Strickland, Ray Claim League Honors

Strickland Paces Rogers To Four Straight Wins

Rogers’ Taylor Strickland, left, takes the ball to the basket under pressure from Fayetteville’s Vanessa Matlock during the Lady Mounties’ game Jan. 11 against the Lady Bulldogs at King Arena in Rogers. Strickland has scored 119 points total points in the Lady Mounties’ past four games.
Rogers’ Taylor Strickland, left, takes the ball to the basket under pressure from Fayetteville’s Vanessa Matlock during the Lady Mounties’ game Jan. 11 against the Lady Bulldogs at King Arena in Rogers. Strickland has scored 119 points total points in the Lady Mounties’ past four games.

Rogers High’s Taylor Strickland is the NWA Media Player of the Week for the second straight week after pacing the Lady Mounties to four straight wins.

Last week, Strickland scored 37 points in a 64-47 win at Bentonville, and added 22 points in Friday’s 57-26 win against Van Buren.

Strickland’s 59-point week comes on the heels of scoring 60 points the week before in wins against Siloam Springs and Fayetteville. Her 119-point effort during a four-game stretch against conference opponents is the best since Wendy Scholtens of Fort Smith Southside scored 120 points against Russellville, Springdale, Fayetteville and Fort Smith Northside to end the 1987 regular season. Scholtens had 40 points in a 67-41 win at Fayetteville during that span.

“She would be the first one to tell you that everything that she has been able to do in terms of scoring is how we’re playing as a team,” Rogers coach Preston Early said. “I really think as a group we have gelled offensively, and we’re playing with a lot of purpose.

“That’s the biggest thing. It’s really not an individual deal although she has seen the result of scoring some, but it’s really a result of how we’re playing together and the way they are having to defend us. It’s a team deal. She knows she can’t do anything individually, that it’s a team sport, not tennis.”

On Friday against Van Buren, Strickland scored 11 of her 22 points in the third quarter, spurring a 13-2 run that pushed Rogers’ lead to 37-14.

At A Glance

THAT FIGURES

119 Points scored by Rogers’ Taylor Strickland the last two weeks

32.4 Average margin of victory by Fayetteville Bulldogs in five conference games

3 Number of 30-point games for Siloam Springs’ Payton Henson in conference play after scoring 30 against Bentonville on Friday night

On Jan. 15, she scored nine points in a key third-quarter stretch before finishing with 37 points. Rogers led Bentonville 35-33 in the third quarter before Strickland hit two 3-pointers and added three free throws for a personal 9-0 run.

Strickland’s four-game stretch follows a 54-49 conference-opening loss at Springdale High.

In that loss, Strickland scored nine points and touched the ball nine times.

“She has to touch the ball,” Early said. “Our offense flows better when it flows through her, and all of our players benefit. We want them to be stable and capitalize on opportunities. When we’re playing the right way, everybody is getting their opportunities. What’s happening is that everybody is realizing what their roles are and where the opportunities are. We’ve been able to maximize our possessions.”

Van Buren’s sharp-shooting guard Quinton Ray scored 33 points in two victories last week for the Pointers to earn the boy’s conference player of the week.

Ray scored 17 points in Van Buren’s Jan.15 win against Heritage, 63-45, and added 16 points in Friday’s 53-27 victory at Rogers.

“In both games, Quinton came out and played extremely well, offensively and defensively,” Van Buren coach Randy Loyd said. “To score 17 on Tuesday and then turn around and score 16 on Friday really shows the confidence that he has right now in his shooting and scoring. We’re pleased he’s done it and hope it continues.”

Ray is leading the Pointers in scoring during 7A/6A-West play with 64 points in five games and played with confidence.

“Right now he is, but he hasn’t been,” Loyd said. “He started early, but I replaced him. Now, I’ve put him back, and you can just tell the confidence he has now.”

Ray came off the bench for a while for the Pointers before regaining his starting role.

“We’ve got some guys that can shoot the basketball,” Loyd said. “We knew he could, but his shot just wasn’t falling as much as it is now. He saved it for this time of the year when we really need it. That’s something we’ve got going right now. Quinton is stepping in there, and doing his part has done nothing but help the team.”

This is the first season in which Ray has concentrated solely on basketball from the beginning.

“He’s always been a guy that can score,” Ray said. “This year, he decided not to run cross county, and has been in the gym since school started. That’s really helped him. Confidence-wise, he’s built it as the year has gone along. Right now, he’s pretty high as far as his confidence.”

THE FRONT SEVEN

No team is on a roll like the Fayetteville Bulldogs, who wrap up the first half of the conference round-robin with home games against Springdale Har-Ber today and Bentonville on Friday.

Fayetteville is 5-0 in the conference and has won its five conference games by a combined 315-153 margin, or 63-30.6 per game.

The Rogers Lady Mountaineers are also on a roll with four straight wins.

“Springdale had an awesome game against us,” Early said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them, but I do think that every loss can serve as a great lesson. It gives us something to work on in practice. The Springdale loss was a culmination of a two-week slump, and we just decided that we were going to work ourselves out of it.”

The Lady Mountaineeers lost three of their final four nonconference games. Mountain Home defeated Rogers twice, 51-47, at home and then 44-38 in the final game of the Mountain Home Tournament. Earlier in the tournament, Rogers lost to Fayetteville, 45-43, and Greenwood, 74-38.

“It was part of a two-week slump that we were in,” Early said. “We kind of had to work through some things. We were still forming our identity. We played a tough nonconference schedule. A lot of credit goes to our players to the way they continued to work, and they let us coach them and get through some things, it allowed us to start getting better again.”

The win at Bentonville on Jan. 15 was really significant since the Lady Mountaineers handed the Lady Tigers their first conference loss. Rogers, Heritage and Bentonville are now tied at the top of the girls’ standings with 4-1 marks.

The Van Buren Pointers have won two straight games after losing their first three, including two road games at Springdale Har-Ber and at Bentonville.

“We lost a tough one at Bentonville,” Loyd said. “We lost another real tough one at Har-Ber when we had the lead late. We let that one get away from us. These two against Heritage and Rogers, we really defended well, and we had some guys step up offensively that really helped us.”

Van Buren hosts Siloam Springs today before traveling to Springdale to close out the front seven of conference season.

“We’re sitting 2-3 and would like to finish big this week,” Loyd said. “Finishing 4-3, or 3-4, would definitely keep us in the hunt if we can have a good back seven.”

Van Buren has four home games during the final half of conference play.

