• Freshman Jaden Ainley leads DMACC with a double-double, 19 points and 10 rebounds
• Freshmen Jensen Archibald and Reanna Hutchinson score 18 and 12 points respectively
• NIACC takes 10-point lead in the first quarter

The season came to a close for the DMACC women's basketball team following a 75-64 loss to North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) in the quarterfinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Division II Women's Basketball Championship March 8 at Mason City.

NIACC, which defeated the Bears for the second time in three games this season, had a 23-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained that advantage throughout the rest of the game. The Trojans led 39-26 at halftime and 55-45 at the end of the third quarter. NIACC is the tournament's No. 4 seed and DMACC was seeded fifth.

Freshman Jaden Ainley of Clear Lake led the Bears with a double-double, 19 points and 10 rebounds. Freshmen Jensen Archibald of Martinsdale and Reanna Hutchinson of Eau Claire, Wis., scored 18 and 12 points respectively.

DMACC shot 39 percent in the loss, making 22 of 57 field goal attempts. The Bears were 4-of-14 from three-point range and 16-of-20 at the free throw line.

NIACC came away with a 40-39 advantage in rebounding. Following Ainley for the Bears were Covid-19 sophomore (CoSO) Camry Jones of Okoboji and sophomore Reagan Franzen of Polk City. Jones came away with seven rebounds and Franzen had six.

Freshman Kennedy Jones of Oak Park, Ill., led DMACC in assists with three and Archibald topped the Bears in steals with two.

NIACC will face top-seeded Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in the tournament semifinals March 11 at Cedar Rapids. Sixth-seeded Northeast (Neb.) Community College (NECC) will play second-seeded Iowa Western Community College (IWCC) in the other semifinal game. The championship game will be played at 1 p.m. March 12 at Cedar Rapids.

The Region XI champion will advance to the NJCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship March 21 to 25 at Port Huron, Mich. KCC is the defending national champion.