ROGERS — Rogers Heritage won only three 7A/6A-West Conference basketball games this season, but the Lady War Eagles were still in the hunt for a state tournament berth heading into the regular-season finale at Siloam Springs.
But a scoring drought — something that plagued the Lady War Eagles (7-17, 3-11 7A/6A-West) much of the season — spelled doom as Heritage finished losing seven of its last eight games. Heritage averaged just 37 points per game in league play, after scoring at a 42-point clip in nonconference.
Lady War Eagles coach Kevin Ramey said his team never found a second consistent scorer besides junior Emilie Jobst, who led the team averaging 12.2 points per game.
“Emilie carried a lot of that burden on her shoulders and we needed somebody to jump in there and help her with that and take some pressure off,” Ramey said. “Some nights we had it and those are the nights we played really well. The nights we didn’t have that we weren’t very good.”
AT A GLANCE
Rogers Heritage Lady War Eagles
Date^Opponent^Result/Time
Nov. 15^Sheridan^L, 61-40
Nov. 22^at Russellville^L, 45-28
Nov. 26^Gentry^L, 49-45
Tahlequah Invitational
Dec. 12^Sand Springs, Okla.^L, 53-32
Dec. 13^Van Buren^W, 43-41
Dec. 14^Tahlequah^W, 54-37
Dec. 20^Alma^L, 49-46
Del City/Midwest City, Okla. Tournament
Dec. 26^Broken Arrow, Okla.^L, 51-40
Dec. 27^Oklahoma City Storm^W, 47-37
Dec. 28^Guthrie, Okla. W, 45-36
Jan. 10^Fayetteville*^L, 41-24
Jan. 14^at Springdale High*^L, 49-38
Jan. 17^at Bentonville*^L, 47-30
Jan. 21^Van Buren*^W, 46-37
Jan. 24^Springdale Har-Ber*^L, 45-38
Jan. 28^at Rogers High*^W, 47-45
Jan. 31^Siloam Springs*^L, 54-46
Feb. 7^at Fayetteville*^L, 58-39
Feb. 11^Springdale High*^L, 46-40
Feb. 14^Bentonville*^L, 63-46
Feb. 18^at Van Buren*^W, 33-31
Feb. 21^at Springdale Har-Ber*^L, 63-34
Feb. 25^Rogers High*^L, 48-30
Feb. 28^at Siloam Springs*^L, 56-30
* denotes 7A/6A-West Conference games
The Lady War Eagles will return three starters next season led by the 5-6 Jobst, who is known as one of the best shooters in the league. Emily Seiler and Sara Giesen each logged 23 starts and with Jobst will be looked upon to take more of a leadership role next year, Ramey said.
Giesen was the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 7.7 points per game, followed by graduating senior Gina Britton at a shade under seven points per game. The 5-foot-8 Britton also led the team, averaging five rebounds per game.
Seiler led the team in 3-point shooting, making 45 percent of her shots from beyond the arc which was better than even Jobst. But she took far fewer shots. That’s something that will likely change next season, Ramey said.
“I thought Seiler had a tremendous season for us really,” Ramey said. “As a sophomore, you’re in there feeling your way around a little bit. But as a junior, she’s going to have to be a leader of our team. Going into next year, she will have a much expanded role.
The same can be said for Giesen, who played a limited role as a sophomore but was more involved this year.
“Those threee are going to be a big part of what we do,” Ramey said. “They have to step up to the challenge of leading our team.”
Giesen agreed this year’s group struggled with consistency.
“We were like on a roller coast of highs and lows,” Giesen said. “We need to be better rebounding especially. We definitely struggled with that as a team this year.”
Ramey identified second-chance points, transition points and free throws are areas that this year’s group was deficient.
“As you look back, we were really poor in all three of those areas,” Ramey said. “To me we were kind of a finesse team all year long. We never got out of that mode of jump shot, jump shot jump shot. If you’re going to be that kind of team you better get some second-chances and some transition baskets.
“We had too many games where we’d go an entire half sometimes without getting an offensive rebound. Those are things have to work on get better.”