The Lady Roadrunners are busy preparing for the new season. SFCC will return a pair of players from last year's team, Quincenia Jackson and Jaida Shipp, sophomores, and add a group of 14 impressive newcomers to the roster.
"I would say that we will be more of an up-tempo team this year," said Head Coach Nicole Collier. "We can change defenses and apply more ball pressure to speed the game up. I would like to be able to get into transition offense a lot more than we did last year. We will also be more aggressive defensively this season."
Coach Collier is optimistic about this year's leadership, which includes Tanila Marshall, a sophomore transfer, and Myra Claas, a freshman. "We have some natural leaders our players listen to and respect," said Collier.
Coach Collier also says the team is competitive, and each player contributes differently. "Our guard play is strong and competitive; they each bring something different to our team."
SFCC will face a challenging non-region schedule to prepare them for a Region 16 slate. They will open The Missouri Community College Athletic Conference on Nov. 29 and close out the semester with three games in December. The Lady Roadrunners return to action by hosting Highland Community College-Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 6, and open Region 16 play against Moberly Area Community College on Wednesday, Jan. 10. They will close region play on Mar. 2 at Crowder College.
Coach Collier expanded on some of the goals they would like to accomplish this challenging season that will lead to more victories for the team. "One of our goals is to win the rebounding battle. Rebounding is important because that and the free-throw line are how games are won," said Collier.
SFCC will open the season at home against Haskell Indian Nations University Junior Varsity on Nov. 1. Host Rend Lake College and John A. Logan College as part of the traditional McDonald's Classic on Nov. 3-4 and Missouri Valley Junior Varsity on Field Trip Day on Monday, Nov. 20. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
The Thanksgiving Classic is on Nov. 24-25 against Allen County Community College and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College.
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics