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Hawks spoil sophomore night for MCC women

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown Community College freshman Whitley Ervin (4) puts up a shot in the lane over Northeast’s Jade Blackburn during the second half of the Tigers’ 78-48 loss to the Hawks.

The Marshalltown Community College women’s basketball team wrapped the regular season on Friday with a 78-48 home loss to ICCAC Division I foe Northeast Community College at the Student Activity Center.

While on the surface it was a 30-point blowout for the Hawks, the Tigers actually showed a lot of growth in the contest, considering the first time they met this season Northeast won by 56 points.

MCC womens head coach Steve Garber said his team making up 26 points against the Hawks shows that the players are coming along, and they will get another chance at making up ground when the Tigers play Northeast in the NJCAA Region XI tournament next week.

“Our goal is to play our best ball at the end of the season, so that’s kind of where we are,” Garber said. “Hopefully we can get even better and compete more aggressively on Wednesday and see where it lands, and we go from there.”

Half of the 26 points was made up on the offensive end, as MCC (6-21, 0-4) held the Hawks (14-10, 2-2) to 13 less points. The other half was on the offensive end, where the Tigers managed 13 more points, and Garber said that effort coupled with a 59-48 win against the Graceland junior varsity on Tuesday and a 72-61 loss to the Grand View junior varsity on Thursday gives him confidence in how the offense has progressed.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown Community College sophomore Anna Jaumandreu, front, takes a shot against Northeast defender Blake Mann during the second half of the Tigers’ 78-48 loss to the Hawks in the regular season finale on Friday in Marshalltown.

“Last night they ran the sets very good, I was really pleased with our offense last night when we played down at Grand View,” he said. “They’ve just been coming along, getting more comfortable with the offense, looking for each other a little bit more. I am pleased with how the offense is being run, there are some things that we could do a little differently but overall I think we are looking for each other and looking to be more aggressive to score.”

Clara Solsona was again the beneficiary of the more potent scoring, finishing with a game-high 12 points for the Tigers. Sophomore Anna Jaumandreu, the lone sophomore who played in her final home game on Friday, was next in scoring with eight points, followed by Dana Stokes and Eva Carballo with seven apiece.

Jaumandreu was the only girl who returned from a season ago, and Garber said it was fitting that she score well in her final game at the Student Activity Center.

“She is very consistent and focused, she doesn’t let exterior things bother her as far as she knows what she wants to do on the academic side,” he said. “She’s an excellent student and keeps her nose to the grindstone on her academics, goes to class and does very well. Her degree is very important to her and she’s been a model citizen in that regards.

“On the floor she’s been consistent and continues to get better. Some of her offensive abilities have really gotten better this year, she’s grown and to see that growth is because of the efforts that she’s given and the mental focus that she’s given. When you want to improve and are focused on improving, you improve, and she’s been the model of that.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

While the offense looked better against the Hawks, Garber said the defense still gave up too many points. No Northeast player scored more than 10 points, but Jade Blackburn, Irene Sanz and Caitlin Orton all had 10 points, while Teagan Pompa and Kyla Moore both had nine.

“Defense is our weakness, and it has been all year,” Garber said. “It’s a mentality thing, I keep stressing the same things over and over, we’re not a real physical team, we’re not a big team, but you can be physical and not be big and we still haven’t got that yet. We don’t have that mentality in our guard play that is aggressive and deals with physical contact. They’re just not used to contact I guess, that’s what we keep trying to stress and focus on and maybe one day it will come.”

A year ago the MCC women played Northeast three times and seemed to get a little closer to getting the win each time out. With a regional playoff matchup again set against the Hawks for this year, Garber said he’s seen a similar trajectory.

“They’ve learned us and we’ve learned them. Whoever makes the adjustments, you just try to get better. I am concerned with my players and getting better and that’s what we will focus on and see where it lies,” he said. “When the postseason comes around it’s a learning process. We will get after it and continue to learn.”

The Tigers will travel to Norfolk, Neb., on Wednesday for a third and final meeting with Northeast in the NJCAA Region XI tournament, starting at 5:00 p.m.

Northeast CC 78, Marshalltown CC 48

NORTHEAST (14-10, 2-2) — Erianna Brown 4-6 0-0 8, Jade Blackburn 4-7 2-2 10, Lauren Hunstad 3-6 1-2 8, Irene Sanz 4-10 1-1 10, Teagan Pompa 3-5 2-2 9, Kyla Moore 3-8 2-2 9, Caitlin Orton 5-7 0-1 10, Katie Richards 0-0 2-2 2, Blake Mann 0-2 0-0 0, Jacalyn Schwanebeck 1-2 0-0 2, Macey Kulhanek 3-5 0-0 6, Emina Hadzihusejnovic 1-1 2-2 4. TOTALS 31-59 12-14 78.

MARSHALLTOWN CC (6-21, 0-4) — Dana Stokes 3-7 1-1 7, Laurin Lyons 1-4 1-2 3, Anna Jaumandreu 3-10 1-2 8, Clara Solsona 5-13 0-2 12, Danielle Smith 2-8 2-2 6, Whitley Ervin 0-1 1-2 1, Carla Collado 1-4 2-2 4, Eva Carballo 3-7 1-3 7. TOTALS 18-54 9-16 48.

Northeast 20 19 20 19 — 78

MCC 9 10 17 12 — 48

3-Point Goals–Northeast 4-15 (Hunstad 1-2, Pompa 1-3, Moore 1-3, Sanz 1-6, Mann 0-1), MCC 3-19 (Solsona 2-8, Jaumandreu 1-4, Stokes 0-2, Collado 0-2, Lyons 0-3). Rebounds–Northeast 41 (Sanz, Orton 7), MCC 27 (Stokes 9). Assists–Northeast 15 (Blackburn, Sanz 3), MCC 9 (Solsona 3). Total Fouls–Northeast 15, MCC 13. Fouled Out–none.

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