Lady Mounties rebound after tough loss

Rogers High bounced back from a tough 56-22 loss to knock off Bentonville West, but coach Preston Early said the process started way before tip off on Tuesday.

“The best thing about that was the way we responded Sunday and Monday,” Early said. “We got humbled Friday night and when we dissected that film on Sunday their pride was hurt a little bit. It was up to the individual what will you do about it. We spent two days work on us and very little working on West.

“I just saw a collective competitive spirit and thought that was a winning response.”

The Lady Mounties (10-8, 3-2 7A-West Conference) didn’t start well against West, turning the ball over on their first three possessions, but again Early said his team persevered.

“It woulda been so easy for them to give in to thinking ‘here we go again,’ but the kids stayed persistent and kept good body language and we had three of our better quarters with 16, 14 and 17 and it was nice to get some good balance in scoring,” Early said.

The Lady Mounties got big efforts from a lot of different sources. Madison Loyd had a team-high 17, but sophomore London Hatch was eight-of-eight from the free throw line. Courtney Storey finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists and Caroline Larkin gave good minutes off the bench with starting post player Ally Figenskau in foul trouble, too.

Rogers High is in a three-way third in the 7A-West, but it doesn’t get any easier as it travels to second-place Springdale High tonight, then then faces Van Buren on Tuesday next week to finish the first round of league play. The Lady Mounties are tied with Van Buren and Bentonville High.

“They are relentless in their driving and transition and offensive rebounding,” Early said. “We’ll have to be solid in everything we do.”