Women's Basketball Wins Both at Roadrunner Classic

SMC Women's Basketball started the 2024-25 campaign with two wins at the second annual Roadrunner Classic, held in the 1st Source Bank Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday.

In the season opener versus Richard J. Daley College, SMC pushed the pace from the tip and started the season with a home win of 87-49 over the Richard J. Daley Bulldogs in Game 2 of the Roadrunner Classic. The Roadrunners missed a lot of free throws and layups underneath, but a took a 14-9 lead after one quarter and were up 35-22 at the half. After some adjustments, they wore down the Bulldogs and steadily pulled away to the final margin of 38.

With a lineup of mostly freshmen, SMC was led by Kayla Johnson with 15 points, Khalise Collins and Rayvan Rush each had 12 and Kate Gilroy added 10. Collins also grabbed 10 rebounds to post the first double-double of her college career. Shiyah Forte had 11 total rebounds in the game. 

On Saturday, SMC was all gas, no brakes in their defeat of the Kennedy-King Statesmen in Game 5 of the Roadrunner Classic. The home team was leading 23-12 after the first period, and 43-27 at the break. Tempers flared between the teams in Q2, but the Roadrunners would have none of that on their home court and opened the second half on a 15-0 run en route to a 33-9 third quarter beat down. The Statesmen had no answers as the Roadrunners crossed the century mark for the first time this season.

SMC was led by starter Rayvan Rush with 23 points and 10 steals - an SMC single-game record - for her first double-double. Maggie Weller and Shiyah Forte each poured in 17, Morganne Postell had 15 and Kayla Johnson added 10. The team had 35 steals against the Statesmen, breaking the team record of 30 set last season at Marian Ancilla. The team also set the mark for the number of free throws made in a game, going 25-42, breaking the previous high of 21 in last year's season opener vs. Edison State.