Greenwood Holds Off Farmington Girls

LADY CARDINALS EXPERIENCE 55-52 LOSS

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington sophomore Trinity Johnson, shown making a 3-pointer at home against Prairie Grove Friday, Dec. 14, adds another dimension to the Lady Cardinals' perimeter game with her consistent outside shooting. She is the daughter of Farmington head coach Brad Johnson and scored 9 points in a 55-52 loss at Greenwood on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018.
MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington sophomore Trinity Johnson, shown making a 3-pointer at home against Prairie Grove Friday, Dec. 14, adds another dimension to the Lady Cardinals' perimeter game with her consistent outside shooting. She is the daughter of Farmington head coach Brad Johnson and scored 9 points in a 55-52 loss at Greenwood on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018.

FARMINGTON -- Farmington overcame a rough start, but came up short as Greenwood handed the Lady Cardinals their first loss of the season, 55-52, Tuesday, Dec. 11.

The Lady Cardinals found themselves in an 11-0 deficit to start the game. Trailing 20-5 in the first quarter and forced to fight an uphill battle on the road, Farmington came up three points short missing a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"That's something that's an emphasis for us. We want to get off to a good start. At Greenwood we did not. Obviously, they had something to do with it," said Farmington coach Brad Johnson.

Substandard free throw shooting (44 percent by the Lady Cardinals) in the waning moments cost Farmington, which overcame a 43-32 Greenwood lead at the end of the third quarter.

Senior Alexis Roach took a long outlet pass needing only two dribbles to go in for an uncontested layup to start an 8-4 Farmington run. Sophomore Trinity Johnson backed out of a half-court set and Makenna Vanzant saw her open in the left corner for a 3-pointer. On an in-bounds play under the basket, Vanzant, who recorded 6 assists, found Madisyn Pense on the perimeter. Pense's trifecta pulled Farmington to within three, at 43-40. Greenwood then pushed its lead back up to six, at 50-44, with a 7-4 run.

Playing with a sense of urgency nearing the two minute mark, Farmington scored 8 unanswered points quickly. Handling the ball up top Joelle Tidwell (6 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 1 block) looked off the defense then delivered the ball to Trinity Johnson spotted up for a 3-pointer on the wing. Vanzant set up Pense for her fourth 3-pointer of the contest as Pense curled around the baseline and came open in the right corner. That shot drew Farmington even, at 50-50 and the Lady Cardinals went ahead, 52-50, with 44 seconds remaining.

Greenwood wasn't exactly singing the nets at the foul line either, but the Lady Bulldogs made enough charity shots when it counted. Farmington twice missed the front end of a 1-and-1 in the last 21 seconds; Greenwood was 3-of-5.

Jaelin Glass, who earlier sank 1-of-2 free throws to pull Greenwood within 52-51, converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to push Greenwood ahead, 54-52, with 13.8 seconds left. The Lady Cardinals missed a free throw and chance to tie the game with the clock down to 4.6 seconds. Shea Goodwin got the rebound for Greenwood and made 1-of-2 foul shots after Farmington stopped the clock by fouling with 2.1 seconds to go.

Kinley Fisher topped Greenwood with 13 points, while Kyiah Julian added 11 and Goodwin 10. Pense led the Lady Cardinals with 16, while Vanzant added 12 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.

GREENWOOD 55, FARMINGTON 52

Farmington^10^10^12^20^--^52

Greenwood^22^9^12^12^--^55

Farmington (7-1): Madisyn Pense 5-14 2-2 16, Makenna Vanzant 4-9 3-8 12, Trinity Johnson 3-9 0-0 9, Joelle Tidwell 1-6 2-6 6, Alexis Roach 2-4 0-1 6, Tori Kersey 2-5 1-1 5, Eliza Ball 0-1 0. Totals 17-48 8-18 52.

Greenwood (6-1): Kinley Fisher 13, Kyiah Julian 11, Shea Goodwin 10, Ally Sockey 9, Jaelin Glass 6, Haven Clements 5, Angela Price 1.

3-point Goals -- Farmington -- 8-26 (Pense 4-12, Johnson 3-9, Vanzant 1-4, Ball 0-1).

Rebounds -- Farmington 25 (Vanzant 7), Greenwood 35. Assists -- Farmington 15 (Vanzant 6), Greenwood 13. Steals -- Farmington 10 (Tidwell 4), Greenwood 7. Blocks -- Farmington 2 (Tidwell, Vanzant). Turnovers -- Farmington 10.

Sports on 01/02/2019