.jpg)
Home court advantage doesn’t mean as much when the opposition has plenty of horsepower.
That’s the dilemma that faced the Vermilion Ironhawks last weekend as they made their home debut.
NJCAA Division I foe Williston State and the nation’s top-ranked NJCAA Division III program - Riverland - were the community college men’s basketball team’s foes in the annual DQ Grill and Chill Classic.
Williston blew out the Ironhawks 92-53 to open the weekend, but Riverland got a bit of a scare from the hosts Saturday before pulling away for a 72-54 victory.
Vermilion, which is in the midst of perhaps the most difficult nonconference schedule in program history, fell to 0-6 for the season.
While Saturday went down as a loss in the record book, it may also have been a day of growth for the Ironhawks.
Vermilion kept the Blue Devils at bay for much of the first half, but the Ironhawks missed numerous close opportunities and missed a 13 rebounds and classmate Aurora Seidel snared 10 rebounds.
Vermilion overcame a 28 percent shooting performance from the floor to get the win.
Riverland got a teamhigh 22 points from Sydney Shelby.
To open play in the home tournament, Vermilion ran into a buzzsaw in the form of NJCAA Division II Williston State, which racked up 60 first-half points on the way to a 99-41 rout.
It was 60-17 by halftime and the Ironhawks were never in the game against the talented visitors, who got 21 points from Taylan Murtagh and 18 from Alle Garcia.
The visitors knocked down 15 three-pointers in the game and shot 48 percent (15-for-31) from the long-distance line.
Cahee scored 24 points with seven rebounds for Vermilion, and Wright scored seven while Tatiana Whiting contributed five points and five rebounds.
The long stretch has tested the Ironhawks in advance of division play, which begins in January.
“Even though we don’t have as many wins as we would have hoped, there has definitely been some improvement and things we are building on,” said Zyla. “I think most importantly our team has come together now from this long stretch.”
The Ironhawks are off this weekend and return to action, Dec. 6-7, with a non-division homestand against Fergus Falls and St. Cloud Tech.
