By Marissa VanWingen
In the first game back from the holiday break, Ellsworth Community College hosted fifth-place Iowa Central Community College Wednesday night. The Tritons built leads and ECC battled back throughout the contest, but the Panthers could never quite get over the hump in the 64-57 loss.
Where the Panthers (7-7, 3-5) struggled the most was at the charity stripe, making seven of 20 from the line. They also only hit two of 14 from downtown. Iowa Central had six makes from three-point land and were 14 of 17 from the free throw line.
There was not much separation between the rivals in the first quarter. The two were even four times – the last one at 16-16. A three-ball by Inma Martinez late in the stanza gave ECC the 19-16 advantage after the opening 10 minutes.
The largest Panther lead was 21-16 on one of Yaiza Soriano Balaguer's nine field goals. The freshman from Spain led all scoring with 19 points. The Tritons then responded and evened the contest with a three before taking the lead on another make from beyond the arc. There would be two more lead changes as the visitors went into the break with the 34-30 advantage.
Iowa Central (12-3, 5-2) scored eight of the first 10 points to start the second half and for the first time led by double figures. The difference reached 46-32 in the third and remained 14 for much of the quarter and was 11 (54-43) heading into the final period.
ECC cut the deficit to single digits and then with four and a half minutes left, were within a single possession. A drive by Asia Beale made it a 56-53 difference. The Panthers would get within two but could never even the score or take the lead again, falling by seven.
For more photos from the game, visit: https://www.timescitizen.com/gallery/
ICCAC Basketball
Wednesday at Iowa Falls
ICCC: 16| 18| 20| 10 – 64
ECC: 19| 11| 13| 14 – 57
ECC Scoring: Yaiza Soriano Balaguer 9 1-4 19; Asia Beale 6 3-11 15; Inma Martinez 3 2-2 9; Sare Celaya Urrutia 2 0-1 5; Claudia Sanz Dorange 2 1-2 5; Kana Nagashima 1 0-0 2; Addy Dennis 1 0-0 2.
