ECC will get one final opportunity to claim its first victory of the season when the team opens Region XI Tournament play Monday (March 2) versus Little Priest Tribal (3-25). The Panthers open tournament play as the nine seed following Saturday's 66-39 home loss to Iowa Lakes to conclude the regular season. The Panthers finished the regular season 0-29. The winner of Monday's 5:30 p.m. tournament opener will travel to Mason City to take on top ranked NIACC (29-1) on Wednesday (March 4).
Saturday, the Lakers used a 21-5 run in the second quarter to break the game open. Offensively, the Panthers were led by Kevonda Primes' team high 11 points.
ECC nearly recorded its first victory during a non-Region game versus Clarke University JV, falling by a 76-64 final on Monday. The two teams were knotted throughout but a big fourth stanza by the visitors allowed them to pull away for the road win. The game was tied following the opening 10 minutes – at 19-19. The Pride held a slight edge at the break, ahead by just two points (34-32). By that point, Primes already had 14 points for the Panthers. Heading into the final 10 minutes of the game, the score was knotted at 50-50. That's when Clarke started to pull away and outscored ECC 26-14 for the win. Primes finished with a team-high 20 points. Keara Williams tallied 17 points and Ellie Barrows added 10.
The Panthers traveled to Fort Dodge to take on rival Iowa Central Community College on Wednesday. ICCC came out firing to start the contest and the ECC defense could never gain traction – falling 84-37 on the road. The Tritons built a 6-0 advantage to open the game that grew to 12-3. A bucket by Ellie Barrows and Danny Woodruff cut the deficit (14-8) but the visitors would not get much closer than that, down by nine after the opening quarter. ICCC built a 45-19 lead at the break.
The Panthers shot just 21.6 percent and were 2-11 from beyond the arc. Just one player was in double figures, with Woodruff producing 15 points off the bench.
For more on this game visit the Times Citizen online at http://www.timescitizen.com/sports/loss-to-lakers-hangs-winless-regular-season-on-ecc/article_d9256fb0-5c93-11ea-b566-97065c8eab2b.html