Hawks’ Women Fall To Iowa Western, 65-64

Members of the Northeast Community College 2014-15 women’s basketball team include (front row, from left) Brooke Bauer, O’Neill; Cameron Eddie, Belden; Octavia McGraw, Omaha; Megan Trinder, Hollywell, Qld, Australia; Jayla Mayes-Jackson, Minneapolis, MN; and Kara Valasek, Palmer. Back row (from left) Jordyn Berglund, student manager, Ena Viso, Copenhagen, Denmark; Hannah Riley, Richmond Hill, GA; Sydney Koel, Sioux Falls, SD; Janea Bunn, Springfield, MA; Yasmin Miller, Mountain Creek, Qld, Australia; Annie Szczepaniak, Bellevue; Allie Millard, Valentine; and Matt Svehla, head coach. Not pictured, Dr. Michael Cooper, assistant coach. (Courtesy Northeast Community College)

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – It came down to the wire for the Northeast Community College women’s basketball team in a game against Iowa Western Community College here Wednesday, with the Reivers prevailing, 65-64.

The Hawks trailed by two points and were forced to foul with four seconds remaining.  Iowa Western made both free throws to go up by four points, 66-62.

Matt Svehla, Hawks coach, said the end of the game was very close and became very interesting when Megan Trinder hit a three point shot at the buzzer for Northeast while a Reiver defender was flying hard at her. “Megan thought that she was fouled, but no foul was called and the game ended 65-64. It was quite a way to end the game,” Svehla said. “I didn’t have a great look at what happened after Megan let it go. I know a defender was chasing her hard and put her in a vulnerable position. Some people said Megan got hit, but I didn’t see it. The game wasn’t decided by that play!”

Janea Bunn led Northeast with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots. Trinder finished with nine points and seven assists. Also for the Hawks, Yasmin Miller had nine points and nine rebounds; Brooke Bauer and Ena Viso also had nine points; Allied Millard, four points and Octavia McGraw, two.

“This was a very competitive ball game and we had our chances,” Svehla said. “We let some opportunities get away where we did not finish, didn’t rebound or we gave them something easy.  We missed some shots that we needed to make and we had a couple of defensive possessions where we didn’t defend very well. Overall, we gave good effort, but came up a bit short.”

The Hawks (15-3) will host the Hasting College JV squad on Saturday at the Cox Activities Center on the Norfolk campus. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.