NIACC women face No. 11 DMACC in regional semifinals

BOONE - The NIACC women's basketball team faces No. 11 DMACC in the NJCAA Region XI semfinals at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

The NIACC women are seeking their fourth straight trip to the regional title game. The Lady Trojans have advanced to the NJCAA Division II national tournament two of the last three seasons.

The Lady Trojans stopped DMACC 83-80 in last year's regional title game.

DMACC (27-4) won both meetings this season. The second-seeded Bears won 71-58 in Mason City on Jan. 14 and stopped the third-seeded Lady Trojans 97-79 on Feb. 11 in Boone.

NIACC (18-12) advanced to the regional final four with a 56-51 victory over Iowa Central in the opening round of the tournament on Tuesday. Sophomore Morgan Cuffe made a layup with 33 seconds left to give the Lady Trojans the lead for good.

The winner of Thursday's game advances to Saturday's 1 p.m. regional final against top-seed Kirkwood (31-0) or fifth-seed Southwestern (17-14). The highest remaining seed will host Saturday's regional final.

Notes - NIACC coach Todd Ciochetto is 4-3 vs. DMACC ... NIACC has 317 3-point goals this season, which ranks second in NJCAA Division II ... Highland CC (Kan.) ranks first with 319 3-point goals ... NIACC is seeking its 11th appearance in the regional title game ... DMACC is seeking its 4th appearance in the regional finals ... Taylor Laabs has 59 3-point goals this season, which ranks 13th on NIACC's single-season 3-point list.

NIACC'S statistical leaders

Scoring - Cierra Stanciel 10.5 ppg.; Taylor Laabs 10.3 ppg.; Kelsie Willert 8.9 ppg.

Rebounds - Stanciel 4.9 rpg.; Khalilah Holloway 4.8 rpg.; Morgan Cuffe 4.5 rpg.

3-point goals - Laabs 59, Willert 50, Hattie Davidson 36, Riley Galvin 36.

Assists - UU Longs 73, Laabs 60, Stanciel 60.

Steals - Stanciel 60, Laabs 50, Longs 42.

DMACC's statistical leaders

Scoring - Shayla Dean 12.0 ppg.; Amanda Cartney 10.8 ppg.; Kelsey Pretz 10.0.

Rebounds - Molly Mitchell 7.5 rpg.; Angel Agoth 6.8 rpg.; Samantha Hughes 6.5 rpg.

3-point goals - Dean 77, Cartney 47, Pretz 35.

Assists - Dean 134, Joniqua Clark 114, Cartney 98.

Steals - Dean 61, Clark 39, Cartney 35.

RECENT NIACC/DMACC HISTORY

2012-13

NIACC 58, DMACC 55

NIACC 71, DMACC 66

2013-14

NIACC 97, DMACC 68

NIACC 99, DMACC 61

NIACC 93, DMACC 86 (OT) (Regional tournament semifinals)

2014-15

NIACC 95, DMACC 87

NIACC 88, DMACC 77

2015-16

NIACC 83, DMACC 75

NIACC 64, DMACC 52

NIACC 83, DMACC 80 (Regional tournament championship)

2016-17

DMACC 71, NIACC 58

DMACC 94, NIACC 79