Doing the same things that led to that margin of defeat the first time around was not what MCC head coach Steve Garber had in mind.

The Tigers got pounded on the boards and made even more turnovers than their first meeting with the Lakers, falling by a similar score — 67-49 — as their first meeting with Iowa Lakes nearly a month ago in the Emerson Classic (72-49).

Marshalltown (4-10) managed to keep the Lakers (10-4) within arm’s reach for most of the first half until a five-point surge by Iowa Lakes over the final 2 minutes made it a double-digit deficit for the Tigers.

MCC roared back behind the 3-point shooting of Carla Collado in the third quarter, climbing back to within 48-39, before another end-of-the-period push by Lakers left the Tigers in their wake for good. Iowa Lakes outscored MCC 7-0 over the last 3:37 of the third and maintained at least a 16-point advantage the rest of the way.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“I didn’t really get on them, they’ve know since Day 1 what our weaknesses are,” Garber said of the halftime break. “They know what we need to do and either follow through and want to do those things, or they don’t and some individuals remain to do the same thing they’ve always done, which isn’t good. That’s the thing we mentioned here in the postgame — you keep doing the same things over and over again, things don’t change. So once you change, the results will change.”

Marshalltown made 18 turnovers — six more than its last meeting with Iowa Lakes — and got outrebounded 40-24. The Lakers scored 34 of their 67 points in the paint and added another 14 from the free-throw line.

MCC’s defense simply struggled to stay in front of the Iowa Lakes offense, and the Lakers shot 47.2 percent for the game. A sterling 58 percent effort in the first half had the Tigers chasing from the outset.

“I consider basketball an ultimate team game,” Garber said. “If there’s one cog that’s not working with the other four, then the team is not as good as it can be. There always seems to be one player out there not on the same page as the other four, or two out there not on the same page as the other three, and that’s been a problem as well is just not clicking with five players out there.”

Collado came away with a career-high 17 points to lead MCC, shooting 6-for-11 from the field thanks to a 5-for-10 performance from 3-point range. She scored eight points in a 10-4 Tiger surge that brought MCC to within nine, 48-39, with 3:52 left in the third quarter before Iowa Lakes responded with the deciding run.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“Carla’s starting to come around,” Garber said. “She had 16 points our last game and 17 tonight. She’s starting to make some shots and adding that scoring aspect, and that’s a good thing.”

Laurin Lyons finished with 13 points, going 9-for-12 from the free-throw line to atone for 2-for-15 shooting from the field, and led the Tigers with nine rebounds — five of which were on the offensive glass.

Eva Carballo came off the bench to contribute nine points for MCC, which is now off for the holiday break. The Tigers return to action Jan. 7, 2020, with a home game against the Graceland University JV.

“It doesn’t matter who we play, anytime we go on the basketball floor it’s rebounding and defense and making good decisions on offense — playing team basketball,” Garber said. “Who we play is irrelevant, it’s just trying to get this group of individuals to understand some things.

“There will be a few changes, getting different people in different places when we come back, so we’ll see what we can do to make things better for the team.”

Iowa Lakes CC 67, Marshalltown CC 49

IOWA LAKES (10-4) — Wendland 4-10 1-2 9, Vaughn 0-1 0-0 0, S. Smith 7-12 4-6 18, Rehse 1-3 2-2 5, Coleman 3-7 1-2 8, Pacheco 0-2 0-0 0, Hollie Jones 2-3 3-4 8, Broussard 3-8 3-4 9, O’Donnell 5-7 0-1 10. TOTALS 25-53 14-21 67.

MCC (4-10) — van Malsen 1-4 0-0 2, R. Smith 1-4 1-2 3, Collado 6-11 0-0 17, Lyons 2-15 9-12 13, Zaragoza 0-2 2-4 2, Ervin 0-5 0-2 0, Castillo 1-5 0-0 3, Carballo 4-9 0-0 9. TOTALS 15-55 12-20 49.

IA LAKES 19 21 15 12 — 67

MCC 13 15 11 10 — 49

3-Point Goals–Iowa Lakes 3-12 (Coleman 1-1, Hollie Jones 1-2, Rehse 1-3, Wendland 0-1, Vaughn 0-1, Pacheco 0-1, S. Smith 0-3), MCC 7-27 (Collado 5-10, Carballo 1-2, Castillo 1-4, Ervin 0-1, van Malsen 0-2, R. Smith 0-2, Lyons 0-6). Rebounds–Iowa Lakes 40 (S. Smith 8), MCC 24 (Lyons 9). Total Fouls–Iowa Lakes 15, MCC 16. Fouled Out–Ervin.