The 23rd-ranked Lady Roadrunners extended their season-opening winning streak to five games at the Kirkwood Classic Nov. 7-8 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

SFCC (5-0) defeated the Iowa Central Community College Lady Tritons from Fort Dodge, Iowa, 102-69 on Friday, and closed out its portion of the classic with a 61-56 win over the host Kirkwood Community College Eagles, the third-ranked team in NJCAA Division II women's basketball.

"Our defensive pressure was great to begin the game against Iowa Central," said Lady Roadrunners Assistant Coach Jordan Greenleaf. "We got some steals and were also able to take four or five charges."

SFCC jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and led 40-31 at halftime. Sophomore guard Sannayyiah Johnson led in scoring with 20 points. Sophomore center Alecia Cooley contributed 18 points and freshman guard/forward Zhanesha Dickerson added 14 points.

SFCC used its defensive pressure to jump into the lead against Kirkwood on Saturday. Greenleaf was pleased with her team's defensive effort.

"Our defense was amazing," said Greenleaf. "We held Kirkwood to 12 points in the first half. We also did a nice job of rebounding the basketball on both ends of the court and taking charges. This was a low-scoring game for us. We weren't really knocking down shots at the beginning of the game, so we had to rely on our defense."

SFCC led 24-12 at halftime. The Eagles made a nice run in the second half to get them back into the contest but SFCC made the plays down the stretch to secure the victory.

"Sierra Clayborn and Derriel Banyard hit some nice three-point shots for us in the second half," said Greenleaf. "Alize' Lofton and Erin Booth each hit one for us, and Johnson also knocked down two big three-point shots."

Cooley led in scoring with 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Johnson added 13 points and Dickerson pitched in with 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Lady Roadrunners will begin a three-game home stand Nov. 11 when they take on the St. Louis Community College Archers in the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference opener for SFCC. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics Department