Council Bluffs, Iowa

Iowa Western punched their ticket to the ICCAC D1 Championship game Wednesday night at Reiver Arena.

The Reivers (12-2, 12-1) raced to a 37-25 halftime lead and piled it on in the second half to top Northeast (8-5, 7-5), 70-41.

"Northeast did a great job of taking away some of our inside actions," Head Coach Lindsey Vande Hoef said, "but I was really excited to see Gabi, Arielle, and Ruba hit some big shots for us and Geassy's rebounding helped us get into our transition game."

Gabriella Smith paced IWCC with 19 points and six rebounds, while fellow Bolingbrook, Illinois native Arielle McElroy chipped in 13 points and five boards.

Geassy Germano boxed out to the tune of 14 rebounds on the night to lead both teams on the glass, while Ruba Abo Hashesh led the bench scoring with 13.

Iowa Western held Northeast to just 16 second-half points, eight in both the third and fourth quarters.

"I'm really proud of our team tonight", added Vande Hoef, "we had some lapses in the first half and struggled to score at times, but our second-half defense was great"

The win gives the Reivers a season sweep over Northeast, sewing up an appearance in the ICCAC D1 Championship game on Tuesday, April 6th inside Reiver Arena. 

Next up for the Reivers is a rematch with DMACC on the road Saturday afternoon.  The match-up with the Bears can be watched here.

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