Lady Tigers fall to Kansas City Center in home-finale

evada senior Renee Cox scores two points in the first quarter of Friday night's game against Kansas City Center. Cox finished with nine points on Senior Night. (Ralph Pokorny/Daily Mail)

The Nevada Lady Tigers varsity basketball team was unable to recover from a slow start, as they were defeated by the Kansas Center Yellowjackets 60-44, Friday night at home.

The Senior Night West Central Conference loss drops the Lady Tigers to 8-15 overall and 1-9 in WCC-play.

Nevada had difficulty scoring early as point guard Madi Culbertson dropped in the Lady Tigers only basket of the first quarter. Nevada trailed 11-2 entering the second quarter.

Nevada also had a tough time defending Yellowjackets 6-foot-4 freshman center Jasmine Lewis, who dominated the glass while scoring with ease in the low-post.

The Lady Tiger trailed 23-9 late in the second quarter, but were able to close out the half on a 4-0 spurt, courtesy of a Megan Payne lay-up and Jansen Miller steal and bucket at the other end. The Lady Tigers trailed 23-13 at halftime.

Center opened the second half on an 8-0 blitz, as a Kilen Watts basket handed the Yellowjackets a 31-13 advantage.

Nevada's offensive drought ended midway through the third quarter when Culbertson drove hard to the lane and scored. Nevada followed with a basket on its next possession, as Payne found fellow senior Renee Cox in the post for an easy two, cutting its deficit to 14.

After a Yellowjackets basket to put Center back up 16, Cox responded with another basket from deep in the post, making the score 33-19 with 3:03 left in the third.

Trailing by 20 points late in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers began to heat up, with back-to-back baskets from Cox and Payne ---- as Nevada trailed 43-27.

The run continued when Culbertson drilled a trey from the right-wing, reducing its deficit to a bakers dozen with 6:18 to go in the fourth. With 5:45 remaining in regulation, Culbertson stuck a triple from the top of the key, cutting the Center lead to 43-33. That was as close as the Lady Tigers would get, as they were outscored 17-11 over the final five minutes of regulation.

Freshman game

The Lady Tigers freshman basketball team was defeated by K.C. Center 34-17 Thursday night. Nevada is now 5-10-1 on the season.