Lady Mounties Face Critical Week

Sunday, January 20, 2013

— The Rogers High girls basketball team is on a roll heading into the most important week of the season.

The Lady Mounties have won four straight 7A/6A-West Conference games after losing the league opener at Springdale High. Rogers knocked off Bentonville for 13th time in the last 14 meetings Tuesday, and they followed that up with a convincing win at home Friday against Van Buren.

That Figures

0 — Times the Lady Mounties have lost to Heritage

13 — Games the Lady Mounties have won in the last 14 meetings against Bentonville

2007 — Last time Har-Ber beat the Lady Mounties

The Lady Mounties have a chance to take sole possession of first place with two wins this week against Rogers Heritage and Springdale Har-Ber. The two Rogers girls teams are tied for first place in the league standings, and Heritage has never beaten the Lady Mounties.

The Mounties, however, continue to struggle at scoring points and stopping opposing offenses. In Friday’s loss to Van Buren, Rogers was 9-of-47 from the field (19 percent) and 5-of-24 from 3-point range (21 percent). They also made just four of 10 free-throw attempts.

Van Buren used first half runs of 14-0 and 9-0 to take control.

Play of the Night: In a tight game against Bentonville, Taylor Strickland hit a pair of three-point plays and added three free throws to stretch a two-point Lady Mountie lead into a 44-33 cushion with 1 minute, 7 seconds left in the third quarter. Two of the free throws came when Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier was given a technical foul for arguing with the officials.

Players of the Week: Strickland scored 37 points against Bentonville and added 22 against Van Buren. Senior Hannah Hawley scored 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting against the Lady Pointers.

Sophomore Zach Street hit three 3-pointers for nine points against the Pointers.

Notable: The Lady Mounties defeated Heritage 53-46 back in December at the Rogers Basketball Classic. ... The Lady Mounties have won the last 10 meetings against Har-Ber. ... The War Eagles have defeated the Mounties just once in a conference game.

The Lingo: “We couldn’t make a shot.”

— Wayne Herren, Rogers High boys basketball coach

Up Next: Rogers hits the road next week but Tuesday’s trip is a short one as the Lady Mounties and Mounties play at Rogers Heritage. The two teams then travel Friday to face Springdale Har-Ber to end the first half of the conference schedule. Jan. 29 is an open date and the next home game is Feb. 1 when Springdale High visits King Arena.