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MCC’s growth stunted by No. 2 Kirkwood

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM RING • Marshalltown Community College’s Estelle Eduardo (40) drives to the hoop against Kirkwood Community College’s Simone Goods, right, in the first quarter Wednesday at the Student Activity Center. MCC struggled to shoot the ball, and Kirkwood came away with the 77-41 win.

Wednesday’s contest started off slow, and eventually got progressively worse as it wore on for the Tigers.

The Marshalltown Community Collge women’s basketball team fell behind 9-3 to Kirkwood Community College inside the Student Activity Center. The Tigers battled back to get within one, and trailed 14-13 at the end of the first quarter on a Claudia Morente buzzer-beater shot. The Tigers stayed within three through the first three minutes of the second quarter, but an 11-0 Eagle run brought about a 33-19 deficit which MCC could never recover from. The NJCAA Division II No. 2 Eagles continued to pull away from MCC in the second half, taking a 77-41 win.

“We’re just trying to grow,” said MCC coach Steve Garber. “We started off OK, but some players I think took themselves out of the game, mentally. When you do that, things start falling apart and the domino effect type of thing. Some people are trying and keeping focus, and other people aren’t, so that becomes frustrating for everybody else. It’s just a domino effect.

“We’re not a real mature team, mentally. As a matter of fact, it’s an immature team mentally that we’ve been trying to teach, and get them to mentally focus on competing. Keeping their heads in the ball game. Not getting too high, not getting too low. Just focusing on the task at hand. That’s a teaching thing that is in progress still.”

The Eagles (9-0) bested MCC (4-7) in just about every positive statistcial category Wednesday.  Kirkwood shot 44.1 percent from the floor to MCC’s 23.1 percent. MCC was outrebounded 56-29, including allowing the Eagles to pull down 29 boards on the offensive side of the glass. The Tigers committed only three more turnovers than Kirkwood, but the Eagles scored 24 points off turnovers to MCC’s 13.

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM RING • Marshalltown Community College point guard Claudia Morente, left, draws a foul while driving the lane against second-ranked Kirkwood CC Wednesday. Morente led the Tigers with 11 puts, but MCC fell 77-41.

The only area which MCC won was 3-point shooting, an area where both teams struggled. The Tigers managed to shoot 16 percent from beyond the arc (4-for-25), but went 0-for-8 from long range in the third quarter, a quarter where MCC managed to score just six points, while the Eagles shot just 14.3 percent (4-for-28).

Garber pointed out it all goes back to how a team practices, and the game results reflect how a team practices.

“We’re not a good practice team,” Garber said. “Like we tell the kids, you play how you practice. Too often you see how we practice. You can take a look at our game, and you can tell how we practiced. That’s exactly how we practice sometimes. Again, those are teaching lessons we try to get to the players to come in and practice, as short of time as we have to practice these days and this time of the season, working on the things we to work on.

“Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth to get these kids to understand. They’re 18-year-old kids, and some of them are only physically 18. You just have to teach them, and keep teaching.”

Runs of 11-0 and 9-1 in the second half helped the Eagles extend their 41-24 halftime lead even further. Shaneequah Watkins led Kirkwood with 20 points, while pulling seven rebounds off the glass. Simone Goods recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Deleyah Harris contributed 10 points, and 13 different Eagles scored for Kirkwood. Morente’s 11 points were most by any Tiger. Alyssa Roth scored 10 and leading MCC with six rebounds. Sarah Kavanh added six points on back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM RING

MCC is back on its home floor on Monday, hosting Southeastern Community College at 5:30 p.m.

Kirkwood CC 77, Marshalltown CC 41

Kirkwood (9-0) — Deleyah Harris 5-6 0-0 10, Tayana Wilson 0-4 1-2 1, Shaneequah Watkins 7-11 4-7 20, Simone Goods 6-7 1-1 13, Olivia Usher 4-7 1-1 9, Christmas Puok 1-3 0-2 2, Ashley Hedges 0-1 0-0 0, Megan Axcell 1-7 0-0 3, Olivia Schmidt 0-5 2-2 2, Awal Ajak 2-8 3-4 8, Niaja Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Rylee Voss 2-3 0-0 4, TiRayah Cotton 1-2 0-0 2, Candace Wilson 0-2 1-2 1, Kelsey Achenbach 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS 30-68 13-21 77.

MCC (4-7) — Barbara Araoz 1-3 0-2 2, Dalia Cantu 0-6 0-0 0, Loralei Siliga 0-3 2-2 2, Claudia Morente 4-9 2-4 11, Estelle Eduardo 1-7 2-4 5, Sarah Kavanh 2-3 0-0 6, Victoria Pothast 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Roberts 0-4 0-0 0, Al’Venisha Doby 0-4 1-2 1, Alyssa Roth 3-10 4-7 10, Kiana Weston 1-2 2-2 4. TOTALS 12-52 13-23 41.

KIRK    14    27    21    15    —    77

MCC    13    11    6    11    —    41

3-Point Goals–Kirkwood CC 4-28 (Watkins 2-4, Ajak 1-4, Axcell 1-7, Harris 0-1, Wilson 0-1, Goods 0-1, Usher 0-1, Hedges 0-1, Cotton 0-1, Wilson 0-2, Schmidt 0-5); MCC 4-25 (Kavanh 2-3, Morente 1-4, Eduardo 1-5, Doby 0-1, Cantu 0-2, Siliga 0-2, Roberts 0-3, Roth 0-5). Fouled Out–MCC 1 (Roth). Rebounds–KIRK 56 (Goods 10); MCC 29 (Roth 6). Assists–KIRK 18 (Axcell 3); MCC 5 (Morente 2). Total Fouls–KIRK 19, MCC 19.

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