Rogers has a mighty big impact
Mohegan— The Bacon Academy girls’ basketball team practices after school, with the boys’ team practicing after that. Often, boys’ players Isaiah Mims and Nick Sturgis will hang around the gym a while and practice with the girls.
Sarah Rogers, Bobcats junior forward, would like to thank them.
“We tell them not to go easy on us just ’cause we’re girls,” Rogers said. “I’ve gotten my shots blocked by them before. I definitely got my shot blocked by Morgan today.”
Rogers, who is 5-foot-8, was charged with fronting 6-2 E.O. Smith center Morgan Olander for Saturday’s Class L state championship
game at Mohegan Sun Arena. In order to score, Rogers had to get past Olander, too, which was no easy feat; Olander blocked nine Bacon shots in all.
The result? Rogers, elbows flying, finished the game with nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds as Bacon Academy (22-3) won the second state championship in program history, beating E.O. Smith 38-34.
Rogers scored six points in the final 5 minutes, 34 seconds, beginning a 12- 0 Bacon run to end the game when she hit a layup on a Taylor Mclaughlin pass out of a double team. She tied the game 34- 34 by converting an offensive rebound at the 2:12 mark. And she capped the scoring with 23.4 seconds to go, swishing two free throws.
Rogers played all 32 minutes, part of a Bacon defense which held E.O. Smith to 22 percent shooting, 12 percent in the second half.
“They were able to bottle us up down low and we weren’t hitting from the outside, so they were able to sit back and wait,” E. O. Smith coach Kirk Murad said. “They blocked the last two ( we) tried to take. They did what they had to do.”
A first team Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division allstar, Rogers describes herself as a “flexible” player. She averaged 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds this season, plus— and mind you she’s a forward — led the team with 34 3-point field goals.
She doesn’t play any other sports.
“I play basketball every single day,” Rogers said.
Shea said Rogers has improved as the season’s gone on. Her 3-point shooting is something she’s only concentrated on this season, she said.
Rogers may have been shaking when she stood on the free throw line in the closing seconds with the game in the balance, but she wasn’t intimidated by Olander, limiting E.O. Smith’s leading scorer to three points on 1-for-4 shooting.
“And she didn’t get in foul trouble,” Bacon coach Dave Shea said. “We talked about that, ‘Be aggressive playing her, but not so aggressive you’re sitting on the bench.’”
Rogers also had 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists in Bacon’s Class L quarterfinal victory over Brookfield and nine points, five rebounds and two assists against Pomperaug in the semis, despite fighting off foul trouble in that game.
On Saturday, Rogers hit a 3-pointer in the first half to pull Bacon within 21- 19, then saved the other six points for the Bobcats’ deciding run.
“I saw the ball sailing through the air and I thought, ‘Crap, I gotta get that,’” Rogers said with a smile of what was an airball by her teammate, Mclaughlin, who scored the other six points of the 12-0 run.
“I just wanted to get fired up. I wanted to get the team fired up. I just knew I had to get on the boards, box ( Olander) out; even if I didn’t get the rebound I had to clear out space. ... We were the underdogs. I’m still not able to realize (we won).” v.fulkerson@theday.com