COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – Things started off well for the #24 Northeast Community College women’s basketball team against Iowa Western Community College in Saturday’s Region XI Championship game here, but the Reivers pulled away enroute to an 80-62 win.

“We got off to a solid start and led for two-thirds of the first half and then things turned,” said Matt Svehla, Northeast coach. “We had some plays where we didn’t finish on offense and some plays where we did not defend and rebound.  Those things led to a six-point deficit at halftime, 35-29.  I really thought that we would regroup at halftime and play a solid second half, but we just could not get anything going on offense and we struggled to defend them.

Alison Klostergaard led the 26-4 Hawks with 15 points; Ena Viso and Emily Gamble followed with 13 points apiece. Also for Northeast, Lexi Murphy finished with eight points; Debinique Knowles had six; Yasmin Miller finished with four, Annie Szczepaniak, had two and Megan Trinder, one.

The 25-6 Reivers had five players in double figures and were led by Simone Gillum’s 19 points.

Svehla thought his team would have performed better than it did. “We seemed a step slow mentally and physically tonight and that is disappointing because I thought that we had a solid week of practice.  I give Iowa Western credit, they executed their stuff and they shot the ball very well in the second half.  Tonight, they were the better team.”