By Marissa VanWingen

The Sunday matinee in Norfolk, Neb. came down to the wire and was eventually won by Northeast Community College in a tight 73-69 final.

With 1:22 left in the contest, Ellsworth Community College's Claudia Sanz Dorange made a three-point jumper to take a 69-67 advantage. The Hawks would tie the game at 69-69 and then take the lead (71-69) on a made jumper with 13 ticks left. NECC (6-2, 1-1) got the ball back with five seconds left to go and Aaliyah Jones made a pair of freebies to ice the game.

ECC (4-4, 0-2) has struggled with starts recently and were down 11-1 four minutes into the contest. Addy Dennis made a three-ball for the first Panther field goal of the game as the visitors battled back and trailed 23-16 after the first quarter.

As a team, ECC drained 12 threes in the game and four in the first half. Sanz Dorange had one of her three triples to make it a 32-38 separation in the second stanza. An Asia Beale make and a pair of free throws cut the difference to three (35-32) and it would be a 39-35 difference at the half.

The Panthers would take their first lead of the game, another Dennis three-pointer (41-40) and the two would go back and forth with four lead changes. The largest ECC advantage would be 56-51 on a Sanz Dorange make. The visitors would hold a one-point lead heading into the final stanza (56-55).

The final 10 minutes would have five more lead changes and three even scores before the last 1:22 of the contest.

Four Panthers were in double figures, led by Yaiza Soriano Balaguer with 18 points. Beale added 13, Sanz Dorange 11 and Dennis 10.

For more on ECC Athletics, https://www.timescitizen.com/sports/ecc/

ICCAC Basketball
Sunday at Norfolk, Neb.

ECC: 16| 19| 21| 13 – 69
NECC: 23| 16| 16| 18 – 73

ECC Scoring: Yaiza Soriano Balaguer 6 5-7 18; Asia Beale 4 4-8 13; Claudia Sanz Dorange 4 0-0 11; Addy Dennis 4 0-0 10; Kana Nagashima 3 0-0 9; Inma Martinez 2 0-0 5; Rebekka Holm 1 0-0 3.