Sunday, February 17, 2013
ROGERS — The Rogers Lady Mounties snapped a two-game losing streak Friday and now will look to avenge their only loss in school history to Rogers Heritage on Tuesday.
Heritage defeated the Lady Mounties during the first half of the 7A/6A-West Conference schedule for its first victory since the school district split into two high schools.
At A Glance
That Figures
9 The Mounties have to beat Har-Ber by at least 9 points to win head-to-head tiebreaker.
25 Hunter Hill scored 25 points in the second half against Bentonville
1,533 Taylor Strickand’s career point total
If the Lady Mounties win out, they will get the No. 2 seed from the conference at the Class 7A State Tournament later this month in Fayetteville.
The Lady Mounties overcame a third quarter run by Van Buren on Friday to post a 48-34 victory.
For the boys team, Friday’s loss to Van Buren means they must win out, and beat Springdale Har-Ber by at least nine points to have a chance to extend the season to the state tournament. Rogers has been to the state tournament the last seven years.
PLAY OF THE WEEK: The Rogers’ girls defense limited Van Buren to one field goal the last 3 minutes, 35 seconds Friday.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Lady Mounties senior Taylor Strickland scored 16 points against Bentonville and 18 against Van Buren to become the all-time career scoring leader at the school. She broke the mark set by Morgan Hook in 2010. Hook is a junior guard at Oklahoma.
Mounties junior Hunter Hill scored 31 points in the loss to Bentonville on Tuesday. He scored 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Mounties cut a 18-point deficit to seven in a 62-55 loss to Bentonville. Zach Jones led Rogers in Friday’s loss to Van Buren with 12 points.
NOTABLE: The Lady Mounties have won at least eight conference games every year since 2004. The 2005 team was 8-6 and finished in a three-way tie for third but missed the state tournament on a tiebreaker. ... If they Lady Mounties finish with two wins this week, it will be the sixth time in the last eight years they have won at least 10 conference games.
THE LINGO: “It’s big. It sets up for a big game.”
— Rogers girls coach Preston Early on the Heritage Game
UP NEXT: Rogers ends the regular season at home against Rogers Heritage on Tuesday, and Springdale Har-Ber on Tuesday.