March 28, 2024

Spartan women win home finale, 56-53

Southwestern women ended their home season Saturday by honoring their four sophomores and gaining their third league victory.

The Spartans won 56-53, ending in a sixth-place tie with Iowa Lakes at 3-11 in the conference, and 4-25 overall. Iowa Lakes, 10-20 overall, won the tiebreaker for sixth place in regional seeding, however, by beating a higher-seeded team (DMACC) during league play.

That means the Lakers avoid having to travel to one of the conference’s two nationally-ranked teams Tuesday to open regional tournament play, while the Spartans travel to Mason City Tuesday to take on No. 6 NIACC (12-2, 23-5).

Iowa Lakes travels to third-place Southeastern, unranked at 9-5 and 20-10.

“If we could have taken care of business up at Iowa Lakes when we played them the first time, we would have had sixth place to ourselves,” said SWCC coach Addae Houston.

Still, he was pleased with Saturday’s effort at home after sophomores Jordan Williamson, Jill Vanderhoof, Peyton Russell and Brinee Stewart were honored.

Williamson had a team-high 13 points. Freshman LaStella Slack had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Olivia Reifert hauled in 15 rebounds while scoring five points. Freshman guard Sabrina Fountain scored 11 points.

“We made some big buckets every time Iowa Lakes got close, and we really came out and played strong on the defensive end,” Houston said.

Tuesday’s regional game is a rematch from a trip to NIACC on Thursday, when the ranked Lady Trojans rolled 68-42.

“We have to limit our turnovers to somewhere around 12,” Houston said. “They are a high-pressure trapping team and we had 24 turnovers the other night. Our goal is to hold them to 58 points, below their average in the 70s.”

Thursday

NIACC (68) — Alexis Boyd-Lockett 1 2-5 4, Sierra Ford-Washington 6 0-0 12, Ashleigh Onaca 2 2-2 7, Diamond Miller 4 1-2 9, A’Chieyah Sanders 1 0-0 2, Logan Anderson 7 2-3 19, Sam Adamich 1 0-0 2, Anna Eckert 1 2-2 5, Trudy Peterson 3 0-2 8. Totals — 26 9-16 68. FG shooting — 26-70 (37.1 percent). 3-point goals — 7-28 (Onaca 1, Anderson 3, Eckert 1, Peterson 2). Team fouls — 19. Fouled out — None.

SOUTHWESTERN (42) — Jordan Williamson 3 4-4 11, Sa’Lisa Bruce 1 0-0 2, Jill Vanderhoof 7 0-0 15, Olivia Reifert 1 0-3 2, LaStella Slack 1 1-2 3, Sabrina Fountain 2 0-2 4, Peyton Russell 0 1-6 1, Brinee Stewart 2 0-2 4. Totals — 17 6-19 42. FG shooting — 17-54 (31.5 percent). 3-point goals — 2-12 (Williamson 1, Vanderhoof 1). Team fouls — 13. Fouled out — None.

NIACC — 33 68

SWCC — 20 42

Saturday

IOWA LAKES (53)

SOUTHWESTERN (56) — Jordan Williamson 4 4-6 13, Sabrina Fountain 5 0-0 11, LaStella Slack 5 0-0 10, Peyton Russell 3 1-2 8, Ashley McClary 1 3-3 5, Olivia Reifert 2 1-2 5, Brinee Stewart 1 0-0 2, Sa’Lisa Bruce 1 0-0 2, Jill Vanderhoof 1 0-0 2. Totals — 23 9-13 56. FG shooting — 23-57 (40.4 percent). 3-point goals — 3-15 (Williamson 1, Fountain 1, Russell 1). Rebounds — 37 (Reifert 15, Slack 8). Assists — 11 (Bruce 5, Russell 3). Steals — 8 (Stewart 2, Williamson 2, Bruce 2). Blocked shots — 2 (Reifert 1, Stewart 1). Turnovers — 16. Team fouls — 18. Fouled out — Slack.

ILCC — 24 53

SWCC — 35 56