ROGERS — With Rogers High trailing against crosstown rival Rogers Heritage going to the second half, seniors Taylor Strickland and McKinzie James stepped up for the Lady Mounties.
Strickland scored 17 of her game high 22 points after halftime and James scored all 12 of her points in the second half to help Rogers to a 42-28 victory in a 7A/6A-West Conference game.
The victory gives the Lady Mounties (18-9, 9-4) a chance to grab the No. 2 seed from the conference to the state tournament with a victory against Springdale Har-Ber Friday night.
“This is the way it should be at this point in the season,” Rogers coach Preston Early said. “You should have to be playing well to get a good seed.”
Rogers trailed 11-9 at halftime but James hit three straight layups to start the second half and key a 12-0 run that gave Rogers a 21-11 lead. Strickland added two 3-pointers to the run. Strickland was 6-of-9 from the field in the second half and she made all seven free throw attempts in the game.
“I kind of sensed at halftime that our guys were disgusted with the way they played in the first half,” Early said. “I kind of thought we were going to make a run. But I thought we may have to do it with our defense, and we got a couple of picks for easy baskets. It was just a good job of our players regrouping.”
Heritage made just two field goals in the second half and only a 17-of-21 effort from the free throw line kept them close until James hit back-to-back layups for a 13-point Rogers lead in the fourth period.
“We turned the ball over too many times and Rogers started the second half with three-straight layups,” Heritage coach Kevin Ramey said. “We never got back in it. I thought James was really good on the defensive end, and they got the ball to Strickland in the second half.”
Both teams struggled for most of the first half as Heritage missed its first 12 shots form the field while the Lady Mounties made just one of their first 10 attempts.
But Rogers took a 7-0 lead when Strickland canned a 3-pointer with 6:40 left in the first half. But the senior quickly picked up her third foul and the Lady War Eagles responded with an 11-0 run.
Gina Britton hit Heritage’s first field goal at the midway point of the second period to cut the Rogers lead to 7-4 and 3-pointer by Lacey Murray capped the run for an 11-7 Lady War Eagles lead.
But Rogers’ Samantha Warren stopped the run with a steal and layup with 10 seconds left to make it a two-point Lady War Eagles lead at halftime
Heritage 0 11 8 9 — 28 Rogers 4 5 16 17 — 42
HERITAGE (18-8, 8-5): Ward 8, Lundy 7, Murray 7, Jobst 4, Britton 2. ROGERS (18-9, 9-4): Strickland 22, James 12, Warren 2, Ganoung 2, Hawley 2.