PLATTE – On Friday night, some of the players from the women’s basketball program were involved in an incident that goes against team code of conduct policies.

The incident in question did not involve any arrests for the Knights players but will result in suspensions being handed down just days before the team leaves for Harrison Arkansas where they will compete in the national tournament as the #16 seed.

The suspensions could affect the team for the tournament and also could extend into next season according to the team.

“It’s not anything that I consider major, but it was a violation of our team code of conduct, which is something we take very seriously,” Thurman said. “As a team, we are working through this together and are looking forward to playing in the national tournament.”

The team has not released any information on the suspensions or who was involved.

North Platte Community College men’s basketball coach Kevin O’Connor and three players have received all-conference honors and a pair of players top the All-Region IX south team.

Courtney Murrell and Jakub Karwowski received All-South Region IX first-team honors, joining Western Nebraska’s Jervay Green. O’Connor was named Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference Coach of the year with three Knights named to the team as well.

ALL REGION IX TEAM: In winning first-team All-Region south honors, Courtney Murrell, a 6-0 freshman guard from Plano, Texas, averaged 15.1 points per game – sixth best in the south region. He shot 48.5 percent from the field, averaged 5.3 rebounds per game and 3.2 assists. Defensively he led all south players with 57 steals on the season.

Jahub Karwowsk, a 7-1 sophomore center from Warsaw, Poland, averaged 9.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He shot 70.6 percent from the field, tops among all players in the region. He was second in the south in rebounds per game and topped the south with 66 blocked shots this season.

Jervay Green rounds out the three players named to the first team. He led all scorers in the Region IX south with 23.6 points per game. He shot 54.7 percent from the floor, averaged 5.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. He was second in the south with 55 steals and third in assists with 98.

The second team is led by a pair of Western Nebraska players in Dru Kuxhausen, who was second in the south in scoring averaging 19.1 points per game and Martin Roub, who was third in scoring with 16.8 points per game. Isaac Essein, Trinidad State, is the other second-teamer. He averaged 10.7 and 4.6 rebounds per game.

Third team members included: Jubrile Belo, Lamar Community College, Wesley Harris, Otero Junior College, and Nyk Lange, Northeastern Junior College. Players receiving honorable mention included: Brevin Brimble, Lamar Community College; Ian Kelly, Trinidad State; Sam Mack, Otero Junior College; Peanut Cunningham, McCook.

NCCAC: Coach Kevin O’Connor, was named Nebraska Community College Coach of the Year and three of his players were named to the team in Murrell, Karwowski and Tim Johnson.

Johnson, a 6-3 freshman from Arlington, Texas was fourth in south sub-region in scoring, averaging 15.9 points per game along with 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists. He shot 52.1 percent from the field, 34.7 percent from the 3-point line and 86.2 percent from the free-throw line – second among all south region players.

Others named to the team were (from McCook CC) Tyrek Battle-Holley, Peanut Cunningham, and Mardrez McBride; (from Central CC), Latrell Talley, Tre Crawford; (from Southeast CC), Ray Harding and Ben Moss. Kenan Gray, received honorable mention.

Tickets for the Nebraska vs. Colorado State spring volleyball match will go on sale Saturday in McCook. They will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the McCook Community College Graff Events Center, 401 E. M St. 

 

Tickets are $10 each, are limited to four per person and must be paid for with cash. They will only be sold to those ages 16 and up who provide identification. Anyone 2 or older must have a ticket to watch the game. Seating is general admission only.

 

Tickets will be sold from the southeast ticket booth in the lobby of the Graff Events Center. The southeast doors to the building will open at 11 a.m.

 

Due to the large amount of people expected, the ticket line will begin on the northeast corner of the Graff Events Center parking lot. Barricades will be set up along the east side of the building to help with organization, and MCC event staff will be on site to facilitate an orderly system for entry. 

 

In order to promote fairness and equal opportunity to all ticket buyers, saving places in line for large groups or cutting in line will not be allowed and will be monitored by college staff. 

 

There will be absolutely no entry to the Graff Events Center before ticket sales begin. Restrooms will be available across the street in McMillen Hall from 6 a.m. to 1p.m.

