The 17th-ranked Lady Roadrunners opened the 2015 portion of their schedule Jan. 2-3 at the Arkansas Baptist Classic.
SFCC (11-4) defeated the Southwestern Christian College Lady Rams from Terrell, Texas, 103-62 in its first game at the event.
SFCC jumped out to an early 19-10 lead with fewer than 11 minutes remaining in the half. The Lady Roadrunners led 52-28 at halftime and cruised to the victory.
"We used our depth and speed to get up and down the floor," said Lady Roadrunners Head Coach Kevin Bucher. "Our starters really played well."
Sophomore center Alecia Cooley registered a double double with 21 points and 10 rebounds and also registered two blocked shots, leading in all three categories. Freshman guard Seara Clayborn contributed 15 points. Sophomore guard Erin Boothe and freshman guard/forward Tyisha Saunders pitched in with 13 points each. Freshman guard/forward Zhanesha Dickerson added 11 points. Boothe tied Cooley for the team lead in steals with two.
The win gave Bucher his 100th victory as Lady Roadrunners head coach. He became only the third head coach to capture 100 wins for the Lady Roadrunners, joining Dale Kimberling and current SFCC Athletic Director Darren Pannier.
"I've been very fortunate to have had some good players here," said Bucher. "In the last four years we played the toughest schedules I've ever put together as a head coach. To achieve that against that caliber of competition says a lot for our players. I credit them with giving me that opportunity."
SFCC closed out its portion of the classic with a hard-fought 64-58 loss to the Coffeyville Community College Lady Ravens from Coffeyville, Kansas. SFCC trailed 34-16 at the half. The Lady Roadrunners rallied in the second half outscoring Coffeyville 42-30, but Coffeyville made the plays down the stretch to secure the victory.
"Coffeyville was just in better shape," said Bucher. "They beat us up and down the floor. You could tell we were tired from the game on Friday. We played extremely hard in the second half. We were down by 26 points and cut the lead to three points with about two minutes and 30 seconds remaining. We had a couple chances at three-point shots to tie the game and just didn't convert them."
Cooley registered another double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds and also registered two blocked shots and two steals. Sophomore guard Derriel Banyard contributed 11 points and Dickerson pitched in with 10. Boothe had a pair of steals.
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics