Council Bluffs, Iowa
With Division II's #12 team invading Reiver Arena on Saturday, Head Coach Lindsey Vande Hoef stressed 40 minutes of focus with her team in preparation for an expected showdown with the DMACC Bears.
What she got instead was 20 minutes of all-out domination from her squad in the first half and a chance for the Reivers to continue learning in the second.
Iowa Western (9-2, 9-1) raced to a 10-point 1st quarter lead over Des Moines Area (8-2, 8-2) behind a barrage of offense led by Sophomore Gabriella Smith's seven points. Fellow sophomores Hayley Berfield and Arielle McElroy were right behind her with six apiece as the Reivers assisted on half of their opening stanza baskets and shot 66.7% from the floor while holding DMACC to just 33.3%.
An identical quarter would have been more than acceptable to follow, but the Reivers outdid themselves in the 2nd. While Smith was held scoreless, Berfield and McElroy each surged into double-digits, while reserve newcomer Liliana Marques poured in nine-points on a perfect 3-3 performance from beyond the arc. Ruba Abo Hashesh dished out four of her team-high five assists and IWCC held DMACC to only seven points while closing out the final 2:43 of the quarter on a 20-0 run to take a commanding 57-22 lead into the half.
"It was great to see Cookie (Marques) come off the bench and hit those big threes." Said Vande Hoef, "it was an impressive first half with the defensive effort, but the second half was a struggle. We got complacent and played the scoreboard instead of continuing the intensity with which we started."
DMACC continued to play their game despite the large deficit at the half and outscored IWCC in the third as the Reivers dropped their guard slightly, but the home squad would refocus in the fourth.
Marques scored five more to land above the double-digit plateau and Ariyah Brooks was a perfect 3-3 in the quarter.
Overall, the Reivers had five players in double-figures, led by Berfield, while Marques and McElroy each finished with 14. Dustie Obah continues to be a force off the bench, both on the scoreboard, the boards, and with her floor presence as the Sophomore from Australia finished with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Smith, the Reivers leading scorer, finished below her season average with 11 points but got some needed relief with the all-around team performance on the day. Geassy Germano also had eight points on 4-5 shooting as IWCC shot 50.7% from the floor for the game in the 90-57 victory.
The IW defense forced 24 DMACC turnovers with Berfield's four steals leading the way and Abo Hashesh swiping three.
22 assists on 35 made baskets, marked the fourth time in the last seven games the Reivers surpassed the 20 assist mark. On the season the team is averaging 19.2 assists per game.
"I'm anxious to see this team put together a whole game with the kind of effort we saw in the first half," finished Vande Hoef.
The Reivers' next game comes on Tuesday night at 5:00 pm when Iowa Central visits Reiver Arena as part of a double-header with the Men's team.
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