 

The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. April 20.

The North Platte Community College women came from 13 points down Saturday to down United Tribes Technical College 57-55, claim the Division II Region IX District F Championship, and also earn a berth in the NJCCA National Tournament March 19-23 in Harrison, Ark.

“What an unbelievable accomplishment for our program and student athletes,” said first-year North Platte Coach Jeff Thurman. “This team is the definition of perseverance and heart.”

The Knights survived a 12-game losing streak mid-season, opened post-season play with a 5-22 record.

If post-season wasn’t enough adversity, the game started in McDonald-Belton Gym on the North Platte Community College camps but finished up at North Platte St. Patrick’s High School gym, because of an extensive power outage on the south side of North Platte midway through the second quarter.

And then things really looked dark for the Knights. Over at St. Pat’s gym, United Tribes took a 13-point lead with about three minutes left in the third quarter and still held a 49-38 lead with 7:09 left in the game.

A couple free throws by sophomore Madisyn Francis (Houston, Texas) with 3:13 left in the game cut the deficit to seven points at 52-45. A Nahatabaa Nacona (Chinle, Ariz.) drive down the lane with 2:49 left resulted in an old-fashioned 3-point play. Her free throw cut the game to 52-48.

UTTC hit one of two free throws to open the lead back five points at the 2:27 mark but a Francis 3-pointer with 2:10 left in the game made it a 53-51 game. The Thunderbirds hit a couple free throws at the UTTC end to make it 55-51 with 1:43 left to play. A short jumper just inside the free-throw line by Francis made it a two-point game, then a couple free throws by Nacona tied the game at 55 with 1:06 left to play.

“Our two sophomores are our leaders and they made the big-time plays down the stretch,” Thurman said.

After a defensive steal at the Thunderbird end, Nacona came back the other way in transition and hit the big bucket with 45 seconds left to give North Platte the 57-55 lead. UTTC turned the ball over in their end and North Platte was able to run down most of the clock before the Thunderbirds gained possession with time running out and did manage to get the ball down court but not anywhere near the basket.

Francis led NPCC with 24 points, Nacona scored 14 points (Chinle, Ariz.) and freshman Emily Joseph (St. Petersburg, Fla.) added 10 points.

Freshman Katie Cox (New Port Richey, Fla.) led the Knights with 11 rebounds to go along with five points. Nacona grabbed 10. North Platte out-rebounded United Tribes 52-45.

United Tribes shot 33.3 percent from the field, made five of 23 3-pointers (21.7 percent) and 10 of 12 free throws (83.3 percent). Tariq Brownotter led the Thunderbirds with 20 points before she fouled out. Kierra Johnson had 17 points.

The Thunderbirds finish the season 15-17.

The Knights shot 25.7 percent from the field on 74 shots, made five of 18 from the 3-point line (18.5 percent) and connected on 14 of 23 shots from the free throw line (60.9 percent).

North Platte, now on a four-game winning streak, won the season finale against Lamar Community College 76-49 on Feb. 22. The Knights opened the Region IX Tournament with a 78-67 win at home Feb. 27 over Southeast Community College then went to Columbus March 3 to beat Central Community College 68-60 for the Region IX Division II title.

The Knights improve to 8-22 on the season — but more importantly become one of 16 teams in the nation still playing for the national championship.

“This is a program-changing win and we are playing in the National Tournament!” Thurman said.

Pairings will be decided after this weekend’s district games.

First-round games will be played Tuesday and Wednesday, March 19-20 with quarterfinals on Thursday, March 21, the semi-finals Friday, March 22 and the finals on Saturday March 23. All games will be played at Pioneer Pavillion at Harrison, Ark on the campus of North Arkansas College.

EDMOND, Okla. – Despite not facing an opposing pitcher for nearly three weeks, the North Platte Community College softball team returned to action Saturday scoring four first-inning runs on the way to a 17-15, extra-inning win over Northeast Community College (Norfolk). The Knights lost the second game Saturday to Iowa Western Community College 21-2.

On Sunday, North Platte lost to Iowa Western 11-0 and beat Northeast 23-7.

