As the youth might say, the struggle was real, for the MCC Women's Basketball Team on Saturday, December 9 when they traveled to Fort Dodge, IA for a 1 PM matchup with the Tritons of Iowa Central. Looking to atone for an 81-58 loss at the hand of the Tritons on November 13, The Tigers opened up a quick 9-6 lead before the Tritons took control. After the Tritons pulled ahead at 9-10, there was no looking back.

At the end of the first quarter, the Tigers trailed 14-19 and the game was still well within reach. But ten minutes later and the score was 20-34 and the Tigers were reeling. Defensively, holding a team to 34 points in a half is acceptable, but being held to 20 points in a half makes it difficult to win games.

Needing to make a run in the third quarter to close the scoring gap, the Tigers often found themselves relying on the three-point shot. Unfortunately, the three-pointer was not friendly to the Tigers as they shot just 6-25 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Tritons continued to play more physical than the Tigers and controlled the paint and the rebounding while extending their advantage to 28-54 entering the fourth quarter.

The final ten minutes played out rather uneventfully and when the final buzzer sounded, the Tigers had suffered a 38-68 loss and fallen to 5-8 on the year. The Tigers will look to shake off their offensive struggles and get back into the win column when they take on Iowa Lakes Community College on December, 12 in their final game of 2018.