Reivers come up short at National Invitation Tournament

Council Bluffs, IA – The Reiver women's basketball team finished 0-3 at the Women's National Invitation Tournament in Midland Texas. Head Coach Lindsey Vande Hoef took the week as a big learning experience, "I think there was some great competition, seeing two ranked teams was exactly what I wanted to face this early in the season. You can't replace that experience and I believe we got better because of it." After the tournament the Reivers sit at 3-3 on the season.

Thursday November 15^th

The Reivers opened up play against No. 22 Odessa College. Odessa started strong with a 7-4 lead in the first and expanded this slightly in the second although both teams struggled to score early in the 2^nd quarter. Odessa quickly gained momentum and entered the halftime on an 11-2 lead.

Entering the third quarter the Reivers went scoreless for 6 minutes before finally getting a spark from Sophomore Kiara Dallmann who scored the first bucket of the 3^rd quarter. Freshman forward Aubri Noti also was a bright spot for the Reivers, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The inside presence of the Reivers was key but not enough as the Reivers ended the game shooting 27% from the field, falling to the Wranglers 39-63.

Friday November 16^th

After starting 0-1 the Reivers faced the No. 10 ranked Seward Saints. The game started with a rapid exchange of scores and stops for the first quarter, ending with the Reivers ahead by 3 (18-15). The Reivers maintained their lead throughout the first half of exchanged buckets and entered halftime with a 5 point lead (39-34).

The second half was another intense back-and-fourth battle of stops and scores. After some crucial possessions Iowa Western struggled to take care of the ball and entered the 4^th quarter with 17 turnovers, but still maintained a lead of 54-51.

Seward began the 4^th quarter with a steal and a 3-pointer to tie the game with 9:52 remaining in the quarter. After an offensive rebound the Saints hit another 3 pointer to take the first lead of the game, 56-59, with 7:39 left to play. The Reivers struggled to gain momentum for the remainder of the quarter and only scored 9 points the remainder of the game, falling to the Saints 65-72.  Freshman RS Aubri Noti led the Reivers with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Freshamn guard Sommer Blakemore added in 9 points and sophomore point guard Zhan'e Williams also chipped in 9.

Saturday November 18^th

Iowa Western ended the tournament facing Arizona Western in another close battle. The Reivers came out strong defensively and held AZW scoreless until the 5-minute mark in the first quarter. Shooting woes continued however for the Reivers as AZW chipped away at the score. After a turnover and missed 3 pointer AZW capitalized on the Reiver errors and took the lead with 6:51 left in the second quarter. After a technical foul by AZW Sophomore point guard Zhan'e Williams hit two free throws to bring the Reivers within 2 going into halftime down 24-22.

The Reivers continued to battle in the third quarter but could not find their rhythm and trailed by 2 or more for the remainder of the third quarter.

The final 10 minutes of the game saw 4 lead changes before AZW pulled away as the Reivers only scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, falling to AZW 72-65. The Reivers were led by sophomore transfer De'Ayra Davis and Sophomore Forward Kiara Dallmann, who both contributed 16 points. Freshman forward Aubri Noti had another strong game, finishing with 14 points and 11 boards for the Reivers.

Iowa Western is back in action on Wednesday November 21^st at 5:00 p.m., facing Region 16 opponent Mineral Area College.