Rogers’ long-range shooting dooms Lady Pointers

The Rogers Lady Mountaineers limited Van Buren’s long-range baskets and hit plenty of their own on Friday night. Rogers hit 11 3-pointers and then relied on free throws to pull away in overtime to open the second half of the 6A-West schedule with a 66-59 win at Clair Bates Arena. Rogers (13-7, 5-3) had five players scored in double-figures led by London Hatch, who scored 17 points with four 3-pointers. Nadya Cates added 13 points with two threes, Kate McConnell scored 11 points with three treys and Courtney Storey chipped in 10 points off two 3-pointers. Gracie Carr also scored 11 points. Cates hit Rogers’ final 3-pointer with 3:12 left in overtime that put the Lady Mountaineers in front for good at 56-54. “They shoot the basketball very well,” Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. “When you go on the road and shoot it like that, it alludes to two things; one, you got a group of really good shooters and you’re finding opportunities, then we know we’re responsibility for a little bit of that knowing they shoot the ball as well as they do and allowing those opportunities.” Storey scored inside for Rogers, and the Lady Mountaineers hit eight free throws in the final 80 seconds to put the game away. “We anticipated this kind of game,” Rogers head coach Preston Early said. “I’m just proud of our kids for adjusting enough and answering enough times because we made it hard on ourselves but they’re so hard to cover.” Rogers limited Van Buren to just five 3-pointers. Rogers hit four 3-pointers just in the first quarter on the way to a 21-12 lead. “It comes down to we had to make a stop here or there,” Bryant said. “We probably put ourselves in a tough situation by giving up 21 points in the first quarter. They did a great job of executing.” Van Buren countered and tied the game at 23-23 before Rogers took a 29-25 lead at the half. Van Buren took its first lead since 5-2 at 33-32 with an 8-0 run in the third quarter. Mikelle Porter hit a lone free throw, and Rylee Ryan drilled a 3-pointer and capped a fast-break layup for a bucket. “Our fight was there,” Bryant said. “We just failed execution-wise at some key points, and they took advantage of it and made a couple of more plays than we did.” Van Buren also led 38-37 on a 3-pointer by Kayleigh Evans with 3:55 left in the third quarter, and 43-42 when Evans drilled a trey from the corner to open the fourth quarter. Rogers hit three straight threes in the fourth quarter to take a 51-43 lead before Van Buren tied it at 53-53 with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter on two free throws by Olivia Schnakenberg. Emmalee Greebe led Van Buren with 16 points and nine rebounds. Schnakenberg added 13 points and Lexi Miller 10. Rogers 45, Van Buren 26 BOYS — After a first-quarter tie, Rogers outscored Van Buren each of the next three quarters to open February and the second half of the 6A-West schedule with the victory. Rogers (15-4, 6-2) went on a 12-2 run in the first six minutes of the second quarter and led 23-14 at the half, helped by Will Liddell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. Rogers led, 38-21, after three quarters. Rogers scored 29 points off the bench, including Josh Liddle’s 11 points to lead the Mountaineers. Will Voigt added nine points off the bench. Gary Phillips scored 11 points to pace the Pointers (5-15, 1-7).

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Van Buren High School Athletics

ROGERS’ LONG-RANGE SHOOTING DOOMS LADY POINTERS

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 2/2/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Van Buren High School Athletics