FARMINGTON -- The Lady Cardinals played host to Rogers Heritage and handed the Lady War Eagles a lump of coal in the form of a 57-45 loss at Cardinal Arena Friday.
Despite being the bigger school, Rogers Heritage (4-5) did not own a height advantage, at least not among the starting five. Farmington (8-1) controlled the opening tip and scored on their first possession with senior Camryn Journagan getting free in the paint. Full-court pressure by the Lady Cardinals forced a turnover on the ensuing in-bounds play and Makenna Vanzant drilled a 3-pointer for an early 5-0 Farmington lead.
Junior forward Alexis Roach accounted for the next 7 Lady Cardinal points, scoring twice inside, then stealing the ball and coming up with a putback. She added a free throw fouled while running the floor. Madisyn Pense fed Joelle Tidwell for an easy bucket and Vanzant sank 3-of-3 free throws for a 19-7 Lady Cardinal lead after one quarter of play.
In the second Vanzant sank two more free throws and later penetrated the paint again, this time dishing to Roach for a layup and a 23-9 Farmington advantage. Heritage got buckets from Brooke Menke and Danielle Dickerson and held the Lady Cardinals scoreless in the last 2:41, still Farmington led 30-14 at halftime.
Roach had 11 points in the first half and when the Lady War Eagles focused on her, Pense lit them up for 11 second-half points. Heritage reduced the disparity to seven points, at 38-31, when Dickerson put in a Lady War Eagle miss early in the fourth quarter, but Farmington responded with a 9-0 run to lock down the victory. A trio of Lady Cardinals scored in double figures led by Roach with 17. Vanzant had 15 and Pense 13. Menke had 12, and Kayla Richardson 11 for the Lady War Eagles.
Farmington 57, Rogers Heritage 45
Heritage^7^7^15^16^--^45
Farmington^19^11^8^19^--^57
Sports on 12/20/2017