One night after playing every minute of a nail-biting 68-64 over the Central College junior varsity, Lyons helped her team earn her some reprieve.

Lyons scored a career-high 23 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds, and her double-double led the Tigers to wins on back-to-back nights for the first time this season with Wednesday’s 81-60 triumph over the Graceland University JV.

MCC (8-16) led by as many as 32 points in the second half, just moments after Lyons went to the bench for the final 6:25 thanks to a comfortable lead against a team the Tigers had already defeated once this winter. Marshalltown returned from the holiday break with a 94-43 win over the Graceland JV on Jan. 7, and nearly one month later made it 2-for-2 against the Yellowjackets.

But just 24 hours after needing to score five of the final six points to break a 63-all tie to beat the Central JV, the Tigers were neck-and-neck with the Yellowjackets after the first quarter of their rematch.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Marshalltown Community College sophomore guard Eva Carballo (44) slashes between Graceland defenders Rachel Buntin, left, and Kaitlin Manning, right, during the second half of Wednesday’s game at the Student Activity Center. Carballo had 15 points in the Tigers’ 81-60 win.

“We were dead on the defensive end, we were just behind one notch,” said MCC head coach Steve Garber. “We just didn’t have that extra effort, the extra little zap to keep us energized. It was just a blasé kind of feel to our defense and whether that was because we beat them soundly the first time, whether that’s the back-to-back games, whether that’s because of the lack of Dana (Stokes) for some energy out there, it could have been any of those but we don’t look for excuses. You just show up and play.”

In the second quarter, MCC turned up the pressure with a full-court defense and changed the trajectory of the rest of the game.

“I know we weren’t as timid because we did beat them, but I think we came out a little soft,” said Lyons. “We should have came out a little harder, but knowing that we beat them I think it kind of helped us to know we could do this again.

“Sometimes if we feel a little sluggish, I feel like when coach tells us ’13’ our energy gets picked up and that’s when we score most of our points or that’s when we get going with our game.”

Marshalltown forced seven turnovers in the second quarter alone and capitalized in the form of an 11-0 run in the latter half of the period. Lyons started the streak with a pair of free throws, Eva Carballo and Nuria Castillo sank consecutive 3-pointers, Carballo converted a Carla Collado steal into a layup, and another free throw from Lyons saw MCC’s lead grow from five to 16 in a span of just 2:05.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“It does give us some energy and that’s one thing we’re doing a lot more to give us that energy just to get them going up and down the floor,” Garber said. “That fits a little bit more into our style.”

The Tigers’ 44-31 halftime lead nearly doubled after the third quarter, growing to 65-41 thanks to another period of full-court pressure from MCC.

Marshalltown made another double-digit run in the third, holding Graceland scoreless for a span of more than four minutes. The Tigers’ 12-0 spurt included 3-pointers for Lyons and Castillo, back-to-back baskets for Eva Zaragoza and a Lyons layup off a Whitley Ervin steal.

Lyons’ last basket came at the 7:56 mark in the form of a three-point conversion as she cashed in a layup and sank her free throw to make it 71-43. She went to the bench less than two minute later and stayed there for the remainder, although her presence on the court was still felt.

“Most importantly it’s my last season, I’m not moving on so this is my last time after 12 years of playing basketball,” said Lyons, a 5-foot-8 forward from Grand Junction. “I just want to end it with a bang, just go out and play. It was really hard [to decide] but I really want to focus on my education of becoming a teacher so I made that decision to be done after this year.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“I like to make sure they can hear me and I’m verbal, and as a captain I want to make sure everyone’s in the game, so most often you’ll hear me yelling. I just want to make sure everyone’s on the same page even though I’m sitting on the bench.”

Graceland outscored MCC 14-4 the rest of the way, but the game had long since been decided.

Carballo came away with 15 points off the bench for the Tigers, and Eva Zaragoza finished with 10 points and six rebounds. MCC got 31 points from its reserves on this night, including nine from Castillo and seven points to go with seven rebounds for Ervin.

Rachelle Smith and Collado both had six points while Lotte van Malsen added five points, seven rebounds and a team-leading four assists. Lyons led the defense with four steals.

“We’re just looking for consistency,” Garber said of his team playing consecutive nights for the fourth time this season. “It’s that inconsistency that we’re trying to get to be alleviated to where we’re more consistent with the players who are not tuned in every day.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“Get better today — that’s what we always question the players on. We’ll keep on teaching that belief system and see how it goes.”

Kaitlin Manning led the Graceland JV with 15 points, Hailey Lewis and Marina Fessler had 12 points apiece, and Tierra Lopez added 10 points before fouling out. The Yellowjackets got just five points off their bench, committed 20 turnovers and got outrebounded 44-27.

Marshalltown returns to Iowa Community College Athletic Conference action on Saturday with a road trip to Beatrice, Neb., for a rematch with Northeast CC (23-3, 2-1). The Hawks hammered the Tigers in their first conference contest, 97-47, on Jan. 19 in Marshalltown.

NOTEBOOK

The victory marked just the second time this season the MCC women have won back-to-back games, but it was the first time the Tigers won on back-to-back nights. … Of MCC’s eight wins this season, six of them have come against a repeat opponent. The Tigers have defeated DMACC, Ellsworth and the Graceland JV twice each, with solo wins coming against County Upper Basketball Academy and the Central JV. … Lyons posted double-doubles in both wins Tuesday and Wednesday. Each of her three double-doubles this season have come in wins, and four of her five career double-doubles have helped the Tigers to victory.

Marshalltown CC 81, Graceland JV 60

At Marshalltown

GRACELAND JV (60) — Lewis 4-14 1-5 12, Manning 6-11 3-4 15, Buntin 3-12 0-0 6, Fessler 6-7 0-0 12, Lopez 4-8 2-2 10, Castro 1-5 0-0 3, Kemper 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS 25-58 6-11 60.

MCC (81) — van Malsen 2-8 0-0 5, Smith 2-10 2-4 6, Collado 2-7 0-0 6, Lyons 8-17 5-9 23, Zaragoza 5-11 0-0 10, Egic 0-0 0-0 0, Ervin 3-4 1-2 7, Castillo 3-9 0-0 9, Carballo 5-8 3-4 15. TOTALS 30-74 11-19 81.

GRACELAND 21 10 10 19 — 60

MCC 21 23 21 16 — 81

3-Point Goals–Graceland JV 4-18 (Lewis 3-10, Castro 1-3, Fessler 0-1, Buntin 0-2, Lopez 0-2), MCC 10-27 (Castillo 3-6, Carballo 2-2, Lyons 2-6, Collado 2-7, van Malsen 1-3, Smith 0-3). Rebounds–Graceland JV 27 (Fessler 6), MCC 44 (Lyons 11). Assists–Graceland JV 17 (Lopez 5), MCC 20 (van Malsen 4). Total Fouls–Graceland JV 16, MCC 16. Fouled Out–Lopez.