NIACC women win tourney opener, 64-51

MASON CITY - The NIACC women's basketball team opened NJCAA Region 11-B tournament play with a 64-51 victory over Northeast CC Saturday afternoon in the NIACC gym.

Third-seed NIACC completed the season sweep of the sixth-seeded Hawks to advance to Monday's NJCAA Region 11-B title game at second-seed Iowa Western (29-2) . Game time in Council Bluffs is slated for 5:30 p.m.

Iowa Western moved to the regional title game with a 78-52 win over Southwestern CC Saturday in Council Bluffs.

NIACC (23-7) won the two regular season games against Northeast CC, as well. The Trojans won 62-60 at Northeast CC and 85-62 at home.

In Saturday's regional tournament opener, NIACC received 15 points from freshman guard Alexis Schroeder and 12 points from sophomore Keiara Anderson.

Also for the Trojans, freshman Tori Miller scored eight points with eight rebounds. Freshman Madison Hillman, who missed Wednesday's regular season finale with a concussion, scored five points with nine rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals.

NIACC, which trailed 16-15 after the first quarter, outscored Northeast CC 19-17 in the second 10 minutes to take a narrow 34-33 lead at the half. The Trojans took control of the their tourney opener by outscoring the Hawks 18-5 in the third quarter.

The 23 wins by the Trojans is the most in the Brad Vaught era. The previous high win total for the fourth-year coach came in a 22-9 season in 2021-22.

The winner of the NIACC/Iowa Western regional title game faces the NJCAA Region 13 champion on Saturday, March 9 in the NJCAA North Central-B district title game. The game will be played at the NJCAA Region 13 champion.

The winner of the district title game advances to the NJCAA Division II national tournament March 18-23 in Joplin. Mo.