ROGERS -- The Rogers Heritage Lady War Eagles stopped an eight-game losing skid and kept their slim state tournament hopes alive Thursday night.
Fort Smith Southside's Shaniah Bishop missed from almost point-blank range with three seconds left and Heritage cleared the rebound to hold on for a 38-37 victory in War Eagle Arena.
7A-West Conference
Girls
Rogers Heritage 38, Fort Smith Southside 37
Southside^9^9^8^11^—^37
Heritage^10^10^8^10^—^38
Fort Smith Southside (10-16, 4-9): O’Dell 14, Meares 8, Stone 8, Bishop 4.Hittner 3.
Rogers Heritage (10-16, 3-10): Giesen 12, Jobst 11, Tiles 6, Lakis 5, Seiler 4,
Boys
Fort Smith Southside 54, Rogers Heritage 49
Southside^9^15^16^14^—^54
Heritage^13^10^17^9^—^49
Fort Smith Southside (8-18, 2-11): Hawley 18, Foree 14, West 8, Olllison 7, Perito 5, Hillian 2.
Rogers Heritage (15-11, 6-7): Hirsh 11, Olsen 8, Breedlove 8, Hobbs 7, Jensen 6, Coover 5, Belnap 4.
Heritage (10-16, 3-10 7A-West Conference) will now need a victory over Springdale Har-Ber tonight and a Southside loss against crosstown rival Fort Smith Northside to grab the No. 6 seed.
Emilie Jobst came up with the biggest play when she poked it away from Bishop and scored on a layup for a 38-35 lead with 1 minute, 13 seconds left. Giesen scored inside about 20 seconds earlier to give the Lady War Eagles the one-point lead.
The Lady War Eagles hadn't won in more than a month since they beat Southside on Jan. 20 thanks to a late 3-pointer by Sara Giesen. But Heritage coach Kevin Ramey said his team kept fighting. Seniors Giesen and Jobst made key plays to help Heritage to the win.
"We've had a rough time here lately," Ramey said. "It's hard when you go through that to keep your spirits up. The players deserve the credit. They could have hung their heads. Things didn't always go our way tonight, but the kids kept after it.
"Giesen's stickback and Emilie's steal were big-time for us. They have both been good for us for so long. I'm glady in the victory that those two seniors had a big hand in it. It sets up a win or go home tomorrow. We were in that tonight. I'm proud of our kids. But Giesen and Jobst came up huge down the stretch."
Giesen led Heritage with 12 points, while Jobst chipped in 11. Whitney O'Dell led all scorers with 14 for Southside (10-16, 4-9).
Heritage won despite making just 3 of 10 from the free-throw line, including missing three front ends of one-and-one's in the fourth quarter.
Southside coach Sherry White said the Lady War Eagles wore them down.
"They played a really good game I thought," White said. "We're up one and have two or three possessions to get something better than a jump shot and we didn't. The were patient and made us work 30 or 45 seconds a lot of possessions it seemed like. They played solid, took care of the boards.
Boys
Fort Smith Southside 54, Rogers Heritage 49
The Rebels grabbed the lead early in the fourth quarter and held on to grab their second 7A-West victory.
Seth Hawley poured in a game-high 18 points and Alex Foree added 14 for the Rebels (8-18, 2-11).
Alex Perito hit two free throws for a 47-45 lead with 3:37 left. The Rebels then got a steal and Hawley hit a layup to push the lead to four and hit free throws to hold on.
Connor Hirsh led Heritage (15-11, 6-7) with 11 points.
Sports on 02/27/2015