Lady Roadrunners Win Battle of Nationally Ranked Teams

The 17^th-ranked Lady Roadrunners moved to first place in Region 16 and the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference Jan. 24 when they defeated the 18^th-ranked Mineral Area College Lady Cardinals from Park Hills 75-72 in a hard-fought battle before a large crowd at the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center.

With 32.4 seconds remaining in the game, SFCC (15-5, 5-0 in Region 16, 4-0 in the MCCAC) trailed by one point. SFCC got the ball to Dickerson; she drove down the baseline and found sophomore center Alecia Cooley open for a jump shot in the paint. Cooley knocked it down to give her team a one point advantage at 73-72 with 10 seconds remaining.

The Lady Roadrunners forced a turnover on the next Mineral Area possession. SFCC inbounded the ball to sophomore guard Erin Boothe, who was fouled. She ran to the free-throw line and knocked down both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity to give SFCC the win.

"Cooley had a great performance," said Lady Roadrunners Head Coach Kevin Bucher. "She did a great job. Our other players also did a good job of contributing. Boothe came back in after an injury. We needed her tonight. When she is on the floor there is a different level of play and it takes some of the pressure off our other guards. She created a big deflection to seal the win along with a couple of plays on the offensive end."

Cooley notched yet another double double with 30 points and 16 rebounds and also contributed a team-high two blocked shots. Boothe contributed 17 points. Dickerson and freshman guard Sierra Clayborn tied for the team lead in assists with three.

"I'm very pleased with the efforts of all the players," said Bucher. "Everyone contributed to this victory."

SFCC will travel to Council Bluffs, Iowa, Jan. 28 to take on the eighth-ranked Iowa Western Community College Lady Reivers at 5 p.m.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics