Lady Roadrunners win battle of nationally ranked teams

Sedalia, Mo.-The 15^th-ranked State Fair Community College (SFCC) Lady Roadrunners women's basketball team picked up a huge 68-58 victory over eighth-ranked Three Rivers College on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 10 inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center.

SFCC (17-0, 2-0 in Region 16) took an 11-8 lead with five minutes and 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Three Rivers fought back to tie the game at 18 at the end of the quarter. The back-and-forth contest featured seven lead changes and six ties.

Three Rivers took a 28-23 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Lady Roadrunners trimmed the deficit to 35-34 at halftime.

Three Rivers started the third quarter well. The Lady Raiders took a 43-35 lead with less than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.

SFCC used the three-point shot to fight back in the contest. Sophomore forward Ellie Buscher of St. Louis, Mo. knocked down a three-point shot to tie the game at 43 with about four minutes remaining in the quarter. Freshman guard Maliyah White of Minneapolis, Minn. splashed a three-pointer to put SFCC ahead 46-43 with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter. White hit another big three-point shot in the quarter to extend the advantage to six points. SFCC totaled four made three-point shots in the decisive third quarter. Three Rivers cut the advantage to 49-45 at the end of three quarters.

SFCC made the plays down the stretch including several big free throws and some big defensive stops to seal the important Region 16 home victory.

"I'm very proud of the girls," said Lady Roadrunners head coach Nicole Collier. "It took an overall team effort to do that. Maliyah White was huge today. She knocked down shots. She controlled the tempo of the game for us. We got some big offensive rebounds when we needed them. We locked down defensively. I am proud of the entire group. I thought we shared the ball well. We have some things we need to clean up. We can't be satisfied. We have to stay poised and continue to work on our weaknesses."

White scored a team-high 16 points, including three of four from beyond the three-point line and seven of eight from the free-throw line. Buscher put together yet another double-double with 13 points and a team-high 15 rebounds. Buscher also led the team with eight blocked shots. Freshman guard Chloe Reed of Wentzville, Mo. added 10 points and a team-high six assists in the game. Sophomore guard/forward Carolyn Foster of O'Fallon, Ill. registered a team-high three steals.

SFCC returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 14 with another Region 16 contest at Moberly Area Community College. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics