SPRINGDALE — Taylor Strickland pounded the ball down the right side of the court, powering her way to the goal.
The Rogers High senior slammed into a Shiloh Christian defender and was whistled for a charging foul midway through the fourth quarter of Friday’s 57-41 win.
Strickland just smiled and trotted to the bench. After all, she’d already scored 33 points in the Lady Mounties’ nonconference win.
ROGERS HIGH 57, SHILOH CHRISTIAN 41
Rogers 16 11 21 9 — 57
Shiloh 14 13 9 5 — 41
Rogers (7-2): Strickland 33, James 10, Ganoung 6, Hawley 3, Trexler 2, Warren 2, Muirhead 1.
Shiloh (5-4): Roth 17, Cooper 12, Sears 6, Adams 6.
“She’s just so versatile and does a lot of things for us,” Rogers coach Preston early said. “She kept us in it in the first half. We could not get a handle on them defensively, but she kept us in it.”
Rogers (7-2) finally seized control of the game in the third quarter, outscoring Shiloh (4-5) 21-9. Strickland scored 10 of her game-high 33 in the third period, and her three-point play with 1.6 seconds left in the quarter gave the Lady Mounties a 48-36 lead.
“I thought in the second half, defensively, we really got a handle on the game,” Early said. “We came up with some loose balls and things like that.”
Shiloh’s Lauren Roth came out gunning for the Lady Saints, and led Shiloh Christian with 17 points. Roth hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to help the Lady Saints stay in the game, trailing just 16-14 after one quarter.
Shiloh fought back to tie the score at 27-27 at halftime as Roth scored 8 points.
“She’s been working hard after practice,” Shiloh coach Mat Stewart said. “She’s been frustrated with her game, and so she’s been coming in and working on her shot. She’s definitely our best 3-point shooter.”
The Lady Mounties also got 10 points from senior MacKinzie James
Early said his team has shown a lot of improvement since the start of the season, especially the chemistry of the team. That and paying more attention to details has the Lady Mounties on track to close out the nonconference part of their schedule.
“I think we’re moving the ball better and everybody is playing with a little more confidence,” Early said. “Some roles are kind of coming together for us, so that has been a nice thing to see. Defensive-wise, we’re a little more connected now than we were.”
Shiloh Christian’s 6-foot-3 sophomore Richelle Cooper scored 12 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.