FARMINGTON -- Coach Brad Johnson got his second win in the 7A West in a week when Farmington survived a last-second missed layup by Rogers Heritage's Meredith Lakis.
Lakis drove to the goal, but her off-balance shot wouldn't go down, rolling off the rim at the buzzer and Farmington came away with a 51-49 win on Dec. 16. The feather in the cap for Johnson is Farmington is in the 5A West, two classifications below their competition in the second full week of December. The Lady Cardinals defeated Bentonville West previously in the week to up their season record to 8-2 while Heritage fell to 5-4.
Farmington 51, Rogers Heritage 49
Farmington^11^11^12^17^—^51
Rogers Heritage^9^5^16^19^—^49
Farmington (8-2): Makenna Vanzant 18, Madisyn Pense 14, Kaylee Brown 13, Camryn Journagan 5, Anthea Jones 1.
Rogers Heritage (5-4): Meredith Lakis 11, Shelby Thompson 9, Brooke Menke 8, Sydney Kinnamon 7, Aries Sanders 6, Hannah Watkins 3, Shelby Cook 2, Faith Rohrbough 2, Kayla Richardson 1.
Junior Varsity: Farmington 24, Rogers Heritage 18.
Farmington freshman Makenna Vanzant scored a game-high 18 points for the Lady Cardinals and was joined in double figures by Madisyn Pense with 14 and senior Kaylee Brown with 13. Camryn Journagan added 5 and Anthea Jones 1. Nine players scored for Heritage, but only one, Lakis, a 5-feet-10 senior guard, reached double digits with 11.
In a game of spurts, Farmington dominated early with Brown having a hand in both scores. She put in a missed three by Vanzant, then after Lakis misfired on a pair of free throws, yanked away a defensive rebound and quickly found Pense with the outlet pass. Pense scored a layup on the run and was fouled, making a 3-point play. Brown took another defensive rebound coast-to-coast for a score and Farmington led 7-0.
Heritage recorded their first field goal of the contest on Shelby Thompson's pull-up jumper at the 5:08 mark of the first quarter. The War Eagles then had an opportunity to trim the lead when 5-feet-9 junior Brooke Menke twice made defensive stops with a steal and blocking a layup, the first of three fast-breaks Farmington couldn't capitalize on. Even at that stage of the game, there was a sense of whoever scored next would get a crucial basket and Farmington did when Vanzant stole an in-bounds pass and dribbled in for an uncontested layup.
Heritage cut into Farmington's 9-3 lead with a 6-2 to finish the quarter, trailing, 11-9. The start of the second quarter featured another key stretch. Both teams caused each other trouble on defense. Heritage blocked a number of shots. Farmington countered with steals out of their half-court defense. After Camryn Journagan snared an offensive rebound, kicked the ball out and reset the offense, Vanzant scored on a driving layup for a 13-9 Farmington lead 20 seconds into the period. Neither team scored for the next 3:25 until Thompson broke the drought with a layup for the War Eagles. Still, Farmington finished out the half on a 9-3 run, getting 3-pointers, twice from Pense and one by Journagan to go up, 22-14, at halftime.
A strong start to the third quarter helped preserve the win for the Lady Cardinals. Brown took an offensive rebound around the horn and dished to Vanzant for an open trifecta at the top of the key. Brown then got her own rebound and made a foul shot. She also put in a teammate's miss off a steal to give Farmington their largest lead of 14 points, at 28-14 with 5:34 left in the third. From that point on, Heritage made a run in the second half, outscoring Farmington, 35-23.
Aries Sanders drove for a layup from the left wing, but Farmington managed to hold Heritage to a single point for the final 1:10 of the third, dodging a foul when Lakis' second free throw was disallowed after a lane violation with 1.6 seconds remaining in the period, which ended with Farmington nursing a 34-30 lead.
The fourth quarter had some tense moments for Farmington fans. Heritage used a 10-0 run to take a 40-38 lead, but Farmington responded with a 8-0 run starting with Pense's 3-pointer. Trailing 46-40, Heritage made another charge, outscoring Farmington 10-5, but couldn't key in at the free throw line. The War Eagles were 6 of 13 at the foul line during the fourth, but Farmington struggled, too; failing to put the game away with a 1 of 5 performance in the last 39 seconds. Still, the Lady Cardinals maintained a slim lead, forcing Heritage to make a play and they didn't. Brown rebounded Lakis' miss at the buzzer, giving the Lady Cardinals a 51-49 victory.
In junior varsity action, Farmington won 24-18.
Sports on 12/28/2016