The MCC women's basketball team traveled to Creston, Iowa Tuesday night to take on the 2-0 Spartans of Southwestern Community College. The Tigers got off to a fast start as they led 18-12 at the end of the first quarter and extended their lead going into halftime 34-19. In the third quarter the Tigers struggled to put points on the board as the Spartans surged, but the Tigers held the lead 39-30 going into the final quarter. As the Spartans dominated the third quarter, the Tigers took control and dominated in the fourth, as the team scored 18 points and walked out with a 57-43 victory.
"Our defense was a very solid unit throughout the game tonight," stated Head Coach Steve Garber after the game. "Our offense in the first half was the best I've seen up to this point in the season. We need to improve on coming out of the locker room and being ready to play in the second half but overall I think the team played well and like always we will get back to work and try to improve for our next game."
The top performers for the Tigers were sophomores Claudia Morente and Loralei Siliga who each scored 17 points on the night. Morente had an efficient night going 5-7 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line. Morente has shown during the first two games that she can handle the ball and distribute effectively as she ended the night with four assists.
Coach Garber was pleased with the performance from his sophomore point guard stating, "Claudia was consistently in control of the game on the offensive end tonight. She stepped up in the second half and put us in a great position to win the game."
Siliga would end the night with 17 points going 7-10 from the field, but she was most impressive on defensive side recording two steals and grabbing eleven rebounds.
"Loralei had some good opportunities to score tonight and played solid defense throughout the game," stated Coach Garber. "If we can keep her effective on defense like she was tonight we will be successful. Loralei is a physical presence for us in the forward position so her ability to score will benefit us all season long."
The 1-1 Tigers will be back in action of Thursday, November 9th when they host Little Priest Tribal College at 5:00 in the Student Activity Center on the Marshalltown Community College campus. The game will be streamed live with links posted on the MCC Athletics website and posted on the athletics Facebook and Twitter.