Lady Roadrunners Drop Game to Crowder at Free Throw Line

The Lady Roadrunners fell 82-81 in a nail-biter to the Crowder College Roughriders from Neosho on Jan. 24. at home. The game was a Region 16 match.

The Lady Roadrunners led 30-23 at the end of the first quarter, courtesy of a three-point basket from freshman guard Jazzmyn Elston. Elston scored 18 of her team-high 24 points in the first quarter.

"Jazzmyn had a heck of a ballgame," said Head Coach Kevin Bucher. "I don't know that I've ever had a freshman at State Fair play as well as she has this season. She kept us in the ballgame."

However, Crowder outscored State Fair 30-8 in the second quarter to take a hefty 53-38 lead at halftime.

"We did not do a good job of executing the game plan," said Bucher. "We had a lot of players in foul trouble. We played better the second half when we started following the game plan."

The Lady Roadrunners fought their way back into the game outscoring the Roughriders 25-12 in the third quarter to set up a dramatic fourth quarter.

SFCC led by three points with less than six minutes remaining in the final quarter. Crowder trimmed SFCC's advantage to 80-78 with less than three minutes remaining. The Roughriders tied the game at 80 with under a minute on the clock and then added two points for the win. SFCC had a couple of opportunities in the final minute but could not convert.

The Roughriders made 27 out of 36 free-throw attempts and out rebounded SFCC 40-36.

Sophomore guard Maya Brewer contributed 17 points. Sophomore guard/forward Catie Kaifesadded 10 points. Elston led the team in steals with three. Sophomore guard Ren'Cia Rolling pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and dished out a team-high nine assists. Sophomore center Grace Morrow registered a team-high two blocked shots.

David Rohrbach , SFCC Athletics