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Tigers top Blackhawks in opener

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown Community College’s Carolina Rodriquez-Sanchez (23) slashes to the basket in front of Southeastern’s Terryn Tiller (11) during the first half of Wednesday’s basketball game in Marshalltown. The Tiger women won their season opener, 63-50.

After a frustrating season in 2019-20 and a long wait for the 2021 season to begin thanks to COVID-19, Marshalltown Community College women’s basketball kicked off a new season with a win and a sense of optimism.

Far from the comfortable win it looked to be for the Tigers midway through the second quarter, though, MCC ground out a 63-50 win over the Southeastern Community College Blackhawks (0-1, 0-1 ICCAC) Wednesday night. The Tigers (1-0, 1-0 ICCAC) had a strong first half offensively and a strong second half defensively, relying on individual skill often as the team continues to try and meld players from Iowa, Canada, Spain and New Zealand into a cohesive unit with just two returning players from last season. Those players are Spaniards Nuria Castillo and Eva Zaragoza, two of the team’s five starters Wednesday.

Preparing for the season has been a challenge, and Tigers head coach Steve Garber said the team has not had much of a chance to practice as a unit.

“Only having practiced one time with 10 players, hey, it’s a start,” Garber said. “They have to be comfortable with each other and have to understand each other with team chemistry.”

The start to the game was slow — there were no points scored in the first three minutes and 30 seconds of action. Zaragoza scored inside to open the scoring, and from there the Tigers controlled proceedings in the first quarter. MCC led 19-6 and was pushing the pace in transition thanks in part to the team’s ability to rebound the basketball. Over the course of the game, the Tigers outrebounded Southeast 53-32. Freshman Carolina Rodriquez-Sanchez led the team with 14 boards, while Zaragoza grabbed 13 (she had 12 points to complete a double-double).

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

The second quarter continued much the same as the first, but the MCC offense tailed off and the Tigers held an 11-point lead at the half.

MCC built out the lead again in the third quarter before the Blackhawks clawed back to within 10. A spurt early in the fourth seemingly put the game out of reach, as the Tigers went up 53-39. But an 11-2 run from Southeastern closed the gap to 55-50.

The Tigers clamped down on the defensive end to keep the Blackhawks off the scoreboard the rest of the game and went on an 8-0 run to seal a win.

Garber said there were positives to take away from this win, but he emphasized that the team is a long way from being where he wants it to be.

“That’s what the beginning of the season is for is to learn who we are, what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are,” Garber said. “Then we come into practice and improve upon ourselves and identify what we can be doing and should be doing with consistency. It was basically an evaluation to see what we need to do better.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Leading the way offensively for the Tigers was freshman Waiaaria Rogers with 18 points in 22 minutes off the bench. The New Zealand native hit four 3-pointers. Carla Dorta-Perez scored nine points and led the Tigers with five assists and Karisma Wright and Heeni Blakey had six points apiece.

Up next for the Tigers is a trip to play Southwestern CC Saturday afternoon.

Marshalltown CC 63, Southeastern CC 50

SOUTHEASTERN (0-1, 0-1) — Chainee Hall 6-14 3-3 19, Mya Bills 3-12 0-0 8, D’Shanna Schuster 1-8 0-0 3, Antuanae Garrett 1-11 0-0 2, Destiny Estes 2-6 2-2 7, Michellan Davis 1-5 0-0 3, Terryn Tiller 1-8 1-2 3, Kayla Hall 0-4 1-2 1, Destiny Cressy 2-5 0-0 4. TOTALS 17-73 7-9 50.

MCC (1-0, 1-0) — Genet Mebratu 1-10 3-6 5, Carolina Rodriquez-Sanchez 3-12 1-2 5, Carla Dorta-Perez 4-9 0-0 9, Nuria Castillo 0-7 2-2 2, Eva Zaragoza 5-10 2-2 12, Karisma Wright 3-8 0-0 6, Heeni Blakey 2-5 0-0 6, Waiaaria Rogers 7-10 0-0 18. TOTALS 24-72 8-12 63.

SOUTHEASTERN 6 18 15 11 — 50

MCC 19 16 14 14 — 63

3-Point Goals–Southeastern 9-32 (Hall 4-9, Bills 2-5, Estes 1-2, Davis 1-3, Schuster 1-6, Cressy 0-1, Hall 0-2, Garrett 0-4), MCC 7-27 (Rogers 4-7, Blakey 2-5, Dorta-Perez 1-5, Rodriquez-Sanchez 0-1, Mebratu 0-2). Assists–Southeastern 10 (Bills 6), MCC 15 (Dorta-Perez 5). Rebounds–Southeastern 32 (Garrett 8), MCC 53 (Rodriquez-Sanchez 14, Zaragoza 13).Total Fouls–Southeastern 16, MCC 9. Fouled out–Cressy.

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