Lady Roadrunners win pair of games

Nov. 3 Missouri Valley College Junior Varsity at Sedalia

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Lady Roadrunners picked up an 82-49 victory in the 2021-2022 season opener inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

SFCC jumped out to an early 12-0 lead and never looked back.

"I thought our offense was pretty sharp," said Lady Roadrunners Head Coach Nicole Collier. "They executed really well. I thought they moved the ball around and took what the defense gave them. They did not force a lot of things. I was also pleased with the way they guarded early in the game. I thought Kendra Johnson did a great job of coming off the bench. I like the way we're sharing the ball; we just need to do a better job of taking care of it."

Sophomore forward Tieriney Echols had a double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds to go along with two steals. Echols led the team in all three categories. Freshman forward Quincenia Jackson contributed 16 points and a team-high three blocked shots. Johnson added 11 points. Sophomore guard Eliyah Howard recorded a team-high five assists.

"We needed to get our first game under our belt," said Collier. "It was a confidence booster. You shake off some of the cobwebs and get used to playing in front of people. We are happy about our first game but, we cannot settle. We need to keep moving forward."

The victory was the first as the Lady Roadrunners Head Coach for Collier.

Nov. 5 Southeastern Community College at Sedalia

The Lady Roadrunners opened their portion of the McDonald's Classic with a 63-53 victory over Southeastern Community College inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on Friday night, Nov. 5.

SFCC led 17-10 at the end of first quarter. The Lady Roadrunners pushed the advantage to 51-39. Southeastern stormed back to tie the game at 51 with two minutes and 51 seconds remaining in the contest.

The Lady Roadrunners turned up their defensive pressure and went on a 12-2 run to seal the victory.

"We are continuing to work on our press," said Collier. "It needs to get better, and we need to continue to be more aggressive in it. We had a lot of players playing out of position. It was a grind tonight. We got a little complacent and started gambling, which jeopardized our transition defense. I thought Paige Spencer came in and did some good things for us tonight. She was active on the defensive end. We were able to find a way to win the game."

Echols scored 17 points to lead four Lady Roadrunners in double figures. Echols also dished out a team-high four assists. Freshman forward Autumn Wallace added 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Spencer contributed 11 points. Freshman guard Grace Goodwin pitched in with 10 points.

Nov. 6 Kirkwood Community College at Sedalia

SFCC (2-1) closed their portion of the McDonald's Classic with an 80-45 loss to Kirkwood Community College, the third-ranked team in the NJCAA Women's Basketball Division II Preseason Rankings on Saturday night, Nov. 5 inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center.

Kirkwood led the contest 17-11 at the end of one quarter. Kirkwood took control of the game outscoring SFCC 20-11 in the second quarter.

Jackson led the team in scoring with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Jackson also registered a team-high two blocked shots. Goodwin added 10 points, dished out a team-high five assists, and led the team in steals with three.

"We didn't do a good job of controlling the tempo of the game at the end of the second quarter," said Collier. "We were down 15 points at halftime and with the way the last two minutes of the second quarter went, it was deflating, and I don't think we ever really recovered. We are still learning how to compete. I thought there were some positives in the game tonight. Grace was all over the place, she never gave up and continued to make some hustle plays for us. We are still learning how to trust our teammates in game situations. We must defend. We will learn from this, and we will bounce back."

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics