Kirkwood Community College - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Kirkwood men fall to SCC again

Bryan Petersen has a list and he's checking it twice, but it has nothing to do with buying Christmas gifts for the Kirkwood men's basketball team.

Petersen has a long list of problems the Eagles need to solve before they can become a championship team this season.

The Eagles ran into problems Wednesday night and lost to Southeastern Community College, 70-62, at Johnson Hall for their second loss to the Blackhawks this year.

Kirkwood committed 18 turnovers, suffered breakdowns on defense, missed open shots and saw two of its top scorers combine for only four points in the ballgame.

The setback dropped the Eagles to 8-4 heading into the holidays and a three-week break before their next game on Jan 2.

"We're not coming together and obviously we're not finding the solutions," said Petersen. "And that's on us as coaches as well.

"It's frustrating to lose at home and lose in the fashion that we did."

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King lifts Kirkwood past John Wood

QUINCY, Ill. - Chris King hit a short jumper in the final minute  Saturday afternoon to give the Kirkwood Eagles a 71-70 victory over John Wood College in a non-conference game.

Kirkwood trailed 70-69 when King made a shot from eight feet with about 30 seconds leftin the game. Doug Wilson blocked a shot in the final seconds to help preserve the victory.

King paced Kirkwood (8-3) with 25 points. Tajen Ross tossed in 15 points and Wilson added 12.

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Wooldridge paces No. 7 Eagles by Blazers

QUINCY, Ill. - Arika Wooldridge scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds Saturday afternoon as the seventh-ranked Kirkwood Eagles topped John Wood, 55-37, in a non-conference women's basketball game.

Megan Axcell popped in three 3-pointers and netted 11 points for Kirkwood, which raised its record to 9-2. Tay Wilson collected six assists and Olivia Usher had four steals.

The Eagles defeated John Wood, 75-36, at Kirkwood Nov. 15 to sweep the season series.

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No. 7 Eagles stroll by Marshalltown

The seventh-ranked Kirkwood women's basketball team built a 33-point lead at halftime Wednesday night and cruised to a 75-43 victory over Marshalltown at Johnson Hall.

Megan Axcell and Leah Robinson scored 10 points apiece for the Eagles in a balanced attack. Awal Ajak, Mackenzie Jenkins and Tinee'sha Coleman contributed nine points.

Kirkwood punished Marshalltown 26-5 in the second quarter to take a commanding 51-18 lead at halftime. Kirkwood's biggest lead was 35 points early in the second half.

The Eagles raised their record to 8-2 with the victory.

Kirkwood was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the preseason poll, but the Eagles have fallen to No. 7 in the first poll of the regular season after dropping two games.

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Kirkwood men knock off Black Hawk

MOLINE, Ill. - Doug Wilson, Tajen Ross and Chris King combined for 65  points Tuesday night as the Kirkwood Eagles dumped Black Hawk College, 93-83, in a non-conference ballgame.

Wilson scored 23 points, Ross tossed in 22 and King added 20 as the Eagles raised their record to 7-3.

This was Kirkwood's second victory over Black Hawk in two weeks, following a 94-69 verdict Nov. 21 in Cedar Rapids.

CJ Neville scored 22 points for Black Hawk.

Kirkwood was ranked 14th in the NJCAA Division II preseason poll, but the Eagles dropped out of the Top 20 in the first poll of the regular season this week.

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Wilson leads No. 1 Eagles to tough victory

Tayana Wilson is usually the smallest player on the floor at 5-feet-4  and 118 pounds, but don't let her size fool you.

The sophomore from Country Club Hills, Ill., is a tough customer for the Kirkwood Eagles.

Wilson was clobbered by Iowa Western defenders on a pair of drives during the first five minutes of their game Saturday, but she bounced up both times and never said a word.

Instead, she got her revenge by playing a hard-nosed game in a 56-53 victory over the Reivers at Johnson Hall.

"Honestly, it makes me mad," Wilson said about being knocked around by Iowa Western. "It makes me want to push it down their throats even more.

"Yeah, they did kind of ding me up a little bit. It really made me mad."

The officials declined to call intentional fouls on either play, but it was pretty rough stuff.

