ROGERS — McKinzie James saved her best for last Friday night.
After missing her first four shots, James sparked a late Rogers High rally with six points in the final 4 minutes, 42 seconds of the game as the Lady Mounties rallied for a 45-39 victory against Fayetteville in a 7A/6A-West Conference game.
ROGERS HIGH 45, FAYETTEVILLE 39
Fayetteville 9 9 12 9 — 39
Rogers 8 9 13 15 — 45
Fayetteville (5-11, 1-2): Matlock 9, Breden 8, Edie 7, Schuldt 4, White 3, Prude 4, Austin 2, Howard 2.
Rogers (10-6, 2-1): Strickland 25, James 8, Hawley 7, Trexler 5.
James finished with eight points and her steal and layup with 1:39 left gave Rogers a 41-39 lead after they had trailed 36-30 in the final period.
“McKinzie stepped up,” Rogers coach Preston Early said. “I kept telling her in timeouts to stay confident. McKinzie hit some shots that gave us the momentum.”
Taylor Strickland led Rogers with 25 points and the senior made four free throws the final 38.8 seconds to ice the win. Strickland was 10-of-12 from the free throw. Hannah Hawley added seven points for Rogers, including a layup during the Lady Mounties game ending 12-1 run.
“I’m so proud of all the kids,” Early said. “I told them that winners will find a way, and they rose up and got it done.”
Fayetteville didn’t score the final 3:18 of the game and the Lady Bulldogs last field goal came with 4:07 left. Fayetteville was just 3-of-12 from the free throw line in the game and they were 1-for-6 after leading by six in the fourth period.
“We turned the ball over, and we didn’t get shots off,” Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. “We missed free throws, and we didn’t finish. We had a chance to win the game, and we didn’t do it.”
Vanessa Matlock led Fayetteville with nine points while Jaylah Prude added nine, Aubrey Edie seven.
“Rogers played well,” Rimmer said. “They made their shots and they made free throws. It’s so disappointing because our effort was outstanding, we played so hard.”
Fayetteville won the junior varsity game 27-18. Catara Robinson and Lauren Schuldt both had six points for Fayetteville. Mackenzie Muirhead, Brooke Sagely and Tasha Repella all had five points each for Rogers.