By Marissa VanWingen, The Times-Citizen
Cedar Rapids, IA – Ellsworth Community College (20-5, 11-4) traveled to Cedar Rapids to take on the Eagles for the second time this season and fell by a 96-51 final. In the two games the two have played this year, Kirkwood (24-0, 14-0) has won by an average of 35.5 points.
The visitors did have a 3-2 lead early in the contest on a Laia Santanach long ball, but the Eagles quickly went on a 7-1 run. Santanach hit her second triple of the game to cut the deficit to three, but the difference would swell to 10 (17-7). Kirkwood's defense stole the rock five times in the first quarter and hit four three-balls to build a 33-12 advantage.
The second quarter started out well with Ella Sharar hitting back-to-back three-pointers and the Panthers going on a 10-0 run of their own to get back within 11 (33-22), but then they would go cold from the floor and from the free throw line. To end the quarter, ECC was 3-7 from the charity stripe (14-23 for the game) to trail by 20 points (54-34).
The Eagles defense befuddled the visitors, forcing 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and 27 for the game.
Even with the large advantage Kirkwood put the pedal to the metal in the second half, scoring the first 14 points of the third quarter. It was not until the 4:41 mark that ECC got on the board, a pair of free throws by Sharar. The Panthers went 0-8 from the floor in the quarter, all three of their points came from the charity stripe as they were outscored 23-3.
The first ECC basket from the floor came with 7:16 to go in the game, Taylor Ross drained a jumper. Ross and Sharar were the lone Panthers in double figures, with 12 each. As a team they shot 37 percent and were outrebounded by nine.
Kirkwood has extended their lead in the ICCAC to three and a half games. ECC has three conference games left and has a half-game lead over Northeast and DMACC for second.
For more Times-Citizen coverage of Ellsworth athletics: https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.timescitizen.com%2fsports%2fecc%2f&c=E,1,5geC6rzF7KWVXKbzGxZqqG6zpjACSvArS5_PLPzzjsHCxjUFotM0JQLnaVjyCJS3JerM6VxENcfCkewQDux_WE_C10ut3ZGhqeLae-LEd1lpSWNoOCduTg,,&typo=1
