CENTERTON -- With a 12-point lead reduced to three, Farmington coach Brad Johnson called time-out and called for a motion wheel route.
Junior guard Jessica Aguilar had just stolen an errant Farmington pass and scored to pull the Lady Wolverines within 51-48 with 2:37 remaining in the fourth quarter. That basket capped a 16-5 Bentonville West run. Two buckets earlier Farmington (8-1) ran a motion offense with sharpshooter Madisyn Pense cutting inside and taking a feed from Joelle Tidwell for a layup. Then came a putback by Bentonville West's Shania Wilson, a muscular 5-11 junior post and Aguilar's score.
Johnson didn't want to give up any more easy baskets, especially off turnovers. The Lady Cardinals didn't score on the ensuing possession, but their defense came through with sophomore Makenna Vanzant stealing a pass that bounced off one of the Lady Wolverines, who wasn't looking as Bentonville West (4-4) advanced the ball in a hurry. Setting up in a half-court offense, Farmington got the spacing they wanted and Camryn Journagan fed the athletic Alexis Roach, who put in an off-balance shot to up the margin to 53-48.
The Lady Cardinals weren't picture perfect. They turned the ball over at the 1:04 mark by forcing the issue on a run-out instead of pulling the ball back out and working the clock. Vanzant committed her fourth personal, but the Lady Wolverines weren't in the bonus and in-bounded underneath their own goal. Farmington dropped into a zone to defend the play and Journagan rebounded a Bentonville West misfired 3-point attempt.
The Lady Cardinals put the game away by playing good defense, rebounding and hitting 5-of-8 free throws in the double bonus. Bentonville West went 2:30 without scoring after getting within three points. Senior guard Kayanne Reid was able to drain a 3-pointer with seven seconds left but that was too little, too late.
Farmington extended a 37-32 lead late in the third quarter. Pense, who scored a team-high 27 points, knocked down back-to-back trifectas and Journagan drove the lane and banked a shot off the glass. Anna Kash got an uncontested layup off Kelsie Mahone's theft of a Farmington outlet pass, but Journagan challenged Wilson in the key and drew a foul, Wilson's fourth, forcing her to play the entire fourth perhaps a little more tentatively than Bentonville West would have liked. With three-tenths of a second left in the third, Journagan made 1-of-2 free throws giving Farmington a 46-32 cushion going into the fourth.
Bentonville's late run was spurred by defense. They only allowed three Farmington free throws over the first four-and-a-half minutes of the fourth. Meanwhile Kash and Ashaundi Henry made 3-pointers. After an 0-for-2 trip to the foul line by Farmington, Wilson scored inside to narrow Farmington's lead to 49-44 with 3:52 to go.
Only four Lady Cardinals scored in the contest. Pense led the way with 27. Journagan added 15, while Vanzant and Roach each had 8 points.
Sports on 12/27/2017