The Iowa Central women battled back from a tough first quarter before falling to second-ranked Kirkwood here Saturday, 59-47.

Playing in front of a packed Hodges Fieldhouse on "Jam the Gym" day, the Tritons fell behind 18-10 early. They trailed by 15 at the break before outscoring the Eagles in the final 20 minutes, 26-23.

Autumn Dykstra scored 18 points with Nevaeh Galloway adding 11 to go along with five rebounds and three blocks. Jayden Frank chipped in eight with both Carley West and Ashley Fountain scoring five each. 

"We wanted to slow the pace and make it a grind," Iowa Central head coach Brian Ortmeier said. "I thought we did a good job of that. We just couldn't make shots. We struggled from the field and when you do that against a team like Kirkwood, they make you pay."

Tasia Jordan scored 15 points with seven rebounds off the bench for the Eagles, while Karsyn Stratton and Ashley Tull each had 10. Tull also had six rebounds and blocked three shots.

Kirkwood (24-1 overall, 15-0 in ICCAC) held a 32-14 edge in points in the paint and were plus 11 on second-chance points. 

"I thought we did a better job compared to the first meeting (vs. Kirkwood)," Ortmeier said. "I feel like our girls have more confidence against them if we match up a third time (in the postseason)."

Frank also had six rebounds and six assists with Fountain recording four steals and four rebounds for the Tritons (20-3, 10-3).

Iowa Central is at Southwestern on Tuesday before hosting Marshalltown Thursday night.

-By Dana Becker