Basketball: Rogers rallies past Springdale Har-Ber

SPRINGDALE — Road wins in the 7A-West Conference are huge. Overcoming a double-digit deficit make them even sweeter.

Rogers High rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit by outscoring Springdale Har-Ber 21-5 in the third quarter and held on for a 49-47 win in the league opener for both teams in Wildcat Arena on Friday night.

“We thought the big thing at halftime, we had some glaring defensive mistakes by letting their best players, Savanna (Collins) and (Maci) Mains do what they do well offensively,” Rogers coach Preston Early said. “We’d worked for three days game-planning on how we were going to defend them. Players like Savanna and Mains are going to get some buckets because they’re very talented, offensively. But I thought in the first half we just let them have their will.”

Collins scored 15 of her 17 points in the first half, including back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second quarter that gave Har-Ber (8-7, 0-1 7A-West) an 18-13 lead after Rogers (8-6, 1-0) took a 13-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Mains scored five of her 12 points in the second quarter to help the Lady Wildcats to a 31-21 halftime lead. Har-Ber did not hit a 3-pointer the rest of the way.

Madison Loyd, who scored a game-high 21 points for Rogers, came out smoking in the third quarter and knocked down three 3-pointers. The third shot from deep brought the Lady Mounties all the way back for a 37-36 lead with 2 minutes, 24 seconds left in the third quarter.

“Those were huge,” Early said. “We practice these scenarios where we go score, stop, score and we put a couple of those together. I tried to encourage her at the half, I said ‘Madison, let’s go have our biggest half yet.’ All it takes is what we do and just shore it up. It’s not too late.”

Rogers ended the third quarter by outscoring Har-Ber 10-0 to take a 42-36 lead into what proved to be a wild and frantic final quarter.

Har-Ber closed to within 46-45 when Mains hit a pair of free throws, then a layup after the Lady Wildcats forced a Rogers turnover with 53 seconds left. Loyd hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 48-45, but Krislyn Smith’s putback with 26 seconds left again pulled Har-Ber within one point, 48-47.

The Lady Wildcats had a chance at the lead when Mains forced a turnover, but Collins missed a driving layup. Loyd hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 7 seconds left to make it 49-47 but missed the second shot. Har-Ber rebounded, but Smith pulled up on a fastbreak and attempted to hit a 3-pointer that came up short at the buzzer.

“All wins are sweet, but road wins, there’s something extra special about them,” Early said. “We feel like we might have stolen one tonight.”

Boys

Springdale Har-Ber 71, Rogers High 48

Tylor Perry scored a game-high 27 points and Tyler Garrett added 22 as the Wildcats opened conference play with a blowout win.

Har-Ber started slow, but the Wildcats (12-3, 1-0) took control of the game in the second quarter as it turned up the tempo.

“That’s the whole thing that a lot of people don’t understand. What you’ve done up to this point doesn’t matter because it’s about what you do in conference,” Har-Ber coach Scott Bowlin said. “The goals get smaller, the scheming gets better. Everything just gets better. We have great coaches in this league. You are not going to play any team in this league and win easily.”

Har-Ber, which won its eighth straight game, led 32-21 at halftime on a hustle play by the senior Garrett. Garrett missed a deep 3-point attempt with just under 10 seconds left, but chased down the long rebound, then drove to the basket for a layup and was fouled on the shot. His free throw completed the three-point play.

Perry owned the second half, knocking down four 3-pointers and scoring 15 of his 27 in the final two quarters.

Elliott Paschall led the Mounties (7-7, 0-1) with 16 points and Garrett Dake scored 12.