In a classic barn burner, the NKC Lady Hornets held on to beat their rivals from up the road, the Oak Park Lady Oakies, 37-31.
 
The game came down to its final possessions, as the Lady Oakies would not go down easy in the final frame. If there were to be a book on how not to win close games, one big bullet point would be throwing away an inbounds pass, up 5 with 15 seconds to go, however, the Hornets did just that, throwing away an opportunity to close the door a bit earlier.
 
Nonetheless, the Hornets came away unscathed, as Delaney Harbrucker committed the second bullet point featured in "How Not to Win Close Games": missing the first half of a 1-and-1, effectively placing the dagger in the Lady Oakies.
 
The reason for the close knit contest falls almost totally in unforced errors. The Hornets turned the ball over 27 times, including a barrage of ill-timed travels. The bright side of this, lies in the return of freshman standout, LaNicia Parker, from a stint on the bench with a meniscus injury. Parker would finish with 4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals in her return.
 
Another bright spot for the Hornets was sophomore guard ArJanay Landers, who set up countless buckets with passes into tight windows, most of which down low to leading scorer, Angeer Riak. Riak finished with 11 points on 5/7 shooting, along with totalling 9 rebounds, 1 short of her first career double-double, mostly due to a zone look that created a short corner soft spot.
 
The Hornets did not score without trouble, however, as they settled for 12 looks behind the arc, the lone make coming from Taj Carter, to create an 8% performance from 3. Despite this, the Hornets played well on the defensive end, slowing down Oak Park scorers Rylan and Linsdsie Bishop, mostly by way of a consistent pressured attack that put Rylan in foul trouble (2 offensive fouls)
 
The Hornet win leads them to a 3-4 conference record, in which they hold 4th place. The Oakies loss drops them to 0-7 in conference, holding last.
 
The Hornet's take on the Lee's Summit Tigers tonight, for senior night, in which they'll honor their programs seniors, and look to even their conference record.
 
The Oakies move on to play Park Hill South, and St. Joe Central (both ranked opponents), in their final week of regular season play.