The IVCC men’s and women’s basketball teams lost to Kishwaukee in Arrowhead Conference games Tuesday in Oglesby.

WOMEN

Kishwaukee 58, IVCC 56: Turnovers and free throws were the name of the game for IVCC as the Eagles squandered a nine-point fourth quarter lead.

The Eagles led 38-33 heading into the final 10 minutes.

Shortly into the fourth, St. Bede graduate Quinn McClain got an offensive board and found La Salle-Peru alumna Jasmine Garman for a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 42-33.

Unfortunately for IVCC, the Eagles turned the ball over on 10 of their next 12 possessions.

“Turnovers in the 20’s (28) and 18 of 31 from the foul line,” IVCC coach Marc Lowe said. “I loved the effort, but we just have to do the little things. We had to get to the line and we did that, but missed a ton. We looked much better in the second half, but again the little things haunted us tonight.”

Kezaria Mitchell got a steal and layup followed by two more turnovers that led to Kendyl Darby hitting four straight from the charity stripe that cut the Kougars’ deficit to 42-39.

Kishwaukee’s full court press continued to cause IVCC headaches as Cayla Evans picked up a steal and layup. Mitchell missed a layup off a turnover, but Precious French was there for the rebound and the bucket to give Kish a 43-42 lead.

On the ensuing play, St. Bede graduate Ashlyn Ehm made a nice move in the paint that ended Kishwaukee’s 10-0 run.

The turnovers continued for the Eagles, which led to the Kougars taking a 50-44 lead. Ella Derossett trimmed IVCC’s deficit to 50-48 with four consecutive free throws, but a putback from Mitchell and a pair of free throws from French pushed the lead to 56-51.

IVCC was not done though as McClain drained a long 3-pointer and then Ehm hit two free throws to tie the game at 56.

IVCC then got the ball back on a jump ball and had a good look from Putnam County alum Ava Hatton from long distance, but the shot was no good and that led to a fast break bucket for Darby for a 58-56 lead.

With six seconds left, Garman got a look at the bucket for the win, but the shot was off, giving the Kougars the 58-56 victory.

“It’s one thing to be aggressive, but you have to execute,” Kishwaukee coach Tre Jackson said. “We executed the pressure effectively in the fourth quarter and got the win.”

IVCC (5-11) was led by Derossett with 14 points, while Garman added 11. Kishwaukee was led by Mitchell with 13 points and Darby with 10.

MEN

Kishwaukee 74, IVCC 58: Whether it was tired, looking past Kishwaukee or just an off night for IVCC, the Kougars came to play from the get go and cruised to a victory over the Eagles.

Right from the start, the aggressive play and athleticism from Kishwaukee showed as Ben Larry hit a floater in the lane and then had a steal and layup to give the Kougars a 4-3 edge.

Later in the half, Cam Davitz hit a 3-pointer and the next time down missed his second free throw, but Ramsey Bethel got the rebound and drained a 3-pointer for a 29-16 lead.

“It’s one thing to be athletic and length, but you also have to be aggressive,” Kish coach Michael Poindexter, Jr. said. “We may not have the best record, but we have played a lot of nationally-ranked teams and we had to learn to play a bit together.”

That length led to three blocked shots of Eagles’ 3-point attempts in the first half. Another steal and layup from Zaheem Jackson and a 3-pointer from Le’Khai Davis gave the Kougars a 39-23 halftime lead.

The Eagles started out the second half better as Ahmir Woods hit back-to-back 3-pointers that cut the deficit to 39-29, but Kishwaukee had an answer each time IVCC had a chance to get to single digits.

Bathel had an easy drive to the hoop and then followed with a dunk on the feed from Jackson as the lead grew to 47-33.

Woods hit another 3-pointer after a rough first half to again make it 10 points at 52-42, but Kishwaukee dominated the rest of the way.

Carson Bahrey hit a fadeaway and Davitz got a putback and a layup off a turnover to key a 14-1 run and push the lead to 66-43 on the Kougars’ way to the 74-58 victory.

“I wasn’t happy with the passing and getting after the loose balls tonight,” IVCC coach Chris Herman said. “I don’t know if we saw the 5-10 record and relaxed or were tired or what, but we were not ourselves and Kishwaukee was hot. We have six guys averaging double figures and tonight we had two. Robert Bellinger had one point and Ameer Anderson had zero. Give Kishwaukee credit, but we are a much better team than we showed tonight.”

Woods led IVCC (7-10) with 21 points and Joshua Mbick added 13.