The Logan-Rogersville Lady Wildcats picked up a win in their first conference game of the season against COC opponent Buffalo on Monday night. Three Wildcats finished in double digit offense in the Rogersville 59-48 victory.
“Coming down here and playing in this building is not always easy,” said Rogersville coach Denny McHenry. “Our number one key to success tonight was to win the war on the boards and we did that—nearly doubling them up.”
The Lady Wildcats came away with 29 rebounds to Buffalo’s 15. Audra Metz narrowly missed a double-double performance, finishing with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Sarah Jordan was Rogersville’s high scorer with 15 points while Hailey Brown added 13 to the Wildcat total along with 5 assists.
“We came out ready to play and throughout the game fought really hard,” Jordan said “We came out strong and were able to get the lead that we wanted and were able to maintain the lead like we should have.”
The Lady Bison lost the conference battle despite an impressive 24-point game by Taylor Faulkner.
After a tight start to the game, Rogersville pulled ahead with a 21-10 lead in the middle of the second quarter. Buffalo scored the next 5 points to the cut down the lead. Then Rogersville’s Olivia Johnston put up a three-point shot over her shoulder at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 29-22 advantage at the half.
“The shot may have been lucky, but the passion and hustle to get to it was not,” McHenry said.
The Lady Bison were able to come within two scores of the lead late in the fourth quarter, but could never get enough momentum to take the lead.
Rogersville improved to 8-5 with the victory in their first conference matchup of the season, snapping a three game losing streak. The team has the rest of the week off before hosting their invitational tournament beginning Monday. As the No.2 seed, they will face Sparta in the opening round.
Buffalo, 6-8, will look to redeem themselves over the next few games, but will have to do it against a tough slew of opponents coach Tom Stokes said.
“We’ve got to take care of the basketball, value the basketball, and play hard for the entire game,” Stokes said. “Our next eight games are very good Class 4 and Class 5 schools, so it’s time to strap it on.”
The Lady Bison will host School of the Osage Thursday night before facing Republic in round one of the Bolivar tournament on Monday.
Rogersville 59, Buffalo 48
Rogersville 14-15-11-19—59
Buffalo 8-14-12-14—48
Rogersville—Sarah Jordan 15, Audra Metz 14, Hailey Brown 13, Olivia Johnston 7, Jordyn Gault 5, Hope Hefley 4, Sarah Posey 1
Buffalo—Taylor Faulkner 24, Haley Gilpin 10, Courtney Austin 7, Emily Rice 5, Taryn Elia 2
