NIACC falls to Kirkwood, 58-49
CEDAR RAPIDS - The NIACC women's basketball team dropped a 58-49 decision to No. 3 Kirkwood in the NJCAA Region XI semifinals Saturday afternoon on the Kirkwood campus.
Top-seed Kirkwood (28-2) trailed 26-25 at the half, but the Eagles outscored the fourth-seeded Trojans 17-9 in the third quarter to move to Sunday's regional title game against Iowa Western.
Second-seed Iowa Western routed sixth-seed Northeast CC 63-35 in the other semifinal on Saturday. Kirkwood and Iowa Western meet at 1 p.m. Sunday in the regional championship game in Cedar Rapids.
Kirkwood, the defending NJCAA Division II national champion, was led by Jada Devine with 22 points. Tasia Jordan was next in line for the Eagles with eight points.
NIACC (19-12) was led by sophomore Kourtney Manning with 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Jackie Pippett scored 13 points with six rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
Also for the Trojans, who were playing in the regional tournament semifinals for the second straight season, sophomore point guard Audrey Martinez-Stewart scored seven points, seven rebounds, six steals and three assists.
