—Photo by Paul DeCoursey Fort Dodge graduate Shareece Smith drives to the basket for Iowa Lakes against Iowa Central’s K’Breonna Collins Saturday inside Hodges Fieldhouse.

For the second consecutive year, Shareece Smith experience a perfect homecoming with Iowa Lakes.

Smith, a Fort Dodge Senior High graduate, scored a game-high 20 points to help the Lakers claim a 59-47 victory over Iowa Central here Saturday inside Hodges Fieldhouse.

Last year, Smith and Iowa Lakes (14-6 overall, 6-3 in ICCAC) downed the Tritons (14-9, 5-4) and her sister, fellow ex-Dodger Shariah Smith. Shareece Smith added seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.

“It always feels good to play in front of family, friends and even old teachers,” Smith said. “We aren’t happy with where we are at right now, but we’ll get there.”

For Iowa Central, Isabell West scored 16, Jordan Engbrecht added 15 and Mardaeja Cross had seven. West also had eight rebounds, four assists and two steals on the day.

“Give Iowa Lakes a lot of credit, but give our kids credit too for how they played,” ICCC head coach Kelly Kruger said. “Physically, we played hard. We just didn’t shoot it and we didn’t value the basketball. When you don’t do those two things, it makes it really tough to win.”

Despite being listed at just 5-foot-5, Smith was second on the Laker team in rebounds, including five on the defensive glass. She is averaging over 14 points, eight boards and four assists per game this season.

“It’s a pride thing,” Smith said. “I’m so little and everybody always says something about my height. So to me, rebounding shows that I can do it and I can do it even better.

“I love going after rebounds because it allows us to get into transition and we are better playing in transition.”

After the Tritons took an early 7-4 lead, Smith scored seven of the next 10 points for Iowa Lakes, as they gained control of the contest. She led them in the second half with 12 points, including a perfect 5-for-5 performance at the free throw line.

Breanna Wendland scored 13 and Saifyer Coleman added nine as the Lakers were plus-10 on points in the paint and plus-11 on points off turnovers.

Despite falling behind by as many as 19, Iowa Central never went completely away. They used a 12-0 run in the third to cut the deficit down to seven and were within six when a technical foul call led to a quick 4-0 burst by Iowa Lakes.

“We picked it up after halftime,” Smith said. “We knew we had to because otherwise we were going to get beat.”

Aaliyah Hull finished with eight rebounds and Engbrecht had seven. K’Breonna Collins chipped in two points, five boards and a block off the bench as the Tritons went just seven-deep due to injuries.

“We’re playing without a true point guard (due to an injury to FDSH grad Justice Crooks),” Kruger said. “We’re limited with our depth. But the kids played hard and really competed well.”

Iowa Central will try to rebound when they host Southwestern (8-14, 3-6) back here on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. They are currently fourth in the league standings, a game back of Iowa Lakes, who will put its four-game win streak on the line that same night vs. fourth-ranked North Iowa Area (23-1, 10-0).

IOWA LAKES 59, IOWA CENTRAL 47

Iowa Central — Mardaeja Cross 3-7 1-1 7, Anni Cummings 1-9 0-0 3, Jordan Engbrecht 4-14 4-6 15, Aaliyah Hull 2-5 0-0 4, Isabell West 4-12 7-9 16, Jacie Stephenson 0-0 0-0 0, K’Breonna Collins 1-6 0-0 2. Totals: 15-53 12-16 47.

Iowa Lakes — Breanna Wendland 5-10 3-3 13, Shareece Smith 5-8 8-9 20, Tyler Pacheco 0-2 0-0 0, Bethany Rehse 3-8 0-0 8, Safiyer Coleman 2-10 5-6 9, Shanice Vaughn 1-4 0-0 2, Tejah Hayden 1-6 1-2 3, Imani Hollie Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Destiny Broussard 2-5 0-0 4, Brianna O’Donnell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 19-57 17-20 59.

Quarter scores: Iowa Lakes led 14-10, 24-19, 43-33. Three-point goals: Iowa Central 5-20 (West, Cummings, Engbrecht 3); Iowa Lakes 4-15 (Smith 2, Rehse 2). Total rebounds: Iowa Central 37, Iowa Lakes 38. Assists: Iowa Central 9, Iowa Lakes 9. Steals: Iowa Central 6, Iowa Lakes 5. Blocked shots: Iowa Central 1, Iowa Lakes 3. Turnovers: Iowa Central 21, Iowa Lakes 17.