ROGERS -- Time and time again in the third quarter, Rogers High coach Preston Early urged the Lady Mounties to get a defensive stop.
Rogers didn't get enough stops when it mattered most.
How They Scored
Girls
Fort Smith Southside 55, Rogers High 46
Southside^9^14^14^18^ — 55
Rogers^16^11^6^13^ — 46
Southside (7-9, 1-2): Stone 17, O’Dell 14, Hamilton 9, Bishop 8, Meares 4, Hittner 3.
Rogers (6-10, 0-3): Sagely 19, Sandor 8, King 7, Randels 5, McKinney 3, Williams 2.
Boys
Fort Smith Southside 44, Rogers High 42
Southside^13^4^11^16^ — 44
Rogers^18^7^12^5^ — 42
Southside (7-9, 1-2): Foree 12, Hawley 9, Mays 9, West 8, Ollison 6.
Rogers (5-11, 0-3): Freeland 17, Heffley 11, Salvador 4, McCullough 4, Allen 2, Benninghoff 2, Black 2.
Fort Smith Southside erased an early 11-point deficit with an 18-2 run to post a 55-46 victory over the Lady Mounties in a 7A-West Conference game. Southside closed out the first half with a 5-0 run to cut the Rogers lead to 27-23. The Lady Rebels (7-9, 1-2) then used a 13-2 run in the third quarter to take command.
"We played better in the second half," said Southside coach Sherry White. "We hit the boards better, and we played good pressure defense. It's good to get that first conference win."
Allison Stone led Southside with 17 points, including 15 in the second half. Stone opened the second half with a 3-pointer to cut the Rogers lead to one and her three-point play with 4 minutes, 50 seconds left in the third gave Southside a 34-29 lead.
"Allison Stone took over in there," White said. "Allison is doing really good things for us right now."
Rogers led 14-3 in the first quarter and 20-9 in the second, but 15 Lady Mounties turnovers gave Southside 11 second-chance points while trailing by four at halftime. Brooke Sagely led Rogers with 19 points.
"Early on in the game, we showed glimpses of what we can do," Early said. "Turnovers killed us, and it changes the game."
BOYS
FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 44, ROGERS HIGH 42
Southside ended the game with a 9-0 run to stun the Mounties.
Rogers led by as many as 12 points in the second half, and the Mounties took a 40-31 lead when George Black hit two free throws with 4:19 left in the game. But the Rebels would outscore the Mounties 13-2 the rest of the way.
Alex Foree led Southside with 12 points and he scored 10 the final six minutes of the game. Seth Hawley and Darrian Mays both added nine points for the Rebels (7-9, 1-2). Foree scored seven straight points in just more than a minute to tie the game at 42-42 with 1:03 left.
Mays then hit a layup with just less than a minute left to give the Rebels the lead for good. Rogers had a chance to tie the game with four seconds left, but Daniel Salvador missed two free throw attempts. Rogers (5-11, 0-3) was 8 of 22 from the free throw line.
Milacio Freeland led Rogers with 17 points and six rebounds. Harrison Heffley tallied a double-double for the Mounties with 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Paul Nielsen can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAPaul
Sports on 01/17/2015