Marshalltown, IA – As the basketball season nears, the Marshalltown Community College (MCC) basketball teams begin practice and prepare for the team's first preseason games. This year the women's basketball program will look to build off the 10-20 mark from last season.
Leaving the Tiger program were three dominant players in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC), Loralei Siliga, Alyssa Roth, and Claudia Morente. Siliga earned All-Region honors and led the league in scoring, while Roth finished second in scoring. Morente controlled the Tiger offense from the guard position and earned All-Region honors both seasons with the team.
Replacing the top two scores in the conference will not be easy, Siliga averaged 17.7 points per game while shooting 43.1 percent from the field and Roth averaged 13.1 points per game while shooting 41.6 percent from the field. If you add Morente's 9.4 points per game, last season's big three combined for just over 73% of the Tiger offense.
The 2018-19 season will see only one returning Tiger from year ago in sophomore Anna Jaumandreu. The sophomore from Barcelona Spain averaged over 22 minutes a game last year, while averaging 3 points per game.
The rest of the Tiger roster is comprised of eight freshman. With a young roster, there is a lot to be excited about.
"The team will be guided by freshman this year as we have one lone sophomore on the roster," stated Head Coach Steve Garber. "From all positions on the floor we have all of our expectations geared on our freshman being able to score, rebound, and defend to carry us to our final destination this season."
For the last several years, ICCAC women's basketball has been dominated by the Hawks of Northeast Community College with the Reivers of Iowa Western Community College close behind. Last season the Reivers were the #1 seed in the Region XI Tournament after finishing 25-4 and a perfect 4-0 in ICCAC play, the Hawks earned the #2 seed with a 23-4 record and a 2-2 mark in the ICCAC. After defeating the Tigers in the first round, the Hawks advanced to the Region XI final where they defeated the Reivers to claim their fifth Region XI Title in six years.
"Again, the conference will be a challenging road for us," stated Garber. "With the addition of our freshman learning the level of competition when we get to that point, we hope we improve our play to raise our abilities over the course of the season in order to compete at the end."
With a young team, the Tigers will expect to compete every week, but Coach Gaber understands the most important thing is to improve week to week to be in the best position to play their best basketball at the end of the season.
"Our program is simply to learn and develop simple fundamental skills over the course of each season, to in the end, compete as a team and work together. If we can utilize each other's resources to gain understanding of teamwork and skills with which to improve individually, we will grow and enjoy our own successes."
The Tigers will open their season in Moberly, Missouri on Friday, November 2 against Moberly Area Community College. They will then take on Independence Community College on Saturday, November 3. The team will play their home opener on Tuesday, November 6 when they host the Spartans of Southwestern Community College in the Student Activity Center at 6:00 PM. For more information on the women's basketball team, follow @MCCTigers_WBB on Twitter.