7A/6A-WEST LEADERS

Conference games only

BOYS

TEAM OFFENSE

TEAM G PTS AVG

Fayetteville 5 315 63.0

Bentonville 5 315 63.0

Springdale High 5 309 61.8

Springdale Har-Ber 5 293 58.6

Siloam Springs 5 284 56.8

Van Buren 5 249 49.8

Rogers Heritage 5 226 45.2

Rogers High 5 185 37.0

TEAM DEFENSE

TEAM G PTS AVG

Fayetteville 5 153 30.6

Van Buren 5 253 50.6

Bentonville 5 258 51.6

Springdale High 5 271 54.2

Siloam Springs 5 273 54.6

Springdale Har-Ber 5 315 63.0

Rogers Heritage 5 323 64.6

Rogers High 5 330 66.0

SCORING LEADERS

PLAYER, SCHOOL G PTS AVG

Payton Henson, Siloam Springs 5 127 25.4

Nick Smith, Bentonville 5 111 22.2

Austin Heard, Bentonville 5 81 16.2

Manuale Watkins, Fayetteville 5 75 15.0

Alex Scharlou, Springdale High 5 74 14.8

Dashaun Stark, Springdale High 5 73 14.6

Quinton Ray, Van Buren 5 64 12.8

Jawan Smith, Fayetteville 5 60 12.0

Hayden Greenway, Rogers Heritage 5 60 12.0

Reece Goddard, Siloam Springs 5 59 11.8

Alex Rice, Springdale Har-Ber 5 58 11.6

Justin Malott, Springdale High 5 56 11.2

Tereke Eckwood, Springdale High 5 56 11.2

Nick Pagel, Van Buren 5 53 10.6

Ryan Pearson, Van Buren 5 52 10.4

Austin Fox, Springdale Har-Ber 5 52 10.4

Reed Hill, Rogers High 5 48 9.6

Tyler McCullough, Fayetteville 5 47 9.4

Zach Jones, Rogers High 5 46 9.2

Austin Haggard, Bentonville 5 46 9.2

Dylan Gray, Siloam Springs 5 44 8.8

Caleb Waitsman, Fayetteville 5 42 8.4

Crist Olsen, Rogers Heritage 5 41 8.2

Mitchell Smith, Van Buren 5 38 7.6

Brandon Buccheri, Springdale Har-Ber 5 37 7.4

Hunter Holt, Rogers High 5 35 7.0

Tyler Tutt, Springdale High 5 30 6.0

Ricky Jones, Springdale Har-Ber 5 30 6.0

Xavier Thomas, Rogers Heritage 5 27 5.4

Josiah Wymer, Springdale High 5 26 5.2

Luke Fryauf, Rogers Heritage 5 26 5.2

Aaron Ward, Bentonville 5 26 5.2

Brendan Cook, Springdale High 5 25 5.0

Jason Harms, Van Buren 5 20 4.0

Tre Boyd, Fayetteville 5 20 4.0

Bo Weber, Bentonville 5 20 4.0

GIRLS

TEAM OFFENSE

TEAM G PTS AVG

Rogers High 5 279 55.8

Rogers Heritage 5 267 53.4

Bentonville 5 256 51.2

Fayetteville 5 243 48.6

Siloam Springs 5 232 46.4

Springdale Har-Ber 5 229 45.8

Springdale High 5 206 41.2

Van Buren 5 148 29.6

TEAM DEFENSE

TEAM G PTS AVG

Fayetteville 5 203 40.6

Rogers Heritage 5 204 40.8

Bentonville 5 217 43.4

Springdale Har-Ber 5 218 43.6

Rogers High 5 220 44.0

Springdale High 5 257 51.4

Siloam Springs 5 265 53.0

Van Buren 5 276 55.2

SCORING LEADERS

PLAYER, SCHOOL G PTS AVG

Taylor Strickland, Rogers High 5 128 25.6

Ashley Ward, Rogers Heritage 5 77 15.4

Morgan Miller, Siloam Springs 5 71 14.2

Brittany Jurgens, Springdale High 5 59 11.8

Taylor Lee, Bentonville 5 57 11.4

Baily Cameron, Siloam Springs 5 56 11.2

Kaylee Sheppard, Van Buren 5 53 10.6

Emilie Jobst, Rogers Heritage 5 53 10.6

Brittany Ward, Rogers Heritage 5 50 10.0

Tayleah Neal, Springdale Har-Ber 5 49 9.8

Maria Santillana, Van Buren 5 48 9.6

Javunda Daniels, Springdale High 5 44 8.8

McKinzie James, Rogers High 5 44 8.8

Ellen Lundy, Rogers Heritage 5 43 8.6

Aubrey Edie, Fayetteville 5 39 7.8

Bailey Schalk, Springdale Har-Ber 5 39 7.8

Caylee Wright, Springdale Har-Ber 5 39 7.8

Kindal Coleman, Bentonville 5 39 7.8

Vanessa Matlock, Fayetteville 5 39 7.8

Cassandra Trexler, Rogers High 5 38 7.6

Julia Garrard, Bentonville 5 36 7.2

Rashaun Casey, Bentonville 5 34 6.8

Baiyinnah Taylor, Springdale High 5 33 6.6

Jaylah Prude, Fayetteville 5 32 6.4

Karen Perez, Springdale High 5 32 6.4

Ellie Breden, Fayetteville 5 30 6.0

Bailey Owens, Siloam Springs 5 29 5.8

Mayse Pippin, Siloam Springs 5 29 5.8

Hannah Hawley, Rogers High 5 26 5.2

Brooke Mabeus, Bentonville 5 26 5.2

Marleeya Montgomery, Springdale Har-Ber 5 25 5.0

Alexa Howard, Fayetteville 5 24 4.8

Haley McCarver, Springdale Har-Ber 5 24 4.8

Samantha Weber, Springdale Har-Ber 5 22 4.4

Denesha White, Fayetteville 5 21 4.2

Jamayne Potts, Bentonville 5 21 4.2

Lauren Schuldt, Fayetteville 5 20 4.0

Samantha Warren, Rogers High 5 19 3.8

Upcoming Events