“This weekend was like starting all over again, having three weeks off and not being able to get outside in those three weeks is difficult,” North Platte Coach Janelle Higgins said.

“We saw improvements from our last series of games, but like all teams in the Midwest right now we are eager to get outside on our home field and not be inside. We have only had two practices outside this year and it shows in our errors per game. It’s hard to practice fly balls and game situations inside.”

Hallei Morales (North Platte) enjoyed a productive weekend at the plate with 10 RBIs. She went five-for 11 in Edmond with a couple doubles.

The Knights are 3-9 on the season and are scheduled to take on Hastings College at home Wednesday with games at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

On Thursday North Platte travels to McCook for the annual Purple Out Games with a doubleheader for epilepsy awareness set to start at 4 p.m. This weekend Northeast Community College comes to town with a doubleheaders Saturday starting at 2 p.m. and Sunday starting at 1 p.m.

This was the first action of the year for Northeastern Community College and went 0-4. Iowa Western went 4-0 on the weekend to improve to 5-5 on the season.

“We will continue to improve as the season continues, we are proud of the fight and positive attitudes of our kids having to travel eight-plus hours, but they continue to step up and fight,” Higgins said.

SATURDAY: GAME 1 – North Platte CC 17, Northeast CC 15 (8 innings) — With two runners on base in the first inning, freshman Emily Marden (Papillion) lined a two-run triple to ignite the first-inning offensive burst. She scored on a double-steal and a sacrifice bat from Kayleigh Bucio (Rialto, Calif.) gave the Knights the 4-0 lead.

Megan Hernandez-Bellew (Broomfield, Colo.) led off the third with a triple, and she scored after a walk and a NCC error. Bucio made it 6-0 on a sacrifice fly. After allowing a NCC run in the fourth NPCC came back with a two-out rally in the fourth highlighted by a three-run double from Hallei Morales (North Platte) and a Bucio double to make it 10-1.

“We started out strong in Game One (Saturday) against NECC but let them all the way back into the game and had to fight for the win. Having the ability to fight back and not fold is huge but if we do our jobs in the bottom half of the game it wouldn’t have been such a dog fight,” Higgins said.

Freshman Hailey Wilkins (Tyler, Texas) started in the circle for North Platte. She pitched 3.2 innings, Sophomore Ashlynn Krueger (Littleton, Colo.) took over in the third and went 2.2 innings. Marsden pitched the final 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win.

After Norfolk scored three in the fourth and closed to 10-6 with a run in the fifth, the Knights added two more runs in the sixth on a Marsden double, an RBI single from Morales and a two-out triple from Mikayla Gibson, (West Valley, Utah) sophomore.

Northeast tied the game with seven runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to send the game into extras.

The Knights opened with a runner at second and the Hawks committed an error on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Gibson. Lindell singled to right to make it a 16-14 game, she later scored on an infield groundout.

SATURDAY: GAME 2 – Iowa Western 21, North Platte CC 2 – The Reivers came out with three runs in the first inning and busted the game open with a 10-run second inning taking advantage of North Platte errors and powering three home runs on the day.

The Knights were charged with a dozen errors in the game.

“At times this weekend, our defense was turning double plays and making outs quick but we also made a lot for routine/fundamental errors,” Higgins said. “Our pitchers were leaving pitches belt high and flat and they capitalized on our mistakes. It is hard to have 8-10 errors against any team and be able to recover but it is even harder when they are fundamentally sound.”

North Platte had five hits in the game with two from Megan Hernandez-Belew.

Emily Marsden went three innings for North Platte in the circle and Ashlynn Krueger went one.

SUNDAY: GAME 1 – Iowa Western 11, North Platte CC 0 – Iowa Western pitchers Julie Katz and Makayla Epp combined on a one-hit shutout as once again the Reivers came out early to take control of the game with six runs in the first inning three more in the second and added two more in the third.

North Platte’s lone hit came on a fourth-inning single by Emily Marsden.

Hailey Wilkins and Ashlynn Krueger shared pitching duties with Wilkins going 1.1 innings and Krueger 2.2.

“IWCC is always tough and hits the ball very well,” Higgins said.

