Lady Mounties End Losing Skid

ROGERS HIGH FINDS ITS BALANCE

Saturday, December 21, 2013

ROGERS — Before the season started, Rogers High girls basketball coach Preston Early said the Lady Mounties would have to have a balanced scoring attack to be successful.

That was a winning combination Friday night as the Lady Mounties snapped a four-game losing streak in impressive fashion.

Cassandra Trexler led four Rogers players in double f ig ures with 18 points and the Lady Mounties used a 10-1 third period run to pull away for a 70-55 victory against Cedarville at King Arena.

“Our competitive spirit won tonight,” Early said. “So many things are not easy for us right now. We have to overcome it by competing. We could see that we learned some lessons from what we went through last week in Springfield. We let have let games get away from us, but we responded and hit shots, hit free throws.”

Kiara Henry and Brooke Sagely both added 14 points for Rogers (2-4), while Libby Ganoung fi nished 11.

“We needed kids to score the basketball,” Early said. “One of our keys was to score the basketball. Trexler really set the tone.”

Rogers led 26-19 at halftime but junior Callie King hit two free pointers and Sagely added a layup and a long jumper to up the lead to 37-23 less than three minutes into the second half. Henry and Amber Turner then hit 3-pointers for Rogers as the Lady Mounties took a 45-26 lead late in the third.”

Rogers scored 25 points off 21 Cedarville (1-9) turnovers and the Lady Mounties also had 23 offensive rebounds despite basically playing a five-guard lineup.

“That was the diff erence in the game,” Early said.

Cedarville does not have a senior on the roster and the Class 3A Lady Pirates also have recent losses to Farmington and Morrilton. Sophomore Bailie Murphy led Cedarville with 16 points.

“We just didn’t play smart in the first and third,” said Cedarville coach Jody Fincher. “It’s close until a certain point, and we have been playing from behind the last two weeks. The game is hard to play like that.”

Rogers returns to action tonight when it faces host Branson, Mo. at the Winter Weather Shootout. After Christmas, the Lady Mounties will travel to a three-day tournament in Mountain Home and then host Fort Smith Southside on Jan. 2 at 11 a.m.

BOYS

CONWAY 55, ROGERS HIGH 46 OT

Conway hit two key 3-pointers in overtime to hold off the Mounties in Conway.

Rogers (3-4) sophomore Jake Killingsworth made a steal and basket with three seconds left to tie the game at 43-43 and force overtime, but the Mounties would score just three points in the extra period.

Edgar Martinez led Rogers with 13 points while Killingsworth and Hunter Hill each scored 12 points.

“Very proud of the effort,” said Rogers coach Wayne Herren. “We have to get better on the boards, that hurt us. COnway had a lot of second chance points.”

Rogers will next play Festus, Mo. in the Rolla, Mo. Invitational on Dec. 26.