The Kirkwood women's basketball team strolled in the opening round of the regional junior college tournament Tuesday night with a 63-32 victory over Iowa Lakes, but their journey will get a lot harder from here.

The 11th-ranked Eagles (25-6) face No.9 Iowa Central (25-5) in the semifinals Friday night at Iowa Central, then probably would have to play top-ranked NIACC (29-2) in the finals Saturday afternoon for a trip to the national tournament.

On top of that, the Eagles might have to knock off those two ranked teams in Fort Dodge without 6-foot sophomore Ariel Sneed, who suffered a possible concussion Tuesday night when she fell on her face during the first half at Johnson Hall.

"She hit her face on the floor. Probably a concussion," said KCC Coach Kim Muhl, whose club has battled a string of injuries this season. "This is a funny year for that with these kids."

Hanna Haynes and Zoe Kelso were lost for the season earlier in the year with knee injuries and Peyton Bockholt aggravated a nagging knee injury late in Tuesday's game and limped off the floor. Haynes, Kelso, Bockholt and Sneed are all post players for the Eagles, severely depleting the position.

"We can't get consistency," said Muhl. "We start to get it a little bit, then somebody dings up something. It's hard to watch them walk around hobbling. It's bad, isn't it?"

Sneed drove to the basket and there was contact with an Iowa Lakes player. Sneed suffered a hard spill and did not get up, lying on her stomach as the Kirkwood trainer and Iowa Lakes trainer came to her assistance, carefully examining her head and neck.

After about 10 minutes, Sneed was able to gingerly roll over and eventually get to her feet, with assistance, and was led to the training room. She was sitting up and smiling in the trainers room at halftime, but did not return to the bench in the second half.

Sneed did not have a chance to protect herself when she fell to the floor.

"She didn't have enough time to get her hands off the ball, so she ended up falling on her face," said teammate Mikayla Fallon. "I hope she's OK. She doesn't know if she'll be able to play Friday or not. We don't know yet.

"She's kind of quiet," said Fallon. "She's more upset than anything that she couldn't play."

Tuesday's game was never in doubt. Kirkwood zoomed to a 35-5 lead late in the first half and held Iowa Lakes without a field goal for the first six minutes of the mismatch.

Iowa Lakes made only three field goals in the first half and shot 11 for 53 in the game for 20.8 percent.

"I think we came out with a lot energy and ready to play," said Fallon, who hit four 3-pointers and led the Eagles with 14 points. "It was pretty exciting to get a good lead like that."

Cassidy Clark contributed 12 points for Kirkwood.

The Eagles will pack their bags and head to Fort Dodge, hoping to defeat Iowa Central and NIACC on consecutive days to reach the national tournament.

"I'm pretty confident that if we give our all we can do it," said Fallon. "Like all these teams, we have nothing to lose. It's going to be tough, but I think we've got what it takes.

"It's all or nothing right now. It's crunch time," she said.

IOWA LAKES (32): Tucker 1 0-0 2, Dahl 1 2-3 5, Edwards 4 0-0 8, Johnson 2 2-2 7, Courtney 1 2-8 4, Kindred 0 0-0 0, Kemeny 1 0-0 2, Gilliland 0 0-0 0, Boroson 1 0-0 3, West 0 0-0 0, Green 0 0-0 0, Gipson 0 1-2 1, Sherden 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 7-15 32.

KIRKWOOD (63): Sneed 1 0-0 2, Woolfolk 3 2-2 9, Tuttle 0 1-2 1, Fallon 5 0-1 14, Clark 6 0-5 12, Silva 1 2-2 4, Polite 1 0-0 2, Larson 1 0-0 3, Martensen 0 5-6 5, Bockholt 1 2-2 5, Robinson 2 2-3 6. Totals 21 14-23 63.

Halftime - Kirkwood 37, Iowa Lakes 13. 3-point goals - Iowa Lakes 3 (Dahl 1, Johnson 1, Boroson 1), Kirkwood 7 (Fallon 4, Woolfolk 1, Larson 1, Bockholt 1).