Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rogers holds off visiting Gravette
ROGERS 63, GRAVETTE 56
ROGERS — The Rogers Lady Mounties never trailed in Tuesday night’s 63-56 win over Gravette, but that didn’t mean the Lady Lions didn’t put up a fight in Rogers Arena.
Gravette trailed by as many as 11 but pulled within one. However, Rogers had an answer to claim its third consecutive victory.
Brooklyn Owens and Aubrey Treadwell scored backto-back buckets off the drive after Keeley Elsea scored to pull Gravette within 56-54 with under two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Selah Blockburger then drew a big charging foul with 48.8 seconds left. The Lady Mounties finished it off by making 3-of-4 free throws in the final seconds.
Rogers coach Preston Early liked the way his team’s toughness it displayed when Gravette tried to make a run.
“It was encouraging and I told them that,” Early said. “I think at least three times they cut it to one. And we played a lot of the end of the third (quarter) and most of the fourth a one possession game. I thought our kids never flinched. We never gave up the lead and I thought that was big.
“And we always seem to come up with that one play that kept us ahead.”
Early said his group, which improved to 4-5, has moved forward steadily recently.
“I think, offensively, we’ve grown every game,” Early said. “For this group, it was about 10 days ago, we just put up 18 points against Ozark, Missouri. For us, we’re starting to get multiple people producing some points, which is big. We hit a few more threes. We’re not a great three-point shooting team yet, but we are learning to shoot better shots and when to shoot’em.
“Defensively, we’re hit and miss. I do think we can turn some people over. One of the last things to come around is a team to learn how to rotate and cover and we’re still not as connected off the ball as we need to be. That’s something we’ve gotta shore up quickly.”
Owens finished with a game-high 26 points for Rogers and Aubrey Treadwell added 12. Kiara Owens also grabbed 12 rebounds. Alexa Parker led Gravette with 18, including four three-pointers. Elsea finished with 12.
Gravette (3-3) didn’t score until Elsea’s three-point play with 3:54 left in the first quarter to get within 7-3.
ROGERS 37, MOUNTAIN HOME 34
The Mountaineers (3-1) survived a potential game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds to hold on for a narrow victory.
McGee Harris’ three-point attempt was off the mark and Rogers cleared the rebound as the horn sounded to give the Mounties the win.
Rogers held the Bombers (6-4) to just two third-quarter points and turned a 22-20 halftime deficit into a 31-24 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Rex Krout led a balanced Rogers scoring attack with nine — all in the second quarter. Alonzo Porchia added seven.
Braiden Dewey led Mountain Home with 11 points, but none in the second half. The Bombers scored the first seven points of the game, but Rogers used an 11-2 third-quarter run to take the lead the for good.
Ky Bickford’s three-pointer with less than a minute left pulled Mountain Home within 35-34.