Crowder Fends Off Mineral Area for 73–69 Home Victory

The Crowder College women’s basketball team defended its home court Wednesday night, edging Mineral Area College 73–69 in a hard-fought matchup at the Bob Sneller Gymnasium.

Crowder jumped out early, setting the tone with a strong first quarter. The Roughriders built a 23–15 lead behind balanced scoring and active defense, then extended the advantage to 44–27 by halftime after outscoring Mineral Area 21–12 in the second quarter.

Mineral Area refused to go away. Led by a big night from Mariah Dallas, who poured in a game-high 28 points on 12-of-20 shooting, the Cardinals came out aggressive in the third quarter. Mineral Area won the period 22–16, trimming the Crowder lead and putting pressure on the home team heading into the final 10 minutes.

The fourth quarter turned into a battle. Mineral Area continued to chip away, cutting the deficit to single digits, but Crowder answered with timely shots and steady free-throw shooting down the stretch. Despite being outscored 20–13 in the final quarter, Crowder did enough to hold on for the four-point victory.

Barbara Perandini led Crowder with 13 points, while Abbey Green added 12 points and seven rebounds. Lexie Henry chipped in 11 points, and Aubri Wilson scored 10 points to go along with five assists and four steals. Crowder leaned on its perimeter shooting, knocking down nine three-pointers on the night, and finished 16-of-24 from the free-throw line.

With the 73–69 win, Crowder improves to 14-4 and 2-0 in Region 16.  The Roughriders hit the road on Saturday to take on #13 State Fair (18-0 & 3-0 Region 16) at 2:00 PM.