SUNDAY: GAME 2 – North Platte CC 23, Northeast CC 7 – Willow Chitty (North Platte) snapped out of a one-for-10 start to the weekend to lead a 25-hit North Platte offense with four hits in five at bats, scoring four runs, smacking a double, triple, and driving home three RBIs as the Knights broke open a 1-1 in the second with a six-run second inning and an eight-run third.

The Knights also got four-hit games from Ashlynn Krueger and Sienna Pfaff (Salem, Utah) and three-hit games from Kayleigh Bucio and Emily Marsden. All nine position players who started the game had at least two hits.

“In Game 2 against NECC we hit the ball well, had a few mental lapses but were able to finish strong,” Higgins said.

Krueger and Marsden split pitching duties with Krueger going 2.1 innings allowing six hits and two earned runs. Marsden pitched 2.2 innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs.

The Nebraska volleyball team will play its lone 2019 spring match against Colorado State at McCook Community College in McCook, Nebraska on Saturday, April 20 at 1 p.m.

Approximately 1,300 tickets will go on sale Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m. at the Graff Events Center on the McCook Community College campus. Tickets are $10 for ages 2 and older. All tickets must be paid for in cash. There will be a limit of four tickets sold per person, and you must be 16 or older with an ID in order to purchase tickets.

Doors to the match will open at 11:30 a.m., and the match will air on Husker Sports Network radio affiliates and online at Huskers.com and on the Huskers app. The Husker volleyball players will sign autographs following the match.

The trip to McCook continues Nebraska’s tradition of touring the state for spring volleyball matches. The Huskers played Colorado State in Kearney in 2017 and have also made recent visits to Grand Island, Wayne, Norfolk and Ogallala.

Nebraska is coming off a 2018 season in which it reached the NCAA Final Four for the fourth straight year, a first in program history. The Huskers were the NCAA Runner-Up after dropping a five-set match to Stanford in Minneapolis. NU returns five starters from that squad, including first-team All-American Lauren Stivrins.

COLUMBUS — The North Platte Community College women claimed the Division II Region IX championship Monday with a 68-60 win over Central Community College.

“I could not be more proud of this team,” North Platte Coach Jeff Thurman said. “We battled all night against a very good team. Our student-athletes showed a lot of heart tonight.”

The Knights came out with a purpose leading, 17-9 after 10 minutes, stretched the lead to 12 points near the end of the second quarter and led 33-23 at the half. The Raiders came out in the third period, and not only seized the lead but went on an 18-3 run to lead by 12 points.

“We could have folded in the third quarter being down 12 on the road,” Thurman said, “but this shows how much growth we’ve gone through in the last month or so.”

North Platte trailed 46-40 at the end of the third period but took the game back in the final 10 minutes enjoying a 28-14 fourth-quarter edge.

The Knights took advantage of opportunities at the line in the second half making 14 of 19 free-throw attempts (73.7 percent) while Central only made it to the free-throw line four times, making two free throws.

NPCC also took advantage of second-chance points 17-9 and enjoyed a 50-47 rebound edge for the game.

Sophomore Madisyn Francis (Houston, Texas) led all scorers with 21 points. Sophomore Nahatabaa Nacona (Chinle, Ariz.) scored 17 points and led the Knights with 11 rebounds. Freshman Emily Joseph (St. Petersburg, Fla.) scored 15 points, which included a three-for-seven showing at the 3-point line.

All three of Monday’s top scorers – Nacona, Francis and Joseph were named to the all-Region IX team. Coach Jeff Thurman was named Region IX Coach of the Year.

North Platte also got a double-digit night from freshman Katie Cox (New Port Richey, Fla.) who had 11 points and eight rebounds

For the game The Knights shot 31.8 percent from the field, made seven of 25 shots from beyond the 3-point line (28.0 percent) and made 19 of 26 free throws (73.1 percent)

Central shot 31.9 percent from the field, made seven of 28 shots from distance (25 percent) and nine of 12 free throws (75.0 percent.

The Raiders finish the season at 10-15.

“Winning the Region was our goal in August and we accomplished it by staying together and playing together,” said Thurman.

