ROGERS -- Nobody inside Mountie Arena would have been surprised if Carlee Casteel would have drained her halfcourt heave as the halftime buzzer sounded.
Rogers Heritage's junior guard had that type of first-half performance Friday night. Casteel hit five 3-point shots and already had 27 points in the first 16 minutes as the Lady War Eagles rolled to a 66-36 victory over rival Rogers during 6A-West Conference action Friday night.
"My teammates were getting me open," Casteel said. "We were running a lot of sets and stuff, and it helps to have teammates that can pass me the ball. It also helps that they can score, too, so the other team can't just key on one player.
"When I walked onto the court, I saw two ginormous student sections and the atmosphere was good. We've been trying to get people to come to the games because we've been winning this year, and we just feed off it."
It was all Heritage (14-6, 5-2) from the outset as Sophie Sarrat scored with only 20 seconds gone, then Casteel went to work. She had eight points in a little more than 4 minutes, and her second 3-pointer gave the Lady War Eagles an early 15-0 cushion.
Rogers (9-10, 3-3) broke its scoring dry spell with an Abby Harris free throw at the 3:42 mark, only to have Casteel counter with another 3-pointer as Heritage went on to own a 21-4 lead. She then scored seven points during a 12-0 run in the second as the Lady War Eagles continued to pour on the offense and take a 48-17 halftime cushion.
"They're playing great basketball right now," Heritage coach Josh Laymon said. "I am very pleased. The girls are dialed in. They're working very hard, and they're being very coachable at the moment. Our focus is not on wins and losses, but on improvement.
"We always stress that we went to win the first 4 minutes of the game, the last 4 minutes of the first half and the last 4 minutes of the game. The kids came out and looked sharp. We are fortunate that we were hitting some shots, executing our offense and paying attention to our defensive assignments."
Easton Kimball added 18 points and Sarratt 11 for Heritage, which closes out the first half tied for second place in the 6A-West standings with Bentonville. Aubrey Treadwell had nine points to lead Rogers, who were without senior Kate Miller after she hurt her knee in last week's game against Bentonville.