Three Rivers College women’s basketball coach wins 100th game

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (KBSI) – Three Rivers College’s women’s basketball coach won his 100th game Tuesday as head coach of the Lady Raiders.

Alex Wiggs led the team as they defeated Moberly Area 78-64 in the Region XVI semifinals for its 11th win in a row.

The 13th-ranked Lady Raiders will host State Fair on Friday in the Region XVI championship. The winner secures a trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming.

This is Coach Wiggs’ fourth season as head coach and eighth overall with Three Rivers. He led the Lady Raiders to the National Tournament in each of the past three years. That includes a final four appearance in 2021 with was their best showing at the national tournament since the 2004 Lady Raiders placed fifth.

Wiggs spent three years as an assistant coach at Moberly Area, then three years at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri before he came to Three Rivers.

Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk hired a 28-year-old Wiggs in 2016. Walk retired after the 2019-20 season with a 213-150 record at Three Rivers.

“Coach Walk was a big part of my career here. He took a chance on a 28-year-old coming in as a young assistant,” Wiggs said. “He saw a lot of potential in me and walked me through the process and steps of him retiring and me taking over the program.”

His first season was delayed by the pandemic. Wiggs earned his first win as head coach on January 23, 2021, with a 110-60 win against John A. Logan at the Libla Family Sports Complex.

The Lady Raiders have not lost more than four games in the regular season and never more than two games in a row since then.