Tigers correct course, blast B&S
T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE Marshalltown Community College sophomore Laylah Kesee (20) drives to the basket against Bryant & Stratton defender Amelia Szczepanski (13) during the second half of Tuesday’s basketball game at the Student Activity Center. Kesee had 16 points and three steals to help the Tigers take down the visiting Bobcats, 62-47.
T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE MCC freshman Lilly DeMoss (23) lines up a 3-point attempt during the first half of Tuesday’s basketball game against Bryant & Stratton College at the Student Activity Center. DeMoss had a career-high 19 points with four 3-pointers in a 62-47 Tiger win.
T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE Marshalltown Community College sophomore Laylah Kesee (20) drives to the basket against Bryant & Stratton defender Amelia Szczepanski (13) during the second half of Tuesday’s basketball game at the Student Activity Center. Kesee had 16 points and three steals to help the Tigers take down the visiting Bobcats, 62-47.
T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE MCC freshman Lilly DeMoss (23) lines up a 3-point attempt during the first half of Tuesday’s basketball game against Bryant & Stratton College at the Student Activity Center. DeMoss had a career-high 19 points with four 3-pointers in a 62-47 Tiger win.
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The Tigers put the cart in front of the horse and had no lucking moving forward.
Once the Marshalltown Community College women's basketball team put its emphasis on defense, the offense followed suit.
Man-to-man defense replaced MCC's 2-3 zone in the second quarter and helped to pull the Tigers to their first home-court victory, surging past Bryant & Stratton College for a 62-47 triumph on Tuesday at the Student Activity Center.
Marshalltown (2-3) overcame the visiting Bobcats' hot shooting to start the game by smothering it out of them, forcing 28 turnovers with a strategic adjustment that made all the difference in the end. MCC trailed by as many as 17 points in the second quarter before coming back for a decisive victory, propeled by dominant fourth quarter.
The Tigers outscored Bryant & Stratton by a whopping 25-10 margin in the final period, highlighted by an 18-0 stretch in which the Bobcats (0-4) went scoreless for seven minutes.
"Defense has to be the foundation of who we are," said MCC head coach Dylan Longley. "We talk about 'what are we built on?' Defense, rebounding, taking care of the ball, and free throws. I know our free throws haven't been great, but I think we're moving in the right direction."
The Tigers got to the point that their free-throw shooting was an afterthought. MCC trailed 23-8 after the opening period before switching out of its zone defense, and the Tigers rode a 9-1 run into halftime thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by Zaryah Snell and Laylah Kesee.
The defense-driven comeback continued after halftime, and so did the 3-point shooting. Lilly DeMoss, a freshman from Albia, made two of her four triples to help MCC climb back to within one, 33-32, and a steal and layup by Kesee earned the Tigers their first tie of the game at 34-all.
Jordyn Hall's only 3-pointer pulled Marshalltown in front, 37-35, for its first lead with 1:16 left in the third quarter. After Bryant & Stratton tied the score going into the fourth, MCC pulled away.
DeMoss made two more 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 19 points, kicking off the Tigers' decisive 18-0 wave that inhaled the winless Bobcats.
"The first half was a little rough, but obviously you just have to turn the page and look at the second half because it's a new ballgame," said DeMoss. "I knew once a couple went in that I was gonna flow into it.
"We work on a lot of different scenarios in practice sometimes and I just feel like we play well together. We just flow in the game, we find those open gaps and kick it out. I feel like once we find those players and get in that groove, we're pretty much unstoppable."
MCC's 12 3-pointers in the game was its most since netting 13 against Iowa Central on Jan. 3, 2024, and it came on a season-best 27.9 percent shooting performance from long range.
"We do have some good shooters, and I think we kind of found our confidence today," Longley said. "But yes, the helter skelter (defense) -- especially with a deep team like this -- I think we can do that. It will get us in some foul trouble, but I think this year it's going to win us some games."
Kesee came away with 16 points, also making four 3-pointers, and added four assists and three steals. Snell chipped in 10 points and five rebounds off the bench, while Jordyn Hall, Daniella Leahy and Zaniah Hunter had five points apiece. Hall and Leahy had six rebounds a piece, while Hall led the way with six steals.
"We are built on a lot of things, but I feel like we prioritize defense a lot," said DeMoss, "and I feel like defense always leads to offense. Once we knew our defense was picking up, we knew the offense would come because our offense was a little iffy. So we knew we could pick it up on the defensive end and turn that over to the offense."
Amelia Szczepanski, a 6-foot-2 sophomore center, scored a team-leading 18 points for Bryant & Stratton, securing her fourth double-double in as many games with 17 rebounds -- 14 of which were offensive. Joslyn Christiansen scored 10 of her 11 points in the first quarter alone, propelling the Bobcats with all three of their 3-pointers during the opening period.
Bryant & Stratton cooled off after that, getting outscored 54-24 after the first quarter.
"I just hope our girls aren't thinking that we can just get down 15 every game and then we turn it on," Longley said. "We have to start playing four quarters. We played three really good quarters today -- we didn't get out of our dorms for the first one."
MCC remains at home this weekend for the Emerson Classic, hosting Lewis & Clark College on Friday night at 7 p.m. and the Mount Mercy JV on Saturday at 5 p.m.