Chanute, KS — The Neosho County Community College Women's basketball team tipped off the 2018-19 season in fine fashion with a 91-81 win over nationally ranked #13 Labette County Community College.

Neosho County (1-0) returned the favor to Labette (0-1), after the Cardinals stole a 97-49 win in last year's season opener at Labette.

"I am really happy with the way we finished the quarters and went after them," Neosho head coach JJ Davis said. "Our offense was off to a slow start from the three-point line, so it was good we finished well in the paint."

The Panthers were down by only 9 points at halftime with the score 47-36. The Lady Panthers came out with a chip on their shoulder and shut the Cardinals down. Neosho forced Labette into 33 team turnovers and out-scored Labette in the second half 56 to 35.

As a team, Neosho County shot 47 percent compared to 38 percent for the Cardinals. The Neosho County women's basketball team scored the last 13 points of Thursday night's home game against #13 ranked Labette Community College.

Sophomore Calea Augustin led the Panthers in scoring on Thursday, she finished with 14 points and five rebounds, while Alexis Casher added 13 points and ripped down a total of 11 rebounds. Sophomore Erica Birch poured in 12 points and 5 rebounds. Newcomers Chrissy Brown and Jessica Jones contributed 9 points each and Hayley Stiger chipped in 9 points and snagged 5 rebounds. Newcomer Bre'Anna Evans added 11 points.

Coach Davis felt his team needed to work on their shooting from beyond the arc. Neosho went 4-for-18 from the 3-point line shooting 22%.

Neosho County will look to build off Thursday's victory when they host Northern Oklahoma-Enid on November 6, 2018 tip-off 5:30 P.M. #TheNeoshoWay