Sophomore forward Laurin Lyons wasn’t in the Tigers’ starting lineup for the first time in 18 games this season, and her absence was felt from the moment MCC misfired out of the starting block in an eventual 97-47 loss to the visiting Hawks on Sunday at the Student Activity Center.

Pushed back a day because of hazardous road conditions caused by Friday’s winter storm, the game featured a Northeast team that hadn’t lost since Nov. 23, 2019, and an MCC program that hadn’t won a conference contest in more than five years.

Take away the Tigers’ engine, as head coach Steve Garber characterized Lyons, and it didn’t add up to much for MCC.

Northeast (18-2, 2-0) jumped out to a 16-2 lead midway through the first quarter, led 47-14 at the half, and eventually ran its winning streak to 10 games behind a juggernaut offense that nearly reached 100 points for the third time this season.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

It was the most points the Tigers had allowed since their season opener, when oft-ranked Moberly Area CC rolled MCC 115-33.

“Laurin Lyons is kind of the engine, so to speak, as far as offense and attacking and playing hard, and she’s been sick so she didn’t practice the other day,” Garber said of his second-leading scorer and leading rebounder. “I just sat her out and gave her limited minutes, and she had to be pulled out occasionally today just because of breathing difficulties. That hurt us. She’s our leader, she’s our captain, and when you take that out of this group of people it very negatively effects everybody else because she’s the engine.

“You take the engine out of a car, it’s just everybody pushing a piece of metal and no one stepped up and did anything about it, and that’s just what this team is at this point of the season.”

Lyons, the Tigers’ second-leading scorer and top rebounder, still finished with seven points and a team-high five rebounds in her 13 minutes of court time. Leading scorer Dana Stoakes knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 18 points to pace MCC in the program’s 21st consecutive ICCAC Division I defeat.

Lotte van Malsen added six points, while Carla Collado and Eva Zaragoza chipped in four points apiece for the Tigers (5-13, 0-2).

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Sunday marked the seventh time this season that Marshalltown didn’t score at least 50 points.

“We need to score,” Garber said bluntly. “We have a group of individuals that have to understand the game is a scoring game. You don’t run the offense just to run the offense — you run the offense to score.

“People were open that didn’t shoot and that just kills us. I’d rather have them go zero-for-10 than not shoot at all, that just shows the aggressiveness and the attack mode that you have to be in mentally in order to score. We didn’t have that, no purpose whatsoever, and that’s a lack of leadership and Laurin is our leader so that’s what happens.”

Northeast’s offense didn’t need any reminders of the goal of the game. The Hawks shot 37-for-62 from the field (59.7 percent), was 10-for-20 from 3-point range and scored 31 points in the third quarter alone.

Five players scored in double digits for the Hawks, led by Beth Matas and Macey Kulhanek with 15 points apiece. Matas made five 3-pointers as Northeast’s offense didn’t settle until it had uncontested layups or wide-open looks from the perimeter.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Kyla Moore contributed 14 points, and Breanna Stouffer and Lorna Maxon added 13 points each.

The Hawks haven’t lost since Nov. 23, 2019.

“They’re shooters,” Garber shruggled. “They’ve got scorers, you’ve got to guard. If one person lets down [defensively], that’s going to hurt you.”

Sunday’s game was the first of seven-straight at home for the Tigers, who entertain the William Penn junior varsity on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. MCC’s remaining schedule consists of nine home games and two road trips.

NOTEBOOK

Marshalltown’s roster reflected a few changes from the first semester. Sophomore center Danielle Smith is no longer with the team, while freshman guard Rachelle Smith was missing from the active lineup because of family reasons.

The Tigers added MCC volleyball standout Marija Egic, a 6-foot-1 sophomore from Crvenka, Serbia, and she played the final 7 minutes, 13 seconds of Sunday’s game. Egic accumulated no statistics aside from one personal foul in her collegiate basketball debut.

“She just came to me and says ‘if you need a player, if you’d like to have me on the team, I’m game,'” Garber said. “Sure, why not? The more the merrier. She practiced one time and we’ll continue to go over some of the plays so she can learn them and maybe give her a couple little skill drills to work on because her height is a factor, can be a factor.

“I know she’s active defensively and rebounding-wise, and we need a little bit of everything.”

Northeast CC 97, Marshalltown CC 47

NORTHEAST (18-2, 2-0) — Matas 5-8 0-0 15, Moore 5-9 3-4 14, Hadzihusejnovic 4-8 0-0 9, Stouffer 6-9 0-0 13, Maxon 6-7 0-0 13, Kleffner 1-3 1-1 3, Carbonell 2-4 1-1 6, Zagorac 3-6 1-1 7, Kulhanek 5-8 5-7 15, Ollendick 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 37-62 11-14 95.

MCC (5-13, 0-2) — Collado 1-5 1-3 4, Stokes 6-12 3-4 18, Castillo 1-6 0-0 3, Zaragoza 2-4 0-0 4, Carballo 1-7 1-2 3, Egic 0-0 0-0 0, Ervin 0-2 2-2 2, van Malsen 2-4 1-2 6, Lyons 3-7 1-2 7. TOTALS 16-47 9-15 47.

NORTHEAST 23 24 31 19 — 97

MCC 5 9 18 15 — 47

3-Point Goals–Northeast 10-20 (Matas 5-7, Hadzihusejnovic 1-1, Moore 1-2, Maxon 1-2, Stouffer 1-3, Carbonell 1-3, Zagorac 0-1, Kulhanek 0-1), MCC 6-20 (Stokes 3-6, van Malsen 1-2, Castillo 1-3, Collado 1-5, Carballo 0-1, Lyons 0-3). Rebounds–Northeast 29 (Maxon 10), MCC 18 (Lyons 5). Assists–Northeast 16 (Carbonell 4), MCC 8 (Ervin 3). Total Fouls–Northeast 18, MCC 14. Fouled Out–none.