After three weeks off, the Marshalltown Community College women's basketball team returns to action with its first test of the new year as the Tigers host No. 1 North Iowa Area Community College at 1:00 PM on Saturday in the Student Activity Center.
The Tigers look to give the Trojans their first Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) loss of the year as NIACC enters the game with a 2-0 league mark and are 13-1 overall. The team's lone loss came at the hands of Illinois Central College, who also knocked off No. 2 Kirkwood Community College.
MCC enters the game with a 1-1 ICCAC record after dropping the final game of the first semester to No. 14 Iowa Central Community College. The Tigers' first conference win of the year came at home against Ellsworth Community College.
NIACC has been ranked in the top three in the first three NJCAA Division II polls of the season and jumped to No. 1 after knocking off Kirkwood who previously held the top spot.
Mackenzie Gott (Oskaloosa, IA/Oskaloosa) finished up the first half of the season by earning ICCAC Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. The sophomore is leading the Tigers with 10.2 rebounds per game and ranks second with 15.3 points per contest. Jasmin Howe (Millicent, Australia/Millicent) leads the way with 16.4 points per game, the fifth best mark in the conference.
A trio of Tigers rank among the nation's best in free throw shooting entering the game. Howe ranks second nationally with a 90.0 (36-40) mark while Kaleigh Sieck (Toledo, IA/South Tama) is tied for third with an 88.2 (30-34) percentage. Ashley Salgado's (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa) 94.4 percent (17-18) would top the national leaderboard but falls below the minimum 2.0 free throw attempts per game to qualify.
Salgado's 5.5 assists per game tops the ICCAC and ranks 17th in the country. The sophomore also ranks 15th in the nation with a 2.9 assist/turnover ratio.
NIACC leads the ICCAC in scoring, averaging 101.9 points per game thanks to Chelsey Jacox's 21.9 points per game.
Live stats and live video for the game will be provided here.