North Platte improves to 7-22 and will continues the post-season this weekend with a district playoff game — likely Saturday in North Platte. Official time, date and pairings will be announced.

Named to the Region IX team were:

Nahatabaa Nacona, North Platte CC

Madisyn Francis, North Platte CC

Emily Joseph, North Platte CC

Monica Brooks, Central CC

Day zchay Ion Gardner, Central CC

Emily Zvolanek, F, Southeast CC

Region IX Coach of The Year: Jeff Thurman, North Platte CC

North Platte, NE – With an invitation to Sheridan, WY to continue the Region IX tournament on the line the Knights did enough little things right to move on. It doesn’t hurt that they got a little help from McCook on the way.

The Knights knew that this would be a tough game having gone 1-1 against McCook during the season (both teams winning their respective home games) and knowing McCook would be upset after being blown out in North Platte last time they played 91-68. Complicating matters was the Knights starting center Jakub Karwowski would be unavailable after injuring his left leg in the game against Western Nebraska.

The first half started as you would expect it to with both teams coming out and throwing their best game right out of the gate. Neither team would start off with the momentum as they each would keep it close. McCook would call the first time out with 16:44 left on the clock and North Platte in the lead 6-4.

McCook would start to gain a little bit of momentum but North Platte’s talent kept them in the game. Coach O’Connor would take his first time out with 13:40 left in the first half. The Knights had the lead 11-10 and had already gone through 5 lead changes.

McCook would go on a 6-3 run and capitalize on the Knights missing their big man, consistently getting into the paint area. That would draw another time out from North Platte with 12:14 remaining and McCook on top 16-14.

The next three minutes of the game would still belong to McCook, with 9:22 left in the first half the Knights would take yet another time out as they felt the game starting to slip away. McCook had the lead 20-16. It’s at this point coach O’Connor went with a smaller lineup to try to stay in front of the speedy Indian crew.

The smaller lineup would grab back the momentum and go on a 10-5 run of their own prompting a time out from McCook with just under six minutes in the first half. North Platte in the lead 26-25.

For the rest of the first half, the Knights would clamp down defensively and start to impose their will on the game. It was the team we had seen all year long turning defense into easy layups on the other end and getting to the free throw line at will. McCook would miss a layup with about 8 seconds to go. Edgars Kaufmanis would head upcourt and bury a layup of his own at the buzzer. The end of the first half would see the Knights in control 44-37.

All the time outs taken in the first half would be a BIG BIG factor in the game later on (spoiler alert!!).

The second half would mirror the first with the Knights quickly going back to a smaller lineup to counter the speed of the Indians. McCook would take the momentum back from North Platte to start the second half. North Platte would let their guys stay out on the court and fight through the momentum shift until with 8:36 left the Knights would take a time out. McCook would be in the lead at that point 63-62.

Moments later the wheels looked like they would start coming off for McCook, Peanut Cunningham would draw a technical foul after a McCook made basket that would give the Knights a chance for a large point swing. The Knights would capitalize and use that to get things going on their side of the ball.

Neither team would ever lead this game by more than 7 points (North Platte) and with 4:00 on the clock McCook would take a time out down by 3, 72-69. North Platte’s defense was starting to get back into the game and things looked to be going the Knights way at that point.

Fast forward to the last minute of gameplay with the game tied at 82 points. McCook with possession and time ticking down. They would get it across halfcourt and immediately be trapped by the swarming defense of North Platte. McCook would take a time out with 11.8 seconds left on the clock. After conferring with the scorer’s table it was determined that McCook was out of timeouts at this point and would be assessed a technical foul.

Tim Johnson would sink both free throws giving North Platte the lead 84-82. McCook would keep possession of the ball. They would get the look they wanted but miss the layup. Courtney Murrell would snag the rebound and be fouled. He would make 1 of 2 and the Knights would hold on to take the victory 85-82.

The season comes to an end for the McCook Indians with the loss. The Knights earn the right to head to Sheridan WY for the remainder of the Region IX tournament.

The Knights will play Central Wyoming on Thursday, March 7th at 6 pm central time.