Judging by the score at halftime, the casual fan would have thought the game was over as the Marshalltown Community College women’s basketball team trailed Iowa Lakes Community College 41-24 at the break.

Clearly that wasn’t the thought in the Tigers locker room, however, as MCC came out hot in the third quarter, dropping in 19 points and holding the Lakers to six to claw their way back into the game.

Unfortunately for the Tiger faithful, Iowa Lakes held off the MCC surge in the fourth quarter to secure a 63-53 win, but head coach Steve Garber said his girls haven’t looked better so far coming out of halftime.

“That was our best third quarter of the year, that’s what I told the girls and that’s a positive element of it,” Garber said. “They came out a little bit more focused and ready to do something about it and in the game of college basketball a 20-point lead isn’t all that much. We showed we had some resilience coming back and putting ourselves in the ball game, but we couldn’t finish.”

Tigers leading scorer Loralei Siliga specifically came out strong in the third quarter, netting eight of her game-high 26 points in the frame. Siliga said this was the final opportunity for the team to show improvement before the long winter break, so they wanted to play hard and attempt to come away with the victory.

“It was our last game before the break so we wanted to fight hard with all we had,” Siliga said. “This was our best third quarter yet, so I am pretty proud of everyone, we all worked pretty hard.”

Siliga, who also recorded three assists and three steals in the loss, finished the first half of the season averaging over 18 points and eight rebounds a game. Garber said he knows what he will get on a nightly basis from his strong sophomore, but he needs some other girls to step up and get it done.

“We don’t have enough horses at this point other than Loralei, she has to carry most of the load because and she’s doing it because no one else is stepping up,” he said. “That’s a testament to her of trying to fight in there by herself but it’s also a lack of a testament to others who aren’t stepping up.”

To add to Garber’s point, Siliga took 26 of the team’s 58 shots on the night, mainly because she is the go-to scoring option. Freshman Maria Cruz Uceda is continuing to develop nicely, however, as she scored 10 points for her second-straight double-digit effort, and she hauled in eight rebounds to lead the team.

Iowa Lakes (3-9) was led by Mia Wassink’s 21 points, while Calynn Jackson and Marissa Ruiz had 17 and 12 respectively. Jackson and Ruiz specifically were hot from 3-point land to start the game, as they combined to make seven 3-pointers in the first half, but neither hit a three in the second half.

Garber said he knew Jackson and Ruiz weren’t usually such sharp shooters, and he bet on them eventually cooling off.

“I knew they wouldn’t be that hot, their stats don’t show that they shoot very well. They were hot, but we just went man and identified the shooters and non-shooters and at that point you hope that they get it,” he said. “I think just going man alone helped in that regards, and that got us in the ball game. We rebounded fairly well, but again in any sport if you can’t score you’re not going to win. And that’s just the bottom line.”

Siliga, who gets most of her points working in the pain, knocked down a pair from behind the arc as well, and she said she’s been working on her distance game to become a more complete player.

“I want to be a player that works inside and out, I think there are a lot of things I have to work on still but I am pretty confident with shooting now more than I was last year,” she said.

The Tigers finish the front half of their schedule at 5-10 after losing all five games in the month of december. Garber said this break will be critical for the future of this team, and he hopes his girls can figure some things out while they are away from the program.

“We will see if anybody is renewed or if anybody is changed or refocused,” he said. “I am sure there will be a couple that are going to be in there, but we are slim pickings so we have to have everybody on board.”

Siliga said this is a good time to take a break from playing, and she thinks the team can use some time away from the game to figure things out and come back strong in January.

“There is a lot of stuff for us to work on and coming back from the break I think we are going to work a lot harder,” she said. “Everyone can go home and relax and think about things they need to work on. Everyone can get some individual work done during these holidays.”

MCC returns to action on Jan. 6 when it travels to take on John Wood Community College.

Iowa Lakes CC 63,

IOWA LAKES (3-9) — Ruiz 4-7 1-2 12, Perez 1-7 0-0 2, Wassink 7-13 7-8 21, Jackson 5-11 2-2 17, Ntor-Ue 0-3 3-4 3, Simms 0-2 0-0 0, Reynolds 0-1 0-0 0, Wesley 1-3 0-0 2, Coleman 3-5 0-0 6. TOTALS 21-52 13-16 63.

MCC (5-10) — Kavanh 0-2 0-0 0, Morente 3-13 0-0 8, Roth 2-3 0-3 5, Siliga 11-26 2-3 26, Uceda 5-12 0-0 10, Roberts 1-1 0-0 3, Jaumandreu 0-1 1-2 1. TOTALS 22-58 3-8 53.

IOWA LAKES 25 16 6 16 — 63

MCC 13 11 19 10 — 53

3-Point Goals–Iowa Lakes 8-22 (Jackson 5-10, Ruiz 3-6, Reynolds 0-1, Perez 0-5), MCC 6-17 (Morente 2-4, Siliga 2-7, Roberts 1-1, Roth 1-2, Kavanh 0-1, Uceda 0-1, Jaumandreu 0-1). Rebounds–Iowa Lakes 46 (Wassink 15), MCC 23 (Uceda 8). Assists–Iowa Lakes 16 (Perez 5), MCC 14 (Morente 6). Total Fouls–Iowa Lakes 18, MCC 14. Fouled Out–Siliga.