After Thursday night's 70-61 win over Garden City Community College, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M coach Jim Rowland praised both his team's gutsy effort after a six-and-a-half hour bus ride, and also took time to heap some additional praise on the Lady Busters.

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Garden City Community College forward Amelia Jones puts a shot up over the outstretched arms of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M\'s Autumn Thompson during their game Thursday night at the GCCC Pepsi Classic.

"I think Jake (Ripple) is doing a great job, he's got his team going in the right direction," Rowland said. "Garden City shot the ball well tonight, they hit some 3-pointers that kept them in the game. For us, I know it was a long trip but I didn't want to use that as an excuse. I demand a lot out of my players and they played their butts off tonight. I'm proud of them and coming in here and grabbing a win after a long road trip."

Garden City trailed 33-26 at halftime, but scrapped its way to a 40-39 lead with 14 minutes to play before NEO went on a 9-0 run to take the lead back.

"This is part of the learning process for us," Ripple said. "We've got nothing to be ashamed of. I'm proud of how our kids played tonight."

Amelia Jones led Garden City with 12 points and five rebounds. Amber Brown added 10 points for the Lady Busters and freshman Katie Novack chipped in with 11 points.

"We've got to get to the point where we're playing 40 minutes," Jones said. "We let up just a little bit and that's when you get beat."

the other team will get you, like they did to us tonight."

Garden City returns to action tonight against Howard College at 6 p.m.

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NE Oklahoma 70, Garden City 61

NE Oklahoma (1-0, 0-0): Haley 7-12 4-5 20, Markham 9-15 0-0 19, Fraley 3-5 1-3 7, Rosario 3-10 0-0 6, Rees 3-10 0-0 6, Bassett 2-5 0-0 6, Thompson 1-4 2-2 4, Hedgecorth 0-2 2-3 2, Sisk 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 9-13 70.

Garden City (1-3, 0-0): Jones 5-8 2-2 12, Novack 4-12 2-2 11, Brown 4-11 0-0 10, Young 2-11 3-4 9, Schmitt 3-9 0-0 7, Brown 2-8 0-2 4, Durler, 2-8 0-0 4, Copeland 1-2 0-0 3, Loadholt 0-3 1-2 1, Garlington 0-1 0-0 0, Burnett 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-75 8-12 61.

Halftime--NE Oklahoma 33-26. 3-Point Goals--NE Oklahoma 5-11 (Bassett 2-3, Haley 2-5, Markham 1-1, Hedgecorth 0-1, Sisk 0-1), Garden City 7-22 (Young 2-6, Brown 2-5, Novack 1-4, Schmitt 1-2, Copeland 1-2, Burnett 0-2, Garlington 0-1). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--NE Oklahoma 44 (Rosario 8), Garden City 42 (Young 7). Assists--NE Oklahoma 7 (Fraley, Thompson 2), Garden City 9 (Young 4). Total Fouls--NE Oklahoma 7, Garden City 17.