NEVC Lady Knights miss out against Lady Eagles 44-47

The NEVC Lady Knights had a tough outing against the Jasper Lady Eagles yesterday evening, as they ended up losing a tight match by three points with a final score of 47-44 in Jasper's favor.

“I thought we played very aggressively,” stated Head Coach Beck Vantellman. “We only had five girls playing tonight who had to give 100% as well as take care of their bodies. I thought we played amazing in my books to win because there were a lot of factors that we couldn't control that kind of turned the game around. I won't speak that much, but I really just thought we played an all around good game.”

NEVC starter Ashlee Keith (No. 1) started off with two three-pointers within the first minute of the first quarter, and had a three point lead over Jasper by the time the quarter ended with a score of 13-10. The orange and black Lady Eagles rebounded back to tie the game in the second quarter, and took the lead at halftime 21-18.

While a great game was going on at the NEVC Gymnasium, refereeing was a different story. Several calls on the court had both sides of the ball scratching their heads, but didn;t favor one side or another. Nonetheless, it was a neck in neck ball game with Jasper barely beating out the Lady Knights in the third quarter 37-36.

It stayed that way all the way through the fourth quarter, but the Lady Knights started getting into foul trouble late in the period. NEVC rebounded both literally and figuratively, but not enough to change the outcome, as the Lady Knights fell to the Lady Eagles with a final score of 47-44.

“Obviously, we get our offenses a little bit tighter,” Coach Vantellman told Nevada Daily Mail. “I've talked with them (the NEVC Lady Knights) about that a lot, and rebounding has improved as well as our turnovers this season. We're trending up in almost every category. We just got to get those last few categories up where they need to be and we should be a good team.”

NEVC’s top scorers were Keith (18 total points), as well as No. 24 Liya Bailey (11 points), and No. 11 Mackenzie Lee (nine points). The Lady Knights only had five players total, which meant that getting into foul trouble was not an option they wanted to seek. Therefore, they only scored 14 personal fouls, with six of them in the first half and eight in the second half of play.

This Friday at home, the NEVC Lady Knights will take on the Weaubleau Lady Tigers around 5:30 p.m. On that game, Coach Vantellman said, “We do not know anything about them except their record, but that can even be deceiving. We are going in with a clean slate. I feel like if we go out there and play our game, it doesn't matter. Just play strong defense. We're just going to go play our way of basketball.”