The Kirkwood women's basketball team was credited with 26 assists on its 27 field goals during Saturday's 80-45 romp past Marshalltown at Johnson Hall.

That tells you one of two things: Either the official statistician was extremely generous handing out assists or the seventh-ranked Eagles passed the ball extremely well.

It was the latter.

"We were unselfish," said Kirkwood Coach Kim Muhl. "That's the big thing with this group. When they start passing the ball, they're much better."

Tyra Polite collected seven assists and Taylor Silva had five to lead the way, but 10 different Eagles had at least one assist as Kirkwood zipped the ball around the floor.

"We're starting to get better," said Muhl after his club raised its record to 8-4 with a strong overall performance.

It's hard to score 80 points without lots of people landing in double figures, but the Eagles did it Saturday with a balanced attack. Anna Martensen led Kirkwood with 12 points, but nobody else reached double-digits.

Kirsten Larson scored nine points. Polite, Cassidy Clark and Casey Miles had eight points apiece. Silva and Peyton Bockholt scored seven apiece.

"I like it that way," said Muhl.

Fourteen players made the scoring column and all 15 Eagles got onto the court for at least eight minutes, but Muhl has already trimmed the regular rotation and thinks it's helped the team improve.

"We're not playing 15. We're going to play 10 to 12 and that's it," he said. "And I think they're just getting better. And they're starting to share the ball better."

Muhl liked the way his club performed.

"We're starting to get better," he remarked. "I think we're on the right track. That's the thing. I think we're on the right track."

Kirkwood opened a 45-point lead in the second half.

Jamerka Martin led Marshalltown with 19 points.

MARSHALLTOWN (45): Howe 3 0-0 7, Sproul 0 0-0 0, Martin 6 2-2 19, Hiraldo 2 0-0 4, Williams-Perry 1 2-2 4, Calles 0 3-4 3, McGinty 3 0-0 7, Davenport 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 8-10 45.

KIRKWOOD (80): Sneed 1 0-0 2, Silva 2 2-3 7, Polite 2 2-2 8, Larson 3 0-0 9, Clark 4 0-0 8, Miles 3 0-0 8, Downs 1 0-0 3, Isaac 1 2-2 5, Oberman 0 0-0 0, Sudduth 1 0-0 2, Hutchins 0 1-2 1, Martensen 4 4-4 12, Bockholt 3 0-0 7, Kallenberger 1 1-2 3, Wood 1 3-4 5. Totals 27 15-19 80.

Halftime - Kirkwood 46, Marshalltown 19. 3-point goals - Marshalltown 7 (Martin 5, Howe 1, McGinty 1), Kirkwood 11 (Larson 3, Polite 2, Miles 2, Silva 1, Downs 1, Isaac 1, Bockholt 1).