In their final home game of the season, the 8-12 NKC Lady Hornets fell to the 10-11 Lee's Summit Tigers by a score of 37-33.
 
A fourth quarter stall that saw the Hornets not convert a shot– besides a garbage time heave at the buzzer– in the last 3:25, ultimately led to a comeback, fueled almost entirely at the free throw line.
 
The catalyst for such was a turnover on a high-low entry on the Hornets possession after scoring, leading 30-29. Yar Manyiel caught the entry high, faced up and tried to find Angeer Riak low, the pass sailed, and the Tigers stole the momentum, scoring the games next 8 points.
 
The Tiger's zone seemed to relegate the Hornets to deep shots, at which they have shot a combined 3/39 over their last three games, hitting just 2 of 14 looks on the night, whereas the Tigers hit 8/21 from beyond the arc, accounting for a majority of their scores.
 
Benassi led the charge with 13, also posting 6 steals for the Tigers, aided by Keira Love (10 points) and Avery Rausch (9)
 
The Hornets struggles stil lie in their absence of familiar faces, as the freshman, and team leading scorer LaNicia Parker– who finished with 9– is in just her second game back from a meniscus injury, and sophomore starters Lily O'Brien (head) and Hailey Black (ankle) are likely sidelined for the remainder of the season.
 
Despite this, the Hornets still held leads in the second half, and came back from down 21-16 at the break.
 
In the first half, Rausch, Bresette and Benassi connected from deep to grab early momentum, and worked the ball well, which paid off in the much faster second half.
 
Before the game, the Lady Hornets honored their 8 seniors (5 players, 3 managers): Akolda Riak, Dede Riak, Angeer Riak, Janelle Douyon, Mehran Karimi, Jojo Payne, Kennady Washington, and Sana Khalifah.
 
The Lady Hornets have two remaining regular season games, on the road against #18 St. Joe Central (15-7), pending based on weather concerns for Thursday, and Monday against #19 Park Hill South (15-8). They will likely possess the 7th seed for the district tournament, and the bracket will be decided this coming Saturday.