Cedar Rapids, IA - The #14 Illinois Central College women's basketball team used a big third quarter to defeat Des Moines Area CC (DMACC) 72-58 on Friday night at the Kirkwood Classic.  The Cougars put the pedal to the medal to open the third quarter and score on their first eleven possessions to go on a 24-6 run and break the game open to get their second win of the season.  

ICC opened the game aggressively to get into the bonus early and capitalized on free throws in the opening frame to take an 18-12 lead.  The Cougars opened up a double digit advantage on a Laisha Armendariz Lopez baseline jumper DMACC fought back to cut the ICC lead to 31-25.

The Cougars tightened up the defense and held the Bears to just one field goal for the first five minutes of the third while doing some "crazy work" on the offensive end in both transition and the half-court.  McNamee scored three straight field goals followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Dearing (assists Kyleigh Block), and Gilbert and Dearing added two more scores to put ICC up 47-28.  Jada Smith found T'yana Lovelace inside and then Smith scored on a putback while McNamee added two more scores putting ICC ahead 59-40 going into the final stanza.

The Bears kept the pressure on and whittled the lead down to 65-57 with just under two minutes to play but a Block three-pointer (assist Gilbert) gave ICC the breathing room they needed until the final horn.

Leaders
Cierra McNamee | 20 pts, 7 reb
Peyton Dearing | 15 pts, 2 reb
Halie Gilbert | 10 pts, 7 reb
Jada Smith | 0 pts, 4 reb
Kyleigh Block 5 ast
"I BEAT THE DEAN" HUSTLE AWARD:  Jada Smith

Next up: 
The Cougars will face #1 Kirkwood on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 3pm at Johnson Hall.  
Live Video:  kirkwoodeagles.com/live
Live Audio with Alex Staab on Mixlr:  mixlr.com/ICC-Womens-Basketball