MASON CITY, Iowa –A 2-of-16 shooting drought in the second half dug too deep of a hole for the NIACC women’s basketball team as they lost 62-53 to # 14 Kirkwood Community College on Saturday.
Sophomore Jenna Morris (So., Radcliffe, IA) went 6-of-12 behind the three point arc in a 20 point-14 rebound effort. Kika Greenlee (Fr., St. Louis Park, MN) added 11 points, while Sadie Pittman (So., Cape Girardeau, MO) and Jennifer Nelson (So., Mason City, IA) both scored eight.
Despite the strong rebounding day for Morris, Kirkwood dominated the boards. Kirkwood had more rebounds (51-35), offensive rebounds (13-5) and second chance points (17-8) in the final stats.
NIACC (10-7 overall, 2-1 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference) put pressure on Kirkwood in the opening half, and used a 16-7 run to open up their largest lead of the game at 21-12. They also took advantage of poor inside shooting by Kirkwood, which only shot 5-of-16 in the paint in the first half. Kirkwood ended the half on a 17-6 run to take a 29-27 lead at the break.
Kirkwood led by as many as 18 in the second half, gaining much of that on the shooting drought. Despite only shooting 8-for-34 (23.5 percent) in the second half, NIACC had a few opportunities late to cut the lead to as little as six with just over a minute left, but couldn’t get open three-point shots to drop.
Kirkwood was led Northwood-Kensett grad Kate Hartman, who scored 15 points. Kianna Jacobs had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
NIACC will next host DMACC next Saturday at 1 p.m.
