ROGERS — Both Rogers High basketball teams clinched state tournament berths last week as the Mounties and Lady Mounties both recorded wins against Rogers Heritage and Springdale High.
Now, Rogers will look to improve its seedings to the tournament with a three-game week.
The Lady Mounties ended a fi vegame losing streak with a comeback win against Heritage and they then used a balanced attack and 10 3-pointers to defeat Springdale High a day later.
After losing to Fort Smith Northside earlier in the week, the Mounties rebounded with a convincing win against Heritage and an overtime victory against Springdale that saw the Mounties in the lead for most of the game.
PLAYS OF THE WEEK: Branden Gentz hit one of two free throws with 1.4 seconds left in overtime to lift the Mounties past Springdale 42-41. For the girls, after Springdale cut the Lady Mounties lead to three late in the third period, Sarah Grace Groves hit a layup and then nailed a 3-pointer to give Rogers a eight-point lead in a 53-38 win.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Mounties seniors Josh Anderson and Graham Parker scored 39 and 38 points, respectively, last week. Anderson had 19 in the win against Springdale and Parker had 15 against Heritage.
Taylor Strickland and Madeline Fusillo both had big weeks for the Lady Mounties. Strickland scored 41 points in three games while Fusillo hit double figures three times and scored 33 points.
NOTABLE: The Lady Mounties have won all six meetings against the Lady War Eagles and Friday’s victory snapped a five-game Rogers losing streak ... Collin Jones had his best game of the year with 10 points, including two 3-pointers in the win against Springdale ... The Mounties have six conference wins and half that total is against the top three teams in the league standings ... Four of the Mounties’ league wins have been on the road.
THE LINGO: “It’s just too bad we haven’t performed that well at home.
But everything right now is learning lessons to get ready for state.” - MARTY BARNES, Mounties coach
“It was really critical that we came out of this week with two wins. I think our kids have grown a lot and got stronger. We are coming out of it stronger now. We have been able to spark ourselves with our defense.” - PRESTON EARLY, Lady Mounties coach
UP NEXT: Rogers hosts Fort Smith Southside Tuesday, travels to Springdale Har-Ber Thursday and they end the regular season at Bentonville on Friday. The boys will play first Friday as Bentonville is celebrating Color’s Day. The Mounties gave Southside its only conference loss back on Jan. 25, winning 43-40. The Lady Mounties lost 73-62 to Southside in a game that was not as close as the final indicates.
Sports, Pages 7 on 02/21/2011