ROGERS — The stat line for Abigail Harris wasn’t big Friday night, but her play in the fourth quarter was huge for the Rogers Lady Mounties.
Harris, a 6-2 junior, scored all four points in the final minutes, but it was her clutch offensive rebound that proved large as Rogers held off Springdale Har-Ber 58-49 in 6A-West Conference action at Mounties Arena.
“Abby Harris had some really big plays in the second half for us,” Rogers Coach Preston Early said. “She took a big charge, made some big free throws. Then what a big rebound on the offensive end.”
In a game of runs, Rogers (12-5, 4-2 6A-West) took a 16-2 lead with 6:07 left in the second quarter on two free throws by Camiran Brockhoff. Har-Ber could not buy a bucket in the early going, hitting one of its first 14 shots.
But the Lady Wildcats (5-5, 3-2) finally started to warm up in the second quarter when Caylan Koons, who led Har-Ber with 19 points, and sophomore Pacious McDaniel, who had 18, started attacking the basket.
Koon’s knocked down a corner three-pointer, then rebounded her own miss and hit a put-back to launch an 18-3 Har-Ber run over the final 5:21 of the first half.
“We definitely did not get off to a good start,” said Har-Ber Coach Kim Jenkins, whose birthday was Friday night. “It was like there was a lid on the rim in the quarter. We had some great shots. I thought we had some really good looks at the rim, so our kids were battling.”
McDaniel helped the Lady Wildcats take a 27-23 halftime lead with a three-point play and two free throws in the final 55 seconds of the half.
Rogers, which was coming off a 68-31 loss to Bentonville on Tuesday, was able to regroup and took the lead at 37-36 at the end of the third quarter on a shot by Ava Man-er, who led the Lady Mounties with 15 points.
“The first thing we told our team at halftime was, we had a big run in the first quarter, they did in the second quarter, but our whole theme was embracing competition,” Early said. “Within the competition, there is going to be adversity and good teams are going to make runs. So it was just a matter of refocusing.”
Once the Lady Mounties grabbed the lead, they never let go. Taylor Treadwell drilled three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give Rogers a little separation at 43-36. Har-Ber was able to get within 44-43 on a McDaniel drive, where she also drew a foul. She missed the free throw that would have tied the game with 4:44 left.
Treadwell, who scored 13 for Rogers, hit two free throws and Kate Miller, who scored 11, drove the length of the court for a layup and the Lady Mounties held on from there.
BOYS
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 38,
ROGERS 30
The Wildcats used a 15-5 burst in the fourth quarter to pull out a road victory. Har-Ber (12-4, 4-2 6A-West) grabbed a 31-30 lead on Noah Livingston’s inside shot with 2:10 left, and the Wildcats were able to nail down the win at the free-throw line.
Rogers led 25-23 at the end of the third quarter but could not hold the advantage.
Livingston led the way for Har-Ber with 16 points and Aaron Olinger added 10, including two free throws with less than a minute left.
Ty Cunningham led Rogers (4-5, 2-4) with 9 points.