JAMESTOWN, N.D. - It did not take long for the harsh reality of postseason basketball to hit Jamestown College women's coach Mark Wiest right in the gut.
Just hours after watching his team's record-breaking season come to an end against Iowa Wesleyan, 72-60 on Friday, Wiest was back at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, waiting to watch Black Hills State, the lone Dakota Athletic Conference team left in the NAIA national tournament.
"I have a pretty empty feeling in my stomach," Wiest said. "You're never prepared for your season to end and we weren't ready for it to be done by any means."
Wiest summed up his team's second-round loss to the Tigers succinctly.
"It felt like we were fighting uphill all day," he said. "It certainly wasn't an effort thing. The girls left everything they had on the floor. We just struggled putting the ball in the hoop with any consistency, and when then happens this time of year, against these kinds of teams, it makes it even tougher to win."
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The Jimmies shot just 35 percent in the game and struggled from 3-point range, making just 3 of their 23 attempts from long range.
"With the shooters we have, I never would have guessed that would happen," Wiest said. "It wasn't just that, though. I felt like we left a lot of points in the paint today too. We didn't finish as well as we normally do."
The Jimmies (26-7) struggled taking care of the ball again - 18 turnovers - and put Iowa Wesleyan - a 75 percent free throw shooting team - on the line 26 times, and they made the Jimmies pay, making 24 of them.
"Those were two areas that we thought we'd have to be really good and we weren't," Wiest said.
That said, the Jimmies still found themselves up 38-31 after opening the second half on an 8-2 run. Kellie Schuneman had 3 points in the spurt, but it was a tough day for the Jimmies' junior point guard, who played just 21 minutes because of foul trouble, including a pair of shaky calls.
"Anytime you take your best point guard off the floor for that amount of time, it makes a big difference," Wiest said.
Down 38-32, Iowa Wesleyan put together a drawn out, 15-2 run of their own that stretched over 6 minutes.
The Jimmies fell down by as many as 11 (55-44), but rallied late.
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Krista Shaikoski's second 3-pointer of the game made it 57-55 with still 4 minutes to play.
But the Jimmies went cold again, scoring just 5 points the rest of the way, while the Tigers pulled away at the free throw line, going 19 of 20 in the second half.
JAMESTOWN (26-7): Varriano 6-12 3-4 15, Doubek 2-5 1-4 5, O'Neill 3-9 1-2 7, Schuneman 3-4 2-3 8, Rantapaa 1-6 0-0 3, Shaikoski 3-10 0-0 8, Edwards 0-4 2-4 2, Ahlers 0-4 0-0 0, Epping 4-8 4-4 12. Totals 22-62 13-21 60.
IOWA WESLEYAN (28-6): Beachy 3-8 13-14 19, Brown 1-4 0-0 2, Ginder 4-11 2-2 11, McCreight 6-13 4-4 19, Jones 5-10 4-4 14, Brinkmeyer 1-4 0-0 2, Zehner 2-6 1-2 5. Totals 22-56 24-26 72.
Half: IW 31, JC 30. 3-point goals: JC 3-23 (Shaikoski 2-9, Rantapaa 1-6, Varriano 0-1, Ahlers 0-3, O'Neill 0-3); IW 4-12 (McCreight 3-5, Ginder 1-4, Brown 0-1, Brinkmeyer 0-2). Total fouls: JC 20; IW 16. Fouled out: none Rebounds: JC 35 (Varriano 10); IW 44 (Jones 9). Assists: JC 9 (O'Neill 4); IW 11 (Jones 4). Steals: JC 14 (Varriano 4); IW 8 9Brown 3). Turnovers: JC 18, IW 22.
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Dave Selvig is a writer for The Jamestown Sun, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
