(Neosho, MO) The Crowder Roughriders used dribble drive penetrations to attack the basket and beat the Mineral Area Lady Cardinals 80-78.
A stellar first quarter by the Roughriders gave them just enough momentum for MAC to be chasing the rest of the game. Crowder left after one quarter 18-15 and used a 16-8 run to close out the stanza.
Mineral Area battled back in the second to even the game at halftime 35-35. But again Crowder handled the pressure in the third quarter outscoring MAC 23-20 and leading 58-55.
The fourth quarter saw the Lady Cardinals hold the scoring advantage 23-22 and hold a lead at times in the final quarter.
With 4:09 left in the final media timeout, MAC trailed 72-64 before clawing their way back to gain an advantage with a little over a minute left. But Crowder’s attack was too strong and they pulled away late as the teams traded buckets.
Kinley Norris missed a potential game winning three by inches. She finished the game with 12 points, Ashley Buragas led the Lady Cards with a season high 28 points.
Crowder was paced by Adyson Roberts with 18 points, Jakayla Bunch contributed 17 points from the bench, while Graca Barbosa collected 14 points.
Mineral Area (14-3, 0-1) had their 11-game win streak snapped and will host Moberly on Saturday.