The 23rd-ranked Lady Roadrunners dropped a hard-fought 87-84 decision to the Iowa Western Community College Lady Reivers from Council Bluffs, Iowa, Dec 2 in front of large crowd at the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center.
SFCC (10-3) found itself in an early 13-4 hole. The Lady Reivers shot a blistering 64 percent in the opening half and led 51-43 at halftime.
A pair of free throws by freshman guard/forward Zhanesha Dickerson gave the Lady Roadrunners their first lead of the game. Dickerson gave her team a 64-63 lead with 11 minutes and 23 seconds remaining.
"We were able to get some defensive stops," said Lady Roadrunners Head Coach Kevin Bucher. "We hit some big shots. We were able to attack."
An old-fashioned three-point play by freshman guard Sierra Clayborn pushed the advantage to four. Iowa Western grabbed the lead back at 71-70 with less than nine minutes remaining. The second half featured six lead changes to set up a fantastic finish.
SFCC was down three points with 8.9 seconds remaining when a timeout was called to draw up a play. The Lady Roadrunners got a good look at the top of the key that missed, but they won the battle for the offensive rebound and kicked it out to the elbow on the near side for another three-point shot as time expired. The shot came up just short.
"This game was action packed," said Bucher. "Both teams went up and down the floor. It could have gone either way. You hate to lose, but that's how it goes. We had an awesome crowd tonight. I'm just glad we performed well. We put everything out there with a lot of heart and desire. Both teams really put on a good show."
Dickerson led four Lady Roadrunners in double-figure scoring with 22 points and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds to finish her double double. Sophomore guard Erin Boothe and Sierra Clayborn contributed 16 points each. Sophomore center Alecia Cooley pitched in with 11 points while facing double and triple teams the entire game and tied Dickerson for the team lead in assists with three. Clayborn and Dickerson registered two steals in the contest.
Bucher was pleased with the way his team performed the first half of the season.
"This is one of the toughest schedules I've ever put together," said Bucher. "I wasn't sure how our season would turn out with 11 freshmen. We have lost to three teams who are probably in the top 10 in the country. We took one of them down to the wire and lost the other two on the road. We learned from these games; we just have to keep improving daily."
SFCC will be off for finals and the holiday break, and then return to game action Jan. 2-3 in the Arkansas Baptist Classic. Region 16 and Midwest Community College Athletic Conference play returns Jan. 8 with a 5:30 p.m. home game against Three Rivers. The Roadrunners will play at 7:30 p.m.
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics Department