FARMINGTON -- Farmington coach Brad Johnson preached patience and his Lady Cardinals shook rival Prairie Grove with a 25-point eruption in the second quarter en route to a 64-34 victory.
The 4A-1 Conference win at Cardinal Arena gave Farmington a sweep of the season series and kept the Lady Cardinals (21-3, 8-0) on pace with Harrison as the league race winds down.
"We knew early on coming in I thought Prairie Grove would play well. Coach (Kevin) Froud does a great job. I knew they'd have a solid game-plan," Brad Johnson said. "They did a great job early of keeping us off the glass, they limited turnovers and kind of stopped us from getting out in transition. They kept us from being able to hit shots for awhile."
Prairie Grove pounded the boards like gang-busters in the last half minute of the first. Torie Price grabbed an offensive rebound. The Lady Tigers couldn't score, but Olivia Kestner, a 6-0 sophomore center, tipped another rebound away from Farmington and teammate Jasmine Wynos controlled the ball. This led to Price making a 3-pointer keeping the Lady Tigers within 12-8. The margin stayed that way at the end of the first period with Price fighting through a screen to get a hand in the face of a shooter as Farmington ran a set attempting a trifecta with one second showing.
Farmington kicked its running game into high gear in the second. Senior Makenna Vanzant pulled in a rebound and found an outlet while on her knees. That alert play allowed Carson Dillard to find an opening and her 3-pointer singed the nets at the other end.
Just like lickety-split Farmington ran its lead up to 23-12 over the first 5:26 of the second. Left-handed junior Tori Kersey utilized a spin move off the dribble to score a lay-up. Vanzant executed her patented cross-over to get to the hoop and put down an off-balance lay-up. She capped the run with her favorite Euro step and converted an old-fashioned 3-point play.
Jasmine Wynos interrupted the run by sinking a pair of free thows for the Lady Tigers, but their reprieve was short-lived.
Vanzant scored 8 points in less than two minutes highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers and Dillard threw up a trifecta that went in beating the horn. Farmington was firmly in command, 37-16, at the half.
"Our kids did a good job of not panicking, I thought they just kind of stayed very workmanlike, stayed within themselves," Brad Johnson said. "We did some things defensively, we made a couple of adjustments and then we got to rebounding better and it keyed our transition. Ultimately we got some kids free, hit some shots and were able to extend the lead."
The scoreboard showed a 60-29 difference in favor of Farmington at the end of the third quarter and the fourth was played with a running clock due to the sportsmanship rule being activated.
The up-tempo game was virtually free of turnovers. Prairie Grove had 6 while Farmington only lost the ball 3 times. The Lady Tigers out-rebounded Farmington, 38-32, led by Wynos with 11.
Vanzant didn't miss much. She went 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-9 at the free throw line to score a game-high 23 points with a 4-of-7 performance beyond the 3-point arc. Kersey was also extremely accurate making 7-of-11 field goals and 2-of-3 foul shots for 16 points. She also recorded 3 of Farmington's 6 blocked shots.
Wynos achieved a double-double leading Prairie Grove with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Farmington 64, Prairie Grove 34
Prairie Grove^8^8^13^5^--^34
Farmington^12^25^23^4^--^64
Farmington (21-3, 8-0): Makenna Vanzant 6-11 7-9 23, Tori Kersey 7-11 2-3 16, Carson Dillard 2-2 0-0 6, Trinity Johnson 2-5 0-0 5, Joelle Tidwell 0-7 5-6 5, Kaci Drain 0-3 4-4 4, Audrey Culpepper 1-4 0-0 3, Cadence Dean 1-1 0-0 2, Megan Hernandez 0-1 0-0 0, Morgan Brye 0-2 0-0 0, Allie Devecsery 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 18-22 64.
Prairie Grove (8-13, 2-6): Jasmine Wynos 3-17 4-6 10, Trinity Dobbs 2-16 5-6 9, Olivia Kestner 2-6 2-2 6, Torie Price 1-9 2-5 5, Abby Preston 1-6 0-0 2, Gracie Foster 0-0 2-2 2, Zoe Hubbs 0-2 0-0 0, Charity Stearman 0-2 0-0 0, Arianna Harrel 0-2 0-1 0. Totals 9-60 15-22 34.
3-Point Goals -- Farmington 8-21 (Vanzant 4-7, Dillard 2-2, Culpepper 1-3, Trinity Johnson 1-4, Tidwell 0-1, Brye 0-1, Devecsery 0-1, Drain 0-2). Prairie Grove 1-15 (Price 1-3, Stearman 0-1, Dobbs 0-2, Harrel 0-2, Wynos 0-3, Preston 0-4).
Rebounds -- Farmington 32 (Kersey 8), Prairie Grove 38 (Wynos 11). Assists -- Farmington 9 (Trinity Johnson 3), Prairie Grove 6 (Dobbs 2, Price 2, Wynos 2). Steals -- Farmington 4 (Tidwell 2), Prairie Grove 2 (Stearman, Wynos). Blocks -- Farmington 6 (Kersey 3), Prairie Grove 1 (Kestner). Turnovers -- Farmington 3, Prairie Grove 6.
Sports on 02/12/2020