Lady Roadrunners close regular season

Feb. 22 Jefferson College at Hillsboro

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Lady Roadrunners dropped a tough Region 16 defensive struggle 46-43 against the Jefferson College Lady Vikings on Wednesday night, Feb. 22 in Hillsboro, Missouri.

Both teams struggled offensively for much of the game. SFCC led 10-5 at the end of the first quarter and stretched the advantage to 20-11 at halftime. Jefferson trimmed the lead to 26-23 at the end of three quarters. The Lady Vikings made a run in the fourth quarter to take a seven-point lead with about two minutes remaining in the contest. The Lady Roadrunners went to a full-court pressure defense and cut the advantage to three, but missed a three-point shot in the final seconds that would've tied the contest. Jefferson hung on to get the victory.

Sophomore forward Autumn Wallace led SFCC in scoring with 12 points. Freshman Jaida Shipp contributed 11 points. Freshman forward Aiyanna Tanksley pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Kayla Dooley recorded a team-high four assists. Sophomore guard Biance Stocks led the team in steals with four.

Feb. 25 Mineral Area College at Sedalia

SFCC (13-15, 3-12 in Region 16) closed out their regular-season schedule with a 70-66 Region 16 Homecoming loss to Mineral Area College inside the Davis Center on Saturday night, Feb. 25.

Mineral Area led 17-9 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Roadrunners cut the deficit to four points at halftime. Mineral Area led 49-43 at the end of three quarters, but SFCC refused to go away, trimming the deficit to two points at 56-54 with about six minutes remaining in the contest.

Mineral Area extended the lead to five at 66-61 with one minute and 32 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Shipp converted an old-fashioned three-point play to get the Lady Roadrunners back to within two points at 68-66 with about 35 seconds remaining. The Lady Cardinals scored with 9.7 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

"That was a heartbreaking loss for us," said Lady Roadrunners Head Coach Nicole Collier." We did not have a great first half, and we were still within four at halftime. We battled in the second half and just missed some execution plays. Our girls competed, they played hard. We had opportunities. We shot the ball better from the three-point line than we have in quite some time. We will open Region 16 Tournament play at Mineral Area on Thursday."

Shipp scored a double-double with 21 points, 16 rebounds, and two steals to lead the team. Dooley contributed 14 points and tied for the team lead in assists with five, along with Stocks and sophomore guard Paige Spencer. Stocks also added 10 points in the game.

David Rohrbach

 SFCC Athletics