The MCC Women's Basketball team welcomed Iowa Lakes to Marshalltown on Saturday, March 20th and despite a valiant effort fell 58 to 53, dropping their record to 1 and 13 on the season.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 15 to 9 lead after the first quarter, shooting well from the field. After being outscored and a late technical with 11 seconds in the quarter the Tigers found themselves trailing 30 to 29 at the half. It was a rough third quarter with the Tigers being outscored 15 to 9, which gave the Lakers a seven-point lead going into the fourth.
It would be a back-and-forth quarter in the fourth that seemed to give the Lakers a double-digit lead. The Tigers fought back and had it down to a four-point game at the 5-minute mark remaining in the contest. The Tigers down three, turned the ball over late after a Lakers basket to push it to three to finish the game.
Team leading scorer Eva Zaragoza was key late finishing with 13 points and adding 6 rebounds to go along with 3 assists. Nuria Castillo also coming up big late finishing with 11 points and 4 rebounds. Playing big minutes off the bench Genet Mebratu finished with 9 points and held Lakers leading scorer Rachel Puok to 9 points. It was a 7-point night for both Heeni Blakey and Carla Dorta Perez, with Dorta Perez also adding 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
The Tigers travel to Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, March 24th to take on the #2 ranked Kirkwood Eagles. The Tigers lost the first matchup on March 3rd 74 to 39 in Marshalltown.
