No. 10 NIACC women set to begin league play

MASON CITY - League play begins Saturday.

The No. 10 NIACC women's basketball team begins ICCAC play at home Saturday against No. 14 Southeastern CC. Game time is set for 1 p.m. in the NIACC gym.

Saturday's contest will be the Lady Trojans' first home contest since Nov. 26.

After Saturday's game, the Lady Trojans play at No. 2 Kirkwood on Jan. 17 and host Iowa Central on Jan. 20.

NIACC (13-3 overall) placed fourth at the Illinois Central Cougar Holiday Tournament in December.

NIACC topped Kalamazoo Valley CC 122-58 in the opening round. No. 7 Illinois Central topped NIACC 66-62 in the semifinals and No. 8 Owens CC stopped the Lady Trojans 73-63 in the consolation game.

Southeastern CC (12-3) topped State Fair CC 79-75 on Tuesday.

Since the 2013-14 season, NIACC is 8-1 against Southeastern. Last season, the two teams split their ICCAC contests with Southeastern winning 67-48 in Keokuk and the Lady Trojans winning 102-75 on their home floor.

Home cooking

The NIACC women's basketball team is 7-0 at home in the 2017-18 season, including three wins at the NIACC Thanksgiving Basketball Challenge (Nov. 24-26) and two at the annual Konigsmark Klassic (Nov. 3-4).

The NIACC women have won 11 straight games at home. The last loss for the Lady Trojans at home was a 71-65 loss to Kirkwood on Feb. 1, 2017.

NIACC women's coach Todd Ciochetto has an all-time home record of 40-9. The Lady Trojans were 8-3 in 2016-17, 11-3 in 2015-16 and 12-3 in 2014-15.

Climbing the charts

Taylor Laabs has 94 career 3-point goals, which ranks 11th on NIACC's all-time 3-point list. Laabs trails Kelli Terrell (2003-05), who ranks 10th with 95 career 3-pointers. Kelsie Willert is tied for 12th with Sar Ogen (2000-02) on the school's all-time list with 86 3-point goals.

Around the league

Also on Saturday in the ICCAC, No. 15 DMACC (12-4) plays at Ellsworth (6-9), Iowa Lakes (5-9) plays at Southwestern (6-7) and No. 2 Kirkwood (14-3) plays at Iowa Central (8-8).

NIACC women's basketball team 2017-18

When NIACC                                            Then NIACC is

In November                                              9-0

In December                                              4-3

Plays at home                                             7-0

Plays on road                                              1-1

Plays on neutral court                                  5-2

Leads at halftime                                        13-0

Trails at halftime                                        0-3

Tied at halftime                                          0-0

Plays in overtime                                        1-0

Scores less than 60 points                           0-1

Scores between 60-69 points                       0-2

Scores between 70-79 points                      1-0

Scores between 80-89 points                      0-0

Scores between 90-99 points                      3-0

Scores 100 or more points                         9-0

Allows less than 60 points                         7-0

Allows between 60-69 points                     1-2

Allows between 70-79 points                     3-1

Allows between 80-89 points                     2-0

Allows between 90-99 points                     0-0

Allows 100 or more points                        0-0

Game decided by 1-3 points                     1-0

Game decided by 4-6 points                     0-1

Game decided by 7-10 points                   1-1

Game decided by 11-14 points                 0-1

Game decided by 15+ points                   11-0