SEDALIA — One year ago, the State Fair Lady Roadrunners came into the Libla Family Sports Complex and shocked the Three Rivers College women's basketball team in the Region XVI finals to earn an automatic bid to the National Junior College Athletic Association Tournament.
Friday night, the Lady Raiders returned the favor.
Second-seeded Three Rivers took the lead for good late in the opening period and led by as many as 17 points in the final period on the way to a 74-62 win over the top-seeded Lady Roadrunners in the Region XVI championship game at the Davis Multipurpose Building.
With the win, the Lady Raiders (26-5) earn their school-record sixth straight trip to the national tournament and their fifth region title since 2019.
"I'll be honest, they all feel good," Three Rivers coach Alex Wiggs said. "They're all special in their own ways — but this one's pretty sweet. We weren't the No. 1 overall seed (this time). We didn't have home court advantage, but this team came together, peaked at the right time and performed really, really well."
The Lady Raiders took a 12-10 lead on Ytaly Lewis's layup with 2:26 in the opening period and led 16-13 after the first quarter, then began to build on that lead in the second.
Amelia Corasaniti drained a 3-pointer with 9:32 left before halftime to make it a 19-13 game, then Tristan Spearman added a basket with 8:06 left in the half to extend the lead to 23-15.
Three Rivers led 34-28 late in the half before closing with a late surge. Kiera Neal's basket with 33 seconds left before the intermission pushed the lead to 36-28, then Corasaniti drained a triple ahead of the halftime buzzer to stake her team to a double-digit lead (39-28) going to the locker room.
"I think anybody and everybody that's followed us this year knew that once we got her back, it would take us to another level," Wiggs said. … "The team grew with her being on the sideline and her on the bench. We had players step up. We had people fill that void and prove that they can score, that they can defend and that we (could) still win without her. So anytime you add a player of Amelia's caliber back to your arsenal and back to your your roster, you should just get better and better."
The Lady Raiders took a 62-45 lead on Lynn Rieth's trey from the corner with 7:12 remaining in the game, but did not score again for nearly four minutes as State Fair answered with a 9-0 run to get within single digits (62-54) with 3:14 remaining.
However, Da'Naya Ross answered with a triple from the corner to end the run and stake her team to a 65-54 lead with three minutes remaining.
The Lady Roadrunners (28-2) did not give up, rattling off six more points in a row to cut the lead to 65-60 with less than two minutes to go, but a Samyah Jordan 3-pointer with 85 seconds to go ended the run and staked her team to a 68-60 edge. Three Rivers then made six of its final eight free throws to close out the game.
Corasaniti paced the Lady Raiders with 18 points, while Ross and Neal each added 14, Jordan had nine and Lewis finished with seven. Neal and Ross had 19 and 11 rebounds, respectively, to record double-doubles, while Lewis added seven as TRC outrebounded State Fair 52-32. Ross also had five assists and Lewis finished with a pair of steals.
"That was one of our big emphases was controlling the boards," Wiggs said. "I think we had 52 and they had 32. We had 21 offensive rebounds and they had 10. I would have liked for us to have finished on a few more of those second-chance points and offensive rebounds — but overall, I'm really proud of the way the girls battled on the glass, attacked those rebounds, limited them and controlled the pace."
Maliyah White paced State Fair with 25 points, while Taylor Wilson had 14, Kamaree Pollard added 12 and Zoe Newland finished with seven in the loss.
Three Rivers will have to wait until Monday afternoon to see who it will play at the NJCAA Tournament, as the NJCAA Tournament selection show is slated for 4 p.m. on Monday. This year's national tournament tips off on March 24, in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Notes: After the game, Jordan was named Region XVI Freshman of the Year, while she, Ross and Neal were named to the all-Region XVI team. ... This is the NJCAA Tournament's first year in Louisiana after many years in Casper, Wyoming.
Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic