The Lincoln Land Loggers returned to John Wood College to take on #3 ranked North Iowa Area College and fell for the first time this season 84-81 in overtime. The game started poorly for the Loggers as NIAC jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead before a Logger time out. The Loggers chipped away but only managed to score 11 points in the quarter and were down 18-11 at the end of the first period. The hot shooting of NIAC continued into the second quarter. At the same time, the Loggers were stone cold. NIAC connected on 17 field goals of which 9 were three point field goals in the first half. The Loggers, on the other hand, only connected on 10 of 40 shots in the half. The Loggers trailed 45-28 at half.
The second half saw the Loggers go on an early run and eventually take the lead by a point late in the third quarter. Unfortunately, the Logger shooting woes continued. The second half was a hotly contested battle that featured 7 ties and 8 lead changes. Lincoln scored a bucket that put them up by two points with :15 seconds to go in the game. Unfortunately the Loggers fouled and NIAC hit two free throws to tie the game. Lincoln Land had an open look for the win, but it rattled out.
Overtime saw very little scoring as NIAC managed six points to the Loggers three. Lincoln Land had two attempts to tie the game, but missed on both try's. "I am proud of the heart and effort our girls showed in the second half. We could have easily quit, but we didn't. We battled and gave ourselves a chance." stated Coach Jones. "We have played 10 of our first 11 games away from home. This weekend was brutal test with two of the top three teams in the nation. Last night's battle with Johnson County just took too much out of us. All in all, I am happy with the effort and where our team is right now."
The Loggers were lead in scoring by Katryel Clark with 23 points. Havilyn Dulin added 17 and Christina Walker chipped in 11. Lincoln Land was lead in rebounding by Clark with 13 and Dulin with 11. The Loggers managed to shoot a dismal 16% from 3pt in the game. Lincoln Land out rebounded NIAC 62-61. #3 NIAC improves to 11-0 while the #5 Loggers drop to 10-1
Lincoln Land returns home to play Illinois Valley on Dec 14th at 1pm.
