By Marissa VanWingen

Ellsworth Community College suffered its fourth loss in a row with a 69-63 home defeat to Northeast Community College.

The two went back-and-forth through the entire first quarter with NECC coming out on top 19-17 after the first 10 minutes. The Panthers (8-11, 4-9) evened the score at 24-24 with 6:32 left in the half on a make by Yaiza Soriano Balaguer and took the lead on a layup from Addy Dennis. There would be four lead changes before the break as ECC was on top 37-36 at the half.

The Hawks (14-5, 9-4) led 41-40 in the third stanza before the Panthers went on a run. Balaguer made one of her five field goals before a steal and three-ball from Inma Martinez pushed the advantage to four. ECC outscored the visitors 12-0 to lead 52-41 heading into the final 10 minutes of the contest.

NECC steadily cut the deficit to four (55-51) before Balaguer made a pair of freebies to extend the lead to six. Martinez was called for her third and fourth fouls quickly as the Hawks went to the free throw line and made a pair. Upset about the call, head coach Justin Rees was called for a technical with five minutes to go in the game giving NECC two more free throws.

Back-to-back Panther turnovers followed by a Hawks basket evened the score at 57-57 and the Hawks took the lead on another trip to the line. In the final quarter, NECC was 16 of 21 from the line and 22 of 29 in the game.

For more photos from the game, visit https://www.timescitizen.com/gallery/

ICCAC Basketball
Saturday at Iowa Falls

NECC: 19| 17| 5| 28 – 69
ECC: 17| 20| 15| 11 – 63

ECC Scoring: Yaiza Soriano Balaguer 5 8-14 18; Claudia Sanz Dorange 6 3-4 17; Sofia Berraquero Beltran 5 3-6 15; Addy Dennis 1 5-8 7; Inma Martinez 1 0-0 3; Kana Nagashima 1 0-0 3.