In a rematch between the two teams, the Southwestern Spartans women's basketball team faced the Iowa Central Tritons last night, Feb. 15, 2012, on their home floor. Although they were able to cut the margin of victory down by 15 points, the Spartans still fell to the Tritons by a final score of 82-40. The Spartans were able to score the ball more efficiently in this second matchup, but still only made 27 percent of their attempted shots. Combine that poor shooting with the 27 turnovers the Tritons forced and it is difficult to see how the Spartans managed to stay as close as they did. The recipe for success was the same for Iowa Central in game two as it was earlier this year; the Tritons two post players (Rodewald and Nagel) combined to score 44 points while also getting a double-digit effort from their shooting guard (Rolling).

Southwestern's inability to guard the post and contest three-point shots made for a runaway game. The first half also saw the Spartans struggle to rebound the basketball, as Iowa Central capitalized on SWCC misses by pushing the ball in transition. Iowa Central jumped out to a 15-3 lead and really never looked back. They pressured the Spartans throughout the contest, forcing turnovers and disrupting any potential for Southwestern to gain offensive rhythms.

Coach Gilcrist commented, "That team is very good. In the second half, there were times where I swore we were not able to throw a single pass that was not tipped. Nonetheless, I thought this game was more about our lack of execution. We still would have lost, but that game is much tighter if we simply dribble and pass against pressure. Anytime we match up with them on their offensive end, we are at a disadvantage because of the size and athleticism of their posts, and the ability of their guards to knock down shots. Still, I was disappointed in how frequently we allowed them to dictate our every action. To put it simply, I thought we played scared tonight. We are a better team than what we showed and hopefully we can get that team back before we close out the final four games of this conference season."

The Spartans were led offensively by Freshman Hannah Sneed (Malvern, IA) and Sophomore Heylee Horn (Winterset, IA) who scored 11 and 8 respectively. Horn also led the team in rebounds with 9, while Sophomore Amber Thomas (Council Bluffs, IA) finished with 6. Freshman Jamee Miner (Elkhorn, NE) led the team with 3 assists and 3 steals. Southwestern will now take the next two days to prepare to face Ellsworth Community College on Saturday, February 18 on the SWCC campus at 1 p.m.