With little production in the paint, the Lady Roadrunners depended on the perimeter shooting of freshman guard Catie Kaifes against Region 16 opponent Crowder College.
State Fair Community College won by three.
Kaifes led SFCC with 21 points on 7-for-15 3-point shooting in a 61-58 Lady Roadrunners victory Wednesday, Feb. 15 over the Lady Roughriders at the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center in Sedalia.
After hitting three in a row in the first quarter, the Kaifes said knew she would be open throughout the contest.
“They were mostly helping on our bigs, they doubled (Kendra Boone), which led to plenty of people open,” Kaifes said.
Boone was the only other Lady Roadrunner with double-digit scoring, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Lady Roadrunners head coach Kevin Bucher said the Crowder defense pinned the SFCC frontcourt, which has struggled in recent games.
“We’re just not playing very well right now,” Bucher said. “I congratulated Kendra for giving us 10 points tonight — we needed it.”
Zahria White led Crowder College with 18 points, Brooke Sagely scored 13 and Michaela Mack finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.
The Lady Roughriders stayed within one possession of SFCC through the second half, and led by two entering the fourth quarter.
After her sixth and seventh three of the evening, Kaifes lifted State Fair to a 55-52 lead with 5:22 to play.
Crowder College and State Fair exchanged four timeouts within the final minute of regulation. Combined 2-for-4 free-throw shooting from Boone and Alexis Cowan maintained the SFCC edge.
State Fair (14-8) padded its No. 2 spot in the Region 16 standings with a victory over third-place Crowder.
The Lady Roadrunners defeated the Lady Roughriders 62-52 on January 25th, and look to sweep another regional opponent in its next game 5:30 p.m. Saturday, hosting Moberly Area Community College.
Bucher said he expects a difficult matchup Saturday after escaping Moberly with a 67-65 victory in January.
“It was a dog fight at their place,” Bucher said. “I told them from here on out, all of our games are going to be close. I told them this is what region play is going to be like … There’s nothing we haven’t gone through that we’re going to see in the next three games, plus playoffs, that we haven’t seen in these past ballgames.”
