FARMINGTON -- With Farmington down, 16-12, freshman Makenna Vanzant asserted herself by hitting a 3-pointer with six minutes to go in the second quarter.
The bucket was her second field goal of a 20-point game to lead the Lady Cardinals past Prairie Grove, 57-50, at home Nov. 28. The rivalry featured a see-saw battle with three lead changes in the first quarter that ended with Kaylee Brown's buzzer-beating dance across the lane to put Farmington on top, 12-11, after the first.
Farmington 57, Prairie Grove 50
Prairie Grove^11^12^12^13^—^50
Farmington^12^19^11^15^—^57
Prairie Grove (0-2): Cassidi Sapp 5-10 0-0 12, Camree Bartholomew 3-17 2-2 11, Emily Grant 4-8 0-0 10, Parker Lopez 3-4 2-4 8, Larisha Crawford 1-4 0-0 3, Lexie Madewell 1-1 0-0 3, Audrey Doering 0-2 3-4 3, Jordan Sugg 0-1 0-0 0, Kaylee Elder 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 17-47 7-11 50.
Farmington (1-0): Makenna Vanzant 5 9-13 20, Kaylee Brown 4 1-4 9, Madisyn Pense 3 0-0 8, Camryn Journagan 2 2-2 6, Ella Wilson 3 0-2 6, Claudia Oxford 1 0-0 3, Anthea Jones 1 0-0 3, Madison Parsley 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 12-21 57.
3-Point Goals — Prairie Grove 9-25 (Bartholomew 3-12, Grant 2-4, Sapp 2-5, Madewell 1-1, Crawford 1-2, Lopez 0-1), Farmington 5 (Pense 2, Vanzant, Oxford, Jones). Fouled Out — None. Rebounds— Prairie Grove 20 (Bartholomew 5), Farmington 30. Assists— Prairie Grove 11 (Grant 4). Steals — Prairie Grove 5 (Bartholomew 2). Blocks — Prairie Grove 3 (Grant 2). Turnovers — Prairie Grove 15. Total Fouls — Prairie Grove 19, Farmington 17.
Farmington coach Brad Johnson praised Vanzant's play after she had to sit out part of the first quarter.
"Makenna Vanzant is a freshman," Johnson said. "Her first game out, she scores 20. She got in foul trouble early, then settled in the game and didn't get another foul for a long time."
For Johnson, competing against Prairie Grove is good preparation for a young basketball team, noting he started a freshman and has six sophomores on his squad.
"Prairie Grove is a good opponent, they shoot it well," Johnson said. "We did a good job of staying in the moment. Prairie Grove hit some big shots. I don't think it rattled us."
Prairie Grove wasted no time recapturing the lead with Parker Lopez working a give-and-go from Camree Barthlomew and scoring off the glass. She added a 3-point play by catching a lead pass and laying the ball in while drawing a foul and the Lady Tigers were up, 16-12. Lopez has been hampered by an injury and Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud said she is still only at about 75 percent.
"We played her in two or three minute spurts," Froud said. "It's still early. We want her to get back and get going after Christmas."
Enter Vanzant with a timely shot to record her first 3-pointer of her varsity career. There were five lead changes and two ties during the second quarter before Farmington used a 7-0 run over the last 3:01 of the first half to move ahead, 31-25.
Senior Claudia Oxford began the run with a spot-up trifecta. Vanzant took an outlet pass and attacked finishing at the basket against two defenders. Vanzant capped the run by ripping a rebound away and converting a layup. Farmington opened up a 7-point lead on Vanzant's free throws with just over a minute remaining in the third, but the Lady Tigers cut the deficit to three on Audrey Doering's free throws and Cassidi Sapp's driving layup. Farmington again scored last with Camryn Journagan sneaking in to grab a Lady Cardinal miss and scoring at the buzzer to give Farmington a 42-37 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Prairie Grove surged back to earn a tie, at 48-48, with an 11-6 run over the first 5:18 of the final frame. Bartholomew had a 3-pointer followed by back-to-back treys from Sapp, who dribbled into the paint to tie the game. Farmington responded with a 9-2 run to seal the game starting with Madisyn Pense's 3-pointer and concluded by Vanzant's free throws.
Johnson hailed the shot and an earlier Pense 3-pointer in the third as major contributions.
"Madisyn Pense had two big threes she hit in the second half," Johnson said. "They were really timely."
Meanwhile, Froud saw improvement on his young team with 8 sophomores from an earlier loss to Huntsville.
"Tonight, we played better than we did against Huntsville," Froud said. "It was a nip and tuck game. They (Farmington) made a few more plays than we did. I'm hoping we'll learn from this and get better. We had foul trouble in the first half. We had some girls come in. They competed."
Prairie Grove defeated Haas Hall Academy, 52-39, Nov. 29. The Lady Tigers travel to Gentry Friday.
Farmington hosts the Tony Chachere's Classic this week. The Lady Cardinals take on Gravette (Thursday at 7 p.m.), Waldron (Friday at 7 p.m.), and Huntsville (Saturday at 2 p.m.) All games are at Cardinal Arena.
Sports on 12/07/2016