Kirkwood Coach Kim Muhl talked to one of the officials about it, but he did not make a big fuss. After the second foul, Muhl took Wilson  out of the game for a few minutes to recuperate.

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Arrington stars for No. 14 Eagles

A new star was born for the Kirkwood Eagles Saturday afternoon at Johnson Hall.

He's 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds and his name is Kyle Arrington, a giant of a young man from Council Bluffs.

Only time will tell if Arrington was a shooting star that lasts for a moment or whether he's a bright new star for the future, but he sure  looked good Saturday.

Arrington played the best game of his young college career with 21 points, 15 rebounds, four blocked shots and four assists to spark the  14th-ranked Eagles in an 85-48 victory over Morton College.

It was a stunning performance for the freshman, who had not played more than 10 minutes in a game all season and began the day averaging a modest 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds.

And don't let the final score fool you. Kirkwood struggled in the  first half and trailed, 28-22, at halftime before Arrington and the  Eagles took flight in the second half.

Arrington collected six points and four rebounds in the first half, good enough for Coach Bryan Petersen to put his tallest player into the starting lineup for the second half.

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No. 14 Eagles nipped by Marshalltown

At first blush, you might think that a junior college basketball team from Marshalltown would feature a bunch of players from Iowa and around the midwest.

If so, you would be wrong.

The Marshalltown Tigers feature players from Spain,Taiwan, Senegal,  Iceland, Serbia, Norway, Brazil, Sweden and Turkey. All told, 12 of their players hail from nine foreign countries. There are also six players from the United States, including two Iowans.

Their coach, Brynjar Brynharsson, is a native of Iceland who has recruiting ties all over the world.

That international crew from Marshalltown turned out to be one point better than the 14th-ranked Kirkwood Eagles Wednesday night.

Marshalltown scored the winning basket with 4.7 seconds left Wednesday as the Tigers trimmed the Eagles, 74-73, in an entertaining non-conference game at Johnson Hall.

Kirkwood had a man open in the corner for a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the ball was not handled cleanly and time expired before the Eagles could launch a shot.

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KCC women hang on for victory

The Kirkwood women's basketball team made only 12 field goals, but converted 30-of-42 from the foul line, holding on for a 60-55 win Wednesday night over the South Australia Institute of Sports at Johnson Hall.

The Eagles (6-2) shot just 21 percent from the field, but were able to build a lead with solid foul shooting.

Tay Wilson led Kirkwood with 13 points. Tinee'sha Coleman came off the bench to score 12. Megan Axcell added 11 and Awal Ajak finished with 10.

Ruby Porter and Jasmine Rigoni led South Australia with 11 points apiece.

Kirkwood's next action comes on Dec. 2, hosting Iowa Western at 1 p.m.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE OF SPORTS (55): Ella Sawyer 3 1-2 8, Ruby Porter 4 1-2 11, Amy Cotton 0 0-0 0, Gabi Vidmar 3-0-0 8, Lizzie Williamson 0 0-0 0, Rebekah Frisby-Smith 1 0-0 2, Jasmine Rigoni 4 0-0 11, Erin Blake 0 0-0 0, Ambah Kowcun 2 0-0 6, Kelsey Rees 4 1-2 9, Totals: 21 3-6 55.

KIRKWOOD (60): Tay Wilson 2 9-12 13, Christmas Puok 0 0-0 0, Megan Axcell 3 2-2 11, Awal Ajak 2 4-4 10, Olivia Usher 2 3-4 7, Mackenzie Jenkins 0 0-0 0, Anasha Hurst 0 0-0 0, Niaja Taylor 0 0-0 0, Leah Robinson 1 2-6 4, Brianna Mensen 0 2-4 2, Tinee'sha Coleman 2 7-8 12, Arika Woolridge 0 1-2 1. Totals: 12 30-42 60.

Halftime: Kirkwood 28, S. Australia 27. 3-point goals: South Australia 10 (Sawyer, Porter 2, Vidmar 2, Rigoni 3, Kowcun 2. Kirkwood 6 (Axcell 3, Ajak 2, Coleman). Fouled out: none.