Women's basketball recaps for Nov. 17-18

Nov. 17, Missouri Valley College (MVC) JV at Sedalia

The Lady Roadrunners opened the Stone Laser Imaging Classic with a hard-fought 81-76 victory over the Missouri Valley College Lady Vikings JV from Marshall.

SFCC trailed most of the contest. MVC had a 12-point lead with four minutes, eight seconds remaining in the third quarter. SFCC chipped away at MVC's lead and trailed 59-51 at the end of three quarters.

Freshman guard Jazzmyn Elston knocked down a pair of free throws to give SFCC a 64-62 lead with less than seven minutes left in the game.

"We were able to change up defenses and keep them off balance," said Head Coach Kevin Bucher. "We got into the passing lanes with our zone defense. Our rebounding was also a lot better in the fourth quarter."

Sophomore guard Maya Brewer led five Lady Roadrunners in double-figure scoring with 17 points. Freshman guard Monique Esbrand contributed 15 points. Sophomore guard/forward Catie Kaifesadded 14 points, including two big three-point shots. She also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Elston pitched in with 11 points. Freshman forward Brionna Hill added 10 points. Sophomore guard Ren'Cia Rolling dished out a team-high six assists and tied for the team lead in steals with Elston with four each.

Nov. 18, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) at Sedalia

The Lady Roadrunners wrapped up the Stone Laser Imaging Classic by upsetting the 17th ranked Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Lady Norse from Miami, Oklahoma, 67-52.

SFCC erased an early deficit to finish the first half on a 40-13 run and took a 42-22 lead into halftime.

"We were able to get some easy baskets," said Bucher. "I thought Northeastern got tired. I told the players this is why we run so much in practice. When NEO went to a smaller lineup, we were able to spread them out and go to the dribble drive. I'm really pleased with the defensive effort from our post players. We did exactly what we wanted to do defensively. We were also able to out rebound them, which was big, because of our size advantage. It was a great game for everybody."

SFCC used a strong defensive effort to hold NEO to 31.9 percent shooting from the field and 9.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Brewer led the Lady Roadrunners in scoring with 16 points and dished out a team-high five assists. Rolling contributed 12 points and a team-high two steals, while playing all 40 minutes in the game. Esbrand registered a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Brewer and Rolling were named to the Stone Laser Imaging Classic all-team. Rolling was also named the Most Valuable Player.

"Ren'Cia played the entire game," said Bucher. "We needed someone with her experience to stay out there and play. I was very pleased with her. Maya had two very good games statistically. Both of them were very deserving of their awards."

The Lady Roadrunners record stands at 5-2. SFCC opens Missouri Community College Athletic Conference play against the St. Louis Community College Lady Archers at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, at the Davis Center.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics