Kirkwood rolls pass Iowa Central in semis

CEDAR RAPIDS - It hasn't been easy making the transition from high school to junior college for freshman Cyerra Hutchins.

But the former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep and her Kirkwood women's basketball teammates are having a lot more fun now.

Hutchins canned all three 3-point attempts and scored nine points last night and the sixth-ranked Eagles drilled Iowa Central, 93-48, in the semifinals of the NJCAA Division II Region X1 tournament at Johnson Hall.

Top-seeded Kirkwood (27-5) hosts second-seeded NIACC (25-5) for the championship Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner advances to the national tournament March 17-21 at Overland Park, Kan.

Kirkwood split with NIACC during the regular season, winning at Mason City but losing at home. The Trojans are ranked one spot ahead of the Eagles at No. 5.

'They're our conference rival, so it's going to be a fun game,” said Kirkwood sophomore Taylor Silva, who scored 13 points. Cassidy Clark and Ariel Sneed added 14 points apiece and Caitlin Sudduth had 11. Sneed grabbed 13 rebounds.

A pair of 3-pointers by Hutchins keyed an early 10-1 run by the Eagles that gave them a 13-4 lead and command of the game.

'Coming from Prairie, I was not a 3-point shooter at all. I wasn't a shooter,” said Hutchins, who moved into the starting lineup late in the season after sophomore Tyra Polite broke her ankle. She is part of a three-player rotation with freshmen Casey Miles and Sudduth.

'I can say it's been a struggle, because we play hard teams and maybe I wasn't getting so many minutes early in the season because Ty was in, or the rotation was different,” Hutchins said. 'But you just have to make the most of it and today I had confidence in myself. I just had fun.

'You have to do something to get your team wound up and I guess that's what I did.”

Iowa Central (20-12) was never closer than seven points the rest of the game.

Kirkwood led 50-25 at halftime and finished the first half on an 18-4 tear after a 3-pointer by Iowa Central freshman Jazz Royster had cut the Eagles' lead to 11 points. Royster, a former Cedar Rapids Washington prep, had three points.

Kirkwood's bench combined for 45 points.