No. 6 Women's Basketball falls in NJCAA DII semifinals to No. 2 Kirkwood
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mesa Community College (27-6) | 13 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 43 |
|
Kirkwood Community College (33-2) | 19 | 14 | 20 | 13 | 66 |
Kirkwood Community College
| Game Statistics | Mesa Community College | Kirkwood Community College |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (16-53) | (23-52) |
| Field Goal % | 30.2% | 44.2% |
| Rebounds | 29 | 43 |
| Assists | 10 | 11 |
| Turnovers | 17 | 14 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 8 | 19 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 4 | 11 |
| Pts in the Paint | 21 | 28 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 10 | 3 |
| Bench Pts | 13 | 15 |
Friday March 22, 2024 - 8:55 p.m. | Dylan DeVlieger
No. 6 Women's Basketball fell in the NJCAA DII Semifinals to No. 2 Kirkwood Friday night, 66-43 to end their national championship hopes.
Mesa started the game well, forcing a turnover on the Eagles first possession and eventually working a 5-2 advantage off a Mackenzie Shivers three-pointer. Unfortunately for the T-Birds, that would be the largest lead they would hold as Kirkwood would quickly respond and regain a 7-5 advantage.
Mesa would again have trouble controlling the basketball as they would turn it over seven times in the opening quarter which would result in 10 points for the Eagles as they would take a 19-13 advantage into the second quarter.
The T-Birds seemed to fall flat in the second quarter as they would start the quarter with an easy lay in by Birtany Kogbara but would go ice cold from the floor as they would not put up anymore points until 4:52 left in the period off an Ashiian Hunter three-pointer.
Luckily Mesa was still in striking distance as the Eagles were also having offensive troubles as they would start the quarter 2-7 from the floor.
After the Hunter triple Mesa had trimmed their deficit to just five points, but after a timeout, Kirkwood would go on a 10-2 run to end the period, taking a 33-20 lead into the halftime locker room. KCC would outscore Mesa 14-7 in the second quarter.
The Eagles would open up the third period on a 9-4 run and extend their lead to as many as 25 points in the quarter. Mesa would have had another quarter of being held to single digits if not for an Aaliyah Garcia buzzer-beating three-pointer which worked their total in the quarter to 11 points. Even with the heave MCC still found themselves down 31-53 going into the fourth quarter.
The T-Birds showed fight to start the final period as they began the quarter on a 10-4 run thanks to a couple of triples and shifty drives to the basket. Mesa would work the lead down to 14 but did not have enough juice to make a push to cut the Eagle lead to single digits as Kirkwood would respond and regain control of the contest enroute to their 66-43 win.
Mesa had their struggles shooting from the floor as they connected at just a 30.2% rate their lowest in the tournament as they shot 55.6% from the field against No. 11 SAU Tech and 47.1% against No. 3 Rock Valley.
Turnovers also haunted MCC as they coughed it up 17 times resulting in 19 points for the Eagles. MCC's defense did their job to force 11 takeaways but were not able to capitalize on the extra possessions as they scored just 8 points off turnovers.
The T-Birds were outrebounded for the first time in the tournament as Kirkwood won the battle on the glass, 43-29. The Eagles had 13 offensive boards which resulted in 11 second chance points.
Mesa's season is not over just yet, they will have an opportunity to take home third place in their final game of the season as they take on No. 4 CCBC Essex at 5 p.m. CDT / 3 p.m. AZ time on the NJCAA Network.
Photos are credit of the NJCAA. Click here to view the gallery of the game.
