Iowa Lakes takes Tigers’ tempo away

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Marshalltown Community College sophomore guard Lotte Van Malsen (10) slashes past Iowa Lakes defender Shareece Smith, right, for a layup during the first half of Saturday’s game in the Emerson Classic.

The fast-break attack that paved the way for the Marshalltown Community College women’s basketball team’s victory over DMACC on Friday night was missing from Saturday’s showdown with Iowa Lakes.

Whether or not the Tigers were able to correct their missteps, they at least learned how vital the first step is.

The MCC women got whipped on the boards as Iowa Lakes dominated in rebounding in the Lakers’ eventual 72-49 triumph over the Tigers on the second day of the Emerson Classic. Iowa Lakes (4-2) had a 45-26 advantage on the glass, featuring 16 offensive rebounds that led to 14 second-chance points and prevented Marshalltown (2-6) from generating the up-tempo offense that proved so pivotal to Friday’s four-point win over DMACC.

“They got into their game based on their offensive rebounding and that controlled the game for them,” said MCC head coach Steve Garber. “They were completely in control the whole game based upon that, and that was from the onset. And we told [our team] to prepare for it and we didn’t follow through.”

Nine different players pulled down an offensive rebound for Iowa Lakes, which took the lead for good with 3 minutes, 10 seconds to go in the first quarter. MCC battled back to even, 20-all, when Laurin Lyons converted a layup against the Lakers’ full-court pressure, but a back-door layup for Safiyer Coleman put Iowa Lakes on top again.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

The Lakers stretched their advantage to six points, 28-22, before MCC countered with the last five points of the first half. Lyons made a pair of free throws and Nuria Castillo banked in a buzzer-beater from half court to make it 28-27 Iowa Lakes at the break.

Lyons scored the Tigers’ first four points of the second half and Eva Caballo attacked the basket for a layup to make it 33-all with 7:12 remaining in the third quarter, but Iowa Lakes outscored MCC 19-7 the rest of the period powered by Tiger turnovers and Laker free throws.

Iowa Lakes was 9-for-12 at the charity stripe in the third quarter and 8-of-11 in the fourth after going 1-for-2 at the line for the entire first half. Although they were undersized across the board, MCC’s foul problems and lack of punch offensively were perpetrated by their performance on the defensive end of the court.

“We know what type of tempo we need to build and we know what creates that tempo, and that’s playing defense and rebounding,” said Garber, “and until we do that consistently, [our fast-break offense] will be up and down. We need to create that tempo for ourselves.”

Marshalltown made just four field goals in the third quarter and only three 3-pointers in the fourth while going 1-for-1 at the line. The Tigers shot 29.3 percent from the field for the game, plagued by poor shooting from 3-point range (7-for-27).

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Lyons led MCC with 14 points but on 3-of-12 shooting. Carballo added nine points, Castillo finished with eight and Carla Collado added a pair of 3-pointers off the bench. Lotte van Malsen led the Tigers with six rebounds.

There was an obviously lack of aggressiveness from MCC’s offense due to the prolonged absence of sophomore guard Dana Stokes from the lineup, who didn’t check into the game until the midpoint of the second quarter. Garber acknowleged the team was missing her on the court, and that her limited playing time wasn’t related to Friday night’s technical foul.

“No, had nothing to do with the technical, had to do with today,” he said. “Not having Dana in there affects our ability to create some things, and we just didn’t have the confidence I don’t think. [We were] probably tired too. We play a few players a lot of minutes and that stuff’s going to happen.

“This is the third time we’ve played back-to-back and we’ve failed to really play as good the second game as we did the first game.”

For two and a half quarters on Saturday, MCC was right there with Iowa Lakes before the feet got slow on defense and the desire to push the pace on offense had all but entirely dissipated. The Lakers took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter and stretched it to the final margin, outscoring the Tigers 20-9 in the final period.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

The attacking style that worked out so well in Friday’s 68-64 victory over DMACC will get tested again in two days as Marshalltown travels to Boone to meet the Bears again on Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m.

The Tigers are back at home on Thursday with a 6 p.m. game against County Upper Basketball Academy of Bury St Edmunds, England.

“We’ll see how they react and how they respond in practice Monday and game Tuesday over in Boone,” Garber said. “In the past they have reacted pretty positively. I think the team in a way has a little bit of togetherness in it, so hopefully they’ll hash things out and respond appropriately like I anticipate they will, like I expect they should, and we will see.”

Emerson Classic

At Marshalltown Community College

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Friday’s Scores

WOMEN

Iowa Lakes 74, Central (Neb.) 40

Marshalltown CC 68, DMACC 64

MEN

Iowa Lakes 93, Independence (Kan.) 87

Marshalltown CC 76, John Wood (Ill.) 74

Saturday’s Scores

WOMEN

Central (Neb.) 64, DMACC 59

Iowa Lakes 72, MCC 49

MEN

Iowa Lakes 95, John Wood 89

Independence (Kan.), MCC

——

WOMEN

Iowa Lakes CC 72, Marshalltown CC 49

IOWA LAKES (4-2) — Wendland 5-12 4-5 14, S. Smith 4-7 0-0 11, Pacheco 4-10 0-0 9, Rehse 1-7 3-4 5, Coleman 2-9 4-8 8, Vaughn 1-5 0-0 2, Hayden 2-3 2-2 6, Weasel Head 1-2 0-0 2, Imani Reid 0-0 0-0 0, Broussard 2-6 1-2 5, O’Donnell 3-5 4-4 10. TOTALS 25-66 18-25 72.

MCC (2-6) — van Malsen 1-4 1-2 3, Lyons 3-12 6-8 14, Castillo 3-7 0-0 8, Zaragoza 1-2 0-2 3, Carballo 4-12 1-1 9, Ervin 1-1 0-0 3, R. Smith 2-11 0-2 4, Collado 2-8 0-0 6, Stokes 0-1 0-0 0, D. Smith 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17-58 8-15 49.

IOWA LAKES 13 15 24 20 — 72

MCC 9 18 13 9 — 49

3-Point Goals–Iowa Lakes 4-22 (S. Smith 3-5, Pacheco 1-5, Hayden 0-1, Weasel Head 0-1, Wendland 0-3, Vaughn 0-3, Rehse 0-4); MCC 7-27 (Lyons 2-6, Castillo 2-6, Collado 2-7, Ervin 1-1, Carballo 0-1, Stokes 0-1, R. Smith 0-2, van Malsen 0-3). Rebounds–Iowa Lakes 45 (Rehse 12); MCC 26 (van Malsen 6). Assists–Iowa Lakes 12 (Vaughn 5); MCC 9 (Carballo 3). Total Fouls–Iowa Lakes 23, MCC 23. Fouled Out–van Malsen.

: T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE – Marshalltown Community College sophomore guard Lotte Van Malsen (10) slashes past Iowa Lakes defender Shareece Smith, right, for a layup during the first half of Saturday’s game in the Emerson Classic.