SFCC women hold on for win

A strong defensive effort carried the State Fair Lady Roadrunners to a 60-56 win over the Lincoln Trail College Lady Statesmen on Friday night in opening round play of the SFCC Classic. Lincoln Trail entered the game ranked 14th in the nation in the latest NJCAA poll, but the Lady Roadrunners shut down the Lady Statesmen’s high-scoring offense.

“I thought (in) the first half, overall, we played exactly what the game plan was,” said State Fair coach Darren Pannier. “We wanted to limit their penetration, cover the three and rebound.”

State Fair (6-0) led from start to finish, but each time the Lady Roadrunners appeared to have a comfortable advantage, Lincoln Trail would make a run and cut into the lead.

Pannier wasn’t surprised that the Lady Statesmen kept chipping away at his team’s leads.

“Now we have to learn that a nationally ranked team will not quit. They will come at you, and come at you, and come at you,” he said.

Both teams used stingy defenses at the beginning of the game to keep the score low. State Fair guards Ciara Leak, Dahlia Booker, Arriana Walker and Brittany Young pushed the Lady Roadrunners in front 12-5 with slashing penetration to the basket for scores in the lane.

Lincoln Trail crawled back, cutting the lead to 14-12 before State Fair used a 9-0 run to open up the lead. Maci Wisdom capped the run with a steal and layup.

The Lady Roadrunners endured some sloppiness at the offensive end in the final minutes of the opening half and still held a 34-26 advantage at the break. That lead was due in large part to their play at the defensive end.

“We knew the girls were capable of doing it. It’s just (a question of) when we’re going to turn that light on and keep it on. We have spurts, but we don’t have a 12-minute or 15-minute or almost a first-half spurt,” said Pannier.

The second half began much like the first as both teams struggled to score against the tough defenses. When Lincoln Trail’s Day-Ell Foster drilled a 3-pointer, the State Fair lead was trimmed to 41-38 with 13 minutes remaining in the game.

State Fair responded with a 9-1 burst that concluded with Wisdom draining a long 3-pointer for a 50-39 lead. Once again the Lady Statesmen would not let State Fair get comfortable.

Lincoln Trail ran off the next nine points and cut the lead to 50-48 with just over 6 minutes left in the game. The game remained close, and the Lady Roadrunners were forced to get two defensive stops in the game’s final 30 seconds to close out the win.

Booker closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws after Lincoln Trail’s Brittany Fisher missed an attempt to tie the game with 5 seconds left.

Leak paced the Lady Roadrunners with 16 points, Young added 11, and Booker and Walker each chipped in with eight.

Lateidra Elliott, who was recently named the national player of the week, led Lincoln Trail with 13 points.

In the first game, Three Rivers defeated Kaskaskia 80-78.