Lee Leads Bentonville

Lady Tigers Build Big Lead, Hold Off Lady Mounties

— Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier picked up his 200th win as the Lady Tigers coach and beating Rogers High made the milestone all the sweeter.

Rogers had won 13 of the previous 14 meetings with Bentonville but Taylor Lee scored 19 points and Jasmine Secrest added 10 critical points off the bench as Bentonville defeated the Lady Mounties 47-40 in a 7A/6A-West Conference game.

Bentonville led by as many as 15 points in the final period but the Lady Mounties cut the lead to 45-40 with 26.5 seconds left on a layup by Rogers senior Taylor Strickland. Rogers’ Hannah Hawley missed a 3-point attempt with 15 seconds left that would have cut the margin to two and Lee finished off her solid performance with an uncontested layup for the seven-point win.

“It was a good game for our kids,” Halbmaier said. “We were fortunate to go on the road and get a win.”

Lee scored 14 of her 19 points after halftime while Secrest had one of her best games of the year. Secrest scored six points during a Bentonville (22-2, 10-1) run in the second period that helped Bentonville to a 20-16 lead at halftime. Secrest was 5-of-6 from the field after making both of her second half attempts.

“Secrest came in and gave us valuable minutes,” Halbmaier said. “This was by far her best offensive game of the year.”

Strickland led Rogers (16-9, 7-4) with 16 while sophomore Callie King also keyed the Rogers comeback bid with three 3-points the final 8:01 of the game to finish with nine points.

Rogers, however, missed its first 14 3-point attempts and they finished 3-of-20 from behind the arc.

“It was a bad night, offensively,” Rogers coach Preston Early said. “We didn’t have any rhythm, we didn’t look like we were connected. That leads to a poor shooting performance.”

Bentonville first four field goals were 3-pointers as the Lady Tigers took a 12-6 lead. But Rogers battled back and took a 13-12 lead on a three-point play by Strickland with 6:13 left before halftime. But it would be the Lady Mounties last lead of the game as the Lady Tigers are one win away from capturing the conference championship.

BENTONVILLE 47, ROGERS HIGH 40

Bentonville 12 8 14 13 — 47

Rogers 19 6 7 18 — 40

Bentonville (22-2, 10-1): Lee 19, Secrest 10, Coleman 8, Garrard 4, Potts 3, Mabeus 3.

Rogers (16-9, 7-4): Strickland 16, King 9, James 6, Trexler 5, Warren 2, Ganoung 2.

Boys

Bentonville 62, Rogers 55

Bentonville jumped to an early 12-0 lead and the Tigers never looked back in sweeping the season series from the Mounties. Bentonville led as many as 18 points in the fourth period before Rogers made a late run.

Nick Smith led three Bentonville players in double figures with 23 points. Austin Heard added 15 points for the Tigers (19-6, 8-3) while Austin Haggard added 10.

Hunter Hill led Rogers (8-16, 2-9)with 31 points, including six points the final 45.6 seconds as the Mounties cut the Tigers lead to single digits. Keifer Holt added 13 for the Mounties.

BENTONVILLE 62, ROGERS HIGH 55

Bentonville 15 20 13 14 — 62

Rogers 7 10 16 22 — 55

Rogers (8-16, 2-9): Hill 31, Holt 13, Quillen 9, Adams 2.

Bentonville (19-6, 8-3): Smith 23, Heard 15, Haggard 10, Bachman 6, Ward 3, Drechny 2, Dixon 2, Head 1.

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