Women's basketball recaps Jan. 30 and Feb. 3

Jan. 30, Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley

The Lady Roadrunners traveled to Kansas City to take on the Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley Lady Scouts. SFCC emerged from a back-and-forth, hard-fought game with an 89-88 victory. The game featured 15 lead changes, 14 ties and was not decided until the final seconds.

Penn Valley made a pair of free throws to take a one-point advantage with 15 seconds remaining in the game. Assistant Coach Jade Perry, who was filling in for Head Coach Kevin Bucher who missed the game due to illness, called a timeout to advance the ball into the frontcourt.

"I drew up an out of bounds play," said Perry. "I told the players what I wanted once we got the ball inbounds. Penn Valley double teamed Catie (Kaifes). Ren'Cia (Rolling) did a nice job of reading the screen. Ren'Cia came off the screen and saw Jazzmyn (Elston) cutting to the basket. It was just a great pass to Jazzmyn, and she was able to finish the play."

Penn Valley had one more opportunity to win the game in regulation but missed a shot, and SFCC pulled down the final rebound.

Kaifes led three Lady Roadrunners in double-figure scoring with 27 points. She made six of eight from beyond the three-point line and led the team in steals with two. Maya Brewer contributed 18, and Elston added 13 points. Rolling registered 10 rebounds and nine assists, leading her team in both categories.

"I liked that the players played for a full 40 minutes," said Perry. "They worked hard and never gave up. They wanted to win, and everyone scored a basket. I'm so proud of all of our players; everyone stepped up."

Feb. 3, Three Rivers Community College at Poplar Bluff

The Lady Roadrunners took on Three Rivers Community College's Lady Raiders. SFCC (11-12, 2-4 in Region 16, 2-5 in the MCCAC) lost a heartbreaking 58-57 contest in the final seconds.

The game featured four lead changes and four ties. Three Rivers took a 20-6 lead the first quarter. The 14-point lead was the largest held by either team in the contest. SFCC fought back, outscoring the Lady Raiders in each of the remaining three quarters.

"At halftime I told them they had to compete," said Perry. "We had to stop turning the basketball over. Our approach for the second half was that the score was 0 to 0. I told them that they would have to give everything they had to win."

Kaifes knocked down a three-point basket with about 12 seconds remaining to give the Lady Roadrunners a one-point advantage. The Lady Raiders responded with a basket to go ahead 58-57. With three seconds remaining, SFCC had the ball but was not able to convert.

"I called a timeout to advance the basketball," commented Perry on the final seconds of the game. "When Catie got the ball, she was confident, and she knocked it down."

Brewer led SFCC in scoring with 18 points. She recorded a team-high nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kaifes added 11 points and a team-high four blocked shots.

SFCC travels to Council Bluffs, Iowa, Feb. 10 to take on the Iowa Western Community College Reivers. Tipoff is 5 p.m.

David Rohrbach

 SFCC Athletics