JOPLIN, Mo. - 5th-seeded Iowa Western Women's Basketball opened up the 2024 NJCAA DII Women's Basketball National Tournament topping 12th-seeded Parkland College (IL) 88-74 at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on the campus of Missouri Southern University. The win set the all-time IWCC mark for victories in a season, moving past the 2014-15 team that went 31-4 under Jim Turgeon.
The Cobras (26-6) got out to an early 8-3 lead behind three-point baskets by Siarah Brown and Abby Shepard but the Reivers (32-2) answered with 8 straight points to take an 11-8 lead. The teams would trade leads throughout the first half and IW found themselves with a 6 point lead with 5:30 to go in the 2nd quarter. Parkland would battle back on 5 of 7 shooting from beyond the arc to take a 40-39 lead into halftime.
The teams traded leads throughout the 3rd quarter with Parkland finding themselves up by 6 points five minutes into the 2nd half. Sophomore Guard Shannon Niles knocked down two of her four 2nd half three's to tie things up at 49. Freshman Guard McKenna Minter knocked down a jumper in the middle of the lane to give IWCC a 51-49 lead and the team never looked back.
The Reivers would score 49 2nd half points behind 16 field goals and 12 free throws while holding the hot-shooting Cobras to just 5-14 from deep and 12-30 from the field. IWCC was +7 on the boards in the final 20 minutes and outscored Parkland 36-14 in the paint. The Reivers were also efficient from the free throw line, knocking down 25 of 28 from the line, with Parkland attempting just 16 from the charity stripe.
Niles ended with a season high 27 points on 5-9 shooting from beyond the arc and 8-9 from the line. Minter finished her day with 26 points, her 19th game of 20 or more points this season, while chipping in 8 more assists and 5 rebounds. Minter finds herself just 5 assists away from breaking the all-time school record for dimes in a season set by Jasmine Trimboli who had 203 helpers in the 2014-15 season.
Sophomore Forward Caleigh-Rose West entered foul trouble early but pulled down 7 rebounds in 22 minutes and is now 6 boards away from breaking the all-time IWCC mark of 282 rebounds set by Negesti Taylor in the 2008-09 season.
Iowa Western will have an off-day tomorrow and will return to action on Wednesday night at 6:00 pm versus the winner of 13th -seeded Pima and 4th-seeded CCBC-Essex who are scheduled to play on Tuesday at 9:00 am.
