MOUNTAIN HOME - The Rogers Lady Mounties opened up a 9-2 advantage right out of the gate and never trailed in knocked off the Paragould Lady Rams 52-45 Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the First Arkansas Bail Bonds Tournament.
The Lady Mounties (3-5) hit eight 3-pointers in the contest as they shot the ball well from the outside against the taller Lady Rams
“We haven’t shot well in our earlier games,” said Rogers Coach Preston Early. “We’ve had some good looks but we’ve played a little tight and played a little too quickly. And after we evaluated where we were after seven games, we’ve discovered that we were just a few made shots away from winning those games we lost.
“But what I was proud of the most from our kids today was the way they played and shot the ball with confi dence. We told them before the game that they were going to get the opportunity to playlike they practice every day. And they did their part.”
Other than a 2-2 tie, Rogers led the entire contest. The Lady Mounties opened up a 9-2 lead on a 3-pointer by Ruth Davis then a 3-pointer by Callie King made it 12-4. Rogers went on to take a 16-8 lead into the second quarter.
The Lady Rams climbed to within 16-12 at the start of the second before Libby Ganoung converted a 3-point play and King hit her second 3-pointer then a layup by Kiara Henry opened up a 24-14 advantage for Rogers midway through the quarter. Paragould outscored Rogers 8-5 in the final 2:39 of the first half but the Lady Mounties still held a 29-22 lead at intermission.
Another 3-pointer by Davis early in the third quarter put Rogers up 35-25 and her third of the night at the 3:48 mark made it 40-27, the Lady Mounties’ largest lead of the night. Roges led 40-31 after three, going up 46-33 after 3-pointers by King and Cassandra Trexler with 6:32 left to play. Paragould only cut the deficit to seven twice in the final minutes.
Sydney Layrock, Paragould’s top player who has signed to play collegiately at Harding University, was whistled with two fouls early and sat much of the first half. She ended up with 28 points as she scored 19 of Paragould’s 23 second-half points in trying to keep the Lady Rams in the contest.
“She’s just a great player,” said Early. “We wanted to try to make her shoot jumpers. It’s not that she can’t shoot but she is so dangerous driving and playmaking. We wanted her to have to beat us from the perimeter. I thought our kids did a great job of awareness on her and help every time she put it on the fl oor.”
King hit four 3-pointers and led Rogers with17 points while Ganoung added 12.
Rogers will face North Little Rock in the winners’ bracket semifinals today at 4 p.m.
SENIOR GIRLS FAYETTEVILLE 85, NORTH PULASKI 24
Fourteen Lady Bulldogs got into the scoring column as they easily handled the Lady Falcons in the opening round.
Fayetteville poured in 29 points in the first quarter and had 50 up on the scoreboard by halftime before outscoring North Pulaski 21-0 in the third for a 71-19 advantage.
DaShundra Morgan scored eight of her game-high 16 points for Fayetteville while Ellie Breden tallied 14.
Kiarra Evans led North Pulaski with eight points.
Fayetteville will take on Greenwood in the other winners’ bracket semifinal today at 7 p.m. Greenwood defeated host Mountain Home 59-29.
SENIOR BOYS FAYETTEVILLE 55, PARAGOULD 45
The Bulldogs opened up a big lead early only for the Rams to battle back and keep it close for a while before Fayetteville pulled away in the second half.
Payton Willis scored six points and Mason Adams had three as Fayetteville held a slim 13-11 edge after a quarter. Six diff erent Fayetteville players got into the scoring column in the second quarter as the Bulldogs held a 24-20 lead at intermission.
Luke Renner led Fayetteville’s big third quarter where he scored 10 of his 11 points as the Bulldogs took a 42-33 lead into the final stanza. Fayetteville led by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs made 7 of 8 free throws.
Willis finished with 14 to lead Fayetteville.
Brandon Clifford and Chase Brittingham each had 15 points to pace Paragould.
Sports, Pages 6 on 12/27/2013