Lady Roadrunners Split at Region 16 Classic

Nov. 16 Southeastern Community College at Keokuk, Iowa

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Lady Roadrunners dropped a tough 63-61 game to Southeastern Community College in Keokuk, Iowa on Tuesday night, Nov. 16.

SFCC took a seven-point lead into halftime. The Lady Roadrunners pushed the advantage to 10 at the end of three quarters.

"I thought we were a little bit out of sync in the first quarter," said Lady Roadrunners Head Coach Nicole Collier. "We did a really good job of taking care of the ball in the second quarter. We moved the ball well. We had a really sharp second quarter and a decent third quarter. We committed some ill-advised turnovers. We played tight and played not to lose. We only had seven shot attempts in the fourth quarter, every other possession we turned it over but, we were still in a position to win the game. We were on the free-throw line shooting two shots with two seconds left to win the game and we missed both free throws."

Freshman forward Quincenia Jackson led SFCC in scoring with 15 points. Sophomore forward Tieriney Echols contributed 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard Grace Goodwin pitched in with 10 points and a team-high four steals.

"I thought Tieriney played well," said Collier. "She does a good job of helping our point guards feel a little more secure. Grace played a lot of minutes for us. She was tough as nails on the defensive end. She took a big charge for us when Southeastern tied the game. Grace did a lot of things that aren't going to show up on the stat sheet. She was relentless and showed a lot of leadership."

Nov. 19 Mineral Area College at Park Hills, Missouri

SFCC lost 68-49 to Mineral Area College in the opening round of the Region 16 Classic in Park Hills on Friday, Nov. 19. Mineral Area is currently receiving votes in the NJCAA Women's Basketball Poll.

"We had a poor start," said Collier. "We were down 21-4 in the first quarter. We just had to grind through it for the rest the game. We came out in the second half and did some good things. We cut it [the lead] to 10 on a couple of different occasions, but we just couldn't get the deficit under 10. We didn't take advantage of their mistakes and turned the ball over too much."

Sophomore post Jakyah Amous led the team in scoring with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Eliyah Howard dished out a team-high two assists. Goodwin led the team in steals with three.

Nov. 20 Crowder College at Park Hills, Missouri

SFCC (3-4, 1-1 in Region 16) closed out their portion of the Region 16 Classic with a 64-48 victory over Crowder College in Park Hills on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 20.

SFCC trailed 19-18 at the end of one quarter. The Lady Roadrunners held Crowder to only seven points in the second quarter to take a five-point lead at halftime. SFCC pushed the lead to 10 points at the end of three quarters and made the necessary plays in the final quarter to emerge with the hard-fought Region victory.

"I thought we picked it up defensively in the second half," said Collier. "I thought we took care of the basketball. We were able to move the ball better and get out in transition to get some transition baskets. It took some pressure off our half-court offense."

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics