The Tigers put the ball in Jaeda Turner’s hands, which was the best place for it to be.

The shot didn’t fall, however, and the Marshalltown Community College women’s basketball team missed its opportunity.

The Tigers had No. 15 NIACC on the ropes but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch, instead suffering a heartbreaking 60-59 loss to the Trojans in the last game before the holiday break.

MCC (3-11, 0-7) led for the majority of the game but couldn’t close out the victory, extending the Tigers’ losing streak to 11 games but leaving a palatable taste in their mouths.

“You could dissect every little thing, but I’m really proud of my team for playing hard,” said MCC head coach Dylan Longley. “And the thing that I saw in the locker room is I know they care. This one hurt them, and those are the kids that I want. I want those kids that are motivated because I’m an intense guy, I’m competitive.

“I’m happy that it hurts them a little bit because I hope it motivates us in the second half of the year.”

Turner scored 31 points to power the MCC offense against a NIACC squad that ranked 26th in the nation scoring 75.3 points per game. The Trojans couldn’t find the bottom of the net until the fourth quarter, when they made their inevitable comeback to beat the Tigers for the second time this season.

Allie Zittel made three-straight 3-pointers to give NIACC (11-2, 5-2) its first lead since the first quarter, 51-50, with 3:50 left to play. Marshalltown led by as many as 12 points during the second period, led by eight at the half and still commanded a 43-37 edge going into the fourth.

The Trojans picked the right time to get their shots to fall, with Zittel and Reggi Spotts spoiling MCC’s upset bid. Spotts scored eight of her team-leading 24 points in the fourth quarter, including a tying 3-pointer to make it 58-all with 41 seconds left.

Turner hit 1-of-2 free throws to put the Tigers back on top, 59-58, with 26 seconds left, and MCC stole the ball to force NIACC to foul. Turner missed both free throws with 16 seconds remaining, and Reagan Niebuhr’s layup — her only points of the game — gave NIACC the 60-59 lead with 8 seconds showing. MCC had a foul to give but couldn’t close out on the ballhandler until it was in Niebuhr’s hands under the basket.

“We were trying to foul in that last situation, and that’s part of our inexperience is we haven’t been in those situations enough,” said Longley. “We’ve worked on that situation, but not enough times that we know exactly what we’re doing. That’s what’s tough is you let a kid get an open layup on the other end.”

Turner took the ball the length of the court and put up a contested layup attempt as time expired, but the shot fell off the side of the rim to deny MCC a momentous win right before the break.

“I really wanted that one bad,” Longley said. “But I think when I come down from the metaphorical high, I think I’ll realize that this just proves something about our team — that we can play with those teams and we can beat those teams.

“Did we need it? Kind of, but not really. The biggest thing that I will actually take away from this is if we play 40 minutes like that, I wouldn’t want to play us. But the little things are what matters at the end of those games.”

Turner’s 31 points were two shy of her career high, leading all scorers. Kenijae Cherry picked up 13 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, while Shenell Stewart added seven points and 12 boards. Olivia Heartwell added five points.

The Tigers shot just 9-of-21 from the free-throw line in the loss.

“They were very positive and they were playing their asses off,” Longley said. “I wish we just had one more of those layups or one more of those free throws.”

Mason City High School graduates Spotts (24) and Zaria Falls (10) combined to score 34 points to lead NIACC, while fellow former Riverhawks Machaela Trask and Grace Berding both tallied two points.

All of Zittel’s nine points came on those three 3-pointers to help the Trojans erase a six-point deficit during a three-minute span of the fourth quarter.

MCC returns from break with another conference home game against Southwestern on Saturday, Jan. 3.

“Now we know what we are, and now it’s the accountability that we’ve got to take care of business,” Longley said. “We’ve got to do those little things because that’s how you win those games.

NIACC 60, MCC 59

NIACC (11-2, 5-2) — Peyton Meincke 2 0-0 4, Machaela Trask 1 0-0 2, Zaria Falls 5 0-0 10, Reggi Spotts 7 6-7 24, Ciara Seifert 0 1-2 1, Reagan Niebuhr 1 0-0 2, Ella Mullenbach 0 0-0 0, Taylor Hemann 0 0-0 0, Allie Zittel 3 0-0 9, Elayna VanNett 0 0-0 0, Tillie Smith 0 0-0 0, Emerson Ingvalson 0 0-0 0, Grace Berding 1 0-0 2, Ella Stoskopf 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 23 7-9 60.

MCC (3-11, 0-7) — Jaeda Turner 11 5-11 31, Jazmine Williams 0 1-2 1, Mi Amor Mcqueen 1 0-0 2, Kenijae Cherry 6 1-2 13, Olivia Heartwell 2 0-2 5, Ariyanah Custard 0 0-0 0, Shenell Stewart 2 2-4 7, Amijah Nelson 0 0-0 0, Zaryah Snell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 22 9-21 59.

NIACC 8 13 14 23 — 60

MCC 16 13 14 16 — 59

3-Point Goals–NIACC 7 (Spotts 4, Zittel 3), MCC 6 (Turner 4, Heartwell, Stewart). Total Fouls–NIACC 19, MCC 11. Fouled Out–none.