Three Rivers College coach Alex Wiggs wins 100th game

Three Rivers College women’s basketball coach Alex Wiggs won his 100th game Tuesday as head coach of the Lady Raiders.

Three Rivers (26-4) defeated Moberly Area 78-64 in the Region XVI semifinals for its 11th straight win. The 13th-ranked Lady Raiders will host State Fair on Friday in the Region XVI championship, with the winner securing a trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming.

In his fourth season as head coach and eighth overall with Three Rivers, Wiggs had led the Lady Raiders to the National Tournament in each of the past three years, including a final-four appearance in 2021, their best showing at the national tournament since the 2004 Lady Raiders placed fifth.

Before arriving at Three Rivers, Wiggs spent three years as an assistant coach at Moberly Area, then three years at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk hired a 28-year-old Wiggs in 2016, and Walk soon retired after the 2019-20 season with a 213-150 record at Three Rivers.

“I am just super tickled for Alex and the girls,” Walk said in 2021 after Three Rivers earned the No. 1 seed in the national tournament. “It does my heart good that he’s succeeding, and they’re winning.”

His first season 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. Since then, the Lady Raiders have not lost more than four games in the regular season and never more than two games in a row.

“Coach Walk was a big part of my career here,” Wiggs said. “He took a chance on a 28-year-old coming in as a young assistant. 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.”