Norfolk, NE—Taking on Northeast Community College for the third time this year, the Marshalltown Community College women’s basketball team battled the Hawks until the end, but came up just short on Wednesday night, dropping the Region XI Tournament matchup 63-52 to end its season.

Freshman Claudia Morente (Girona, Spain/Institut Juame Vicens Vives) led the Tigers with 19 points in the postseason matchup while Alyssa Roth (Clinton, IA/Northeast) scored 16. Estelle Eduardo (Villeurbanne, France/Lycee Ernest Couteaux) knocked down a pair of three-point shots and finished the game with 11 points.

Trailing 7-0 to start the game, Morente buried a three to get the Tigers on the board in a low-scoring first quarter. The Tiger defense limited Northeast to just 11 points in the opening quarter but MCC managed just five.

Northeast outscored the Tigers 21-11 in the second quarter to build a 32-17 lead at halftime. Morente did her best to keep the Tigers within range of the Hawks, scoring 12 points in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Looking for the postseason upset, the MCC offense came alive in the third quarter. The Tigers trailed 39-19, but put together an 11-0 run behind the play of Roth in the early stages of the frame. A basket from Eduardo cut the score to 39-30, but the Hawks responded with a run of their own to regain a double-digit edge that they carried out for the victory.

MCC won the rebounding battle Wednesday night 37-34 behind seven boards apiece from Morente and Kiana Weston (Skokie, IL/Niles North).

Northeast advances to take on top-seeded Iowa Western Community College Saturday night for the Region XI championship.

The Tigers finish the season with an 11-18 record, a seven-win improvement from the 2015-16 season.