Marshalltown, IA—Jasmin Howe (Millicent, Australia/Millicent) scored 17 second-half points for the Marshalltown Community College women's basketball team, but the Tigers came up short in the final frame against visiting Des Moines Area Community College, falling 68-49 to the Bears on Monday night. Howe finished the night with a game-high 19 points.
The Tigers fell behind early due in large part to a 16.7 shooting percentage in the first half. Howe strung together seven straight points late in the second half to will the MCC comeback, but the Bears prevailed down the stretch to hold on for the cross-division matchup.
Howe connected on 8-11 shots in the second half, but the Tigers allowed the Bears to shoot 14-21 from the floor over the final 20 minutes to drop their second contest of the year to DMACC.
JeAnn Hiraldo (Ames, IA/Ames) scored 10 points, with eight coming in the first half and, along with Courtney Williams-Perry (Milwaukee, WI/Bradley Tech) pulled in a game-high eight rebounds.
The Tigers were slow to get going, scoring just seven points through the first 13:21 of action, but Hiraldo connected on back-to-back shots to bring the MCC offense to life. Ilsie Calles (Van Nuys, CA/Fulton Prep) buried a three-point shot on an assist from Howe with five seconds left on the clock to cut the Bears' lead to seven, 25-18, at halftime.
MCC scored nine of the first 13 points of the second half, including a three from Sammie Sproul (Waterloo, IA/Waterloo West) to bring the Tigers within two, 29-27 at the 16:33 mark. The Bears regrouped and built their lead back to 11, but Howe caught fire, draining a three-pointer followed by two mid-range jump shots to pull back within four.
Over the next six minutes, however, the Bears were able to once again slow the Tigers and put together a 16-2 run to derail MCC.
The Tigers will head to Southwestern Community College for another cross-division matchup at 5:30 PM on Wednesday night.
