Lady Rangers open tourney with victory

Published 6:41 pm Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Staff Reports

CASPER, Wyo. — The Kilgore College Lady Rangers are still undefeated in the first round of NJCAA National Tournament games.

Nakiyah Allen scored 25 points and just missed a double-double, Anyla Herbert added 10 for the Lady Rangers and No. 17 seed Kilgore rolled to a 75-59 win over No. 16 Walters State (Tennessee) in the first game of the national tournament on Tuesday at the Ford Wyoming Center.

The win moves Kilgore to 24-9 on the season, and the Lady Rangers will take on No. 1 seed Chipola (Florida) at 11 a.m. on Thursday in the second round of the tournament. Chipola (30-3) had a first-round bye.

Walters State ends its season at 25-6.

Allen collected nine rebounds and dished out three assists for the Lady Rangers, who led 12-9 after one quarter and 32-30 at halftime before outscoring the Senators 25-11 in the third period.

Herbert had three rebounds for KC. Madison Bob finished with nine points, five rebounds and seven assists, Jarahle Daniels eight points and nine rebounds, Ja’Sani Green eight points and four rebounds, Lucy Henderson six points and five rebounds, Camryn Beck six points and three steals, Kamari Forrest two points and Rhianna Battles one point.

Kyra Perkins, Alexis Hood and Raegan Starks all had 13 points in the loss for Walters State.

Walters State tied the game at 32-32 with a bucket 55 seconds into the third quarter, but Herbert answered with a hoop 16 seconds later to put KC on top 34-32 and the Lady Rangers never trailed again.

Allen had nine points and Herbert eight in the decisive third quarter. Daniels, Bob and Beck all added buckets in the quarter, and Green and Battles hit free throws.

The Lady Rangers are making their seventh appearance in the national tournament, and they have now won first-round games in all seven trips to the big dance.

In 1986, KC opened the tournament with a 70-47 wins over Anderson College (South Carolina) and Barton County (Kansas) before losing to John A. Logan (Illinois) and eventually finishing seventh.

In 1987, the Lady Rangers defeated Vincennes (Indiana) to open the tournament, but fell to Northeast Mississippi in the second round before defeating John A. Logan and falling to Central Arizona to place sixth.

Kilgore won it all in 1988, defeating Lees (Kentucky), Moberly (Missouri), Northeast Oklahoma and John A. Logan.

The Lady Rangers captured the program’s second national title in 1990, defeating Louisburg (North Carolina), Southeast Illinois, Connors State (Oklahoma), Barton County (Kansas) and Emmanuel College (Georgia).

In 1991, KC placed fourth nationally, opening with a win over Muskegon (Mich.) and defeating Hinds (Mississippi) before falling to Northeastern Oklahoma and Palm Beach (Florida).