Farmngton Girls Move Into Championship

LADY CARDINALS WIN BATTLE VS. PEA RIDGE

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington senior point-guard Makenna Vanzant (wearing white uniform) tries to prevent Pea Ridge's Aidan Dayberry (right) from stealing the basketball. Pea Ridge lost to Farmington, 56-39, in the District 4-1 girls basketball semifinal Thursday.
MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington senior point-guard Makenna Vanzant (wearing white uniform) tries to prevent Pea Ridge's Aidan Dayberry (right) from stealing the basketball. Pea Ridge lost to Farmington, 56-39, in the District 4-1 girls basketball semifinal Thursday.

FARMINGTON -- Farmington played top-notch defense frustrating Pea Ridge at every turn in winning a 4A-1 District girls basketball semifinal, 51-39, Thursday at Prairie Grove's Tiger Arena.

Pea Ridge plays an in-the-face, physical defense, using its collective length to contest shots while Farmington labors to beat an opponent to the spot with footwork. Although both teams experienced scoring droughts, the Lady Cardinals were simply better, not only defensively, but also on offense.

"This time of year, you're going to get a lot of physical play and that's kind of one of the things we talked about in the pre-game. We knew going in it was going to be a physical game. Both teams play that way. Pea Ridge is very-well coached and they're going to take your first two or three actions away and defensively they're really good at what they do," said Farmington coach Brad Johnson. "We knew we were going to have to play through contact, but we couldn't let it bother us."

Farmington senior Audrey Culpepper habitually knocks down timely shots -- a pattern she developed after hitting a huge trey during a state tournament game to stop an opponent's momentum two years ago as a sophomore. Culpepper's 3-pointer gave Farmington a 15-9 first quarter lead.

Although Farmington didn't score for a 5:35 span including the first part of the second quarter, Pea Ridge could only whittle the lead down to 15-13 on Aiden Dayberry's three and a Blakelee Winn free throw. The Lady Cardinals blanked Pea Ridge for the next 2:37 while answering with a pair of 3-pointers from Carson Dillard and Makenna Vanzant. That began a 10-3 run to close out the half leading 25-16 with Vanzant nailing another trifecta.

Farmington sophomore Morgan Brye hit back-to-back treys in the third quarter giving Farmington a 31-19 lead and prompting a Pea Ridge time-out.

"Morgan's got a lot to her game and it's been fun continuing to watch her grow as a player," Brad Johnson said. "She makes our basketball team even better. She obviously has great length. She really is good on the boards, but there are other parts to her game. Her ability to shoot the basketball as a stretch forward is a weapon for us. We were able to insert her in the game tonight and she hit some big shots."

Pea Ridge senior Allisa Short began the quarter with no fouls, then was whistled for 4 in a 51 second span of the third. She wasn't the only Lady Blackhawk fouling and Farmington soon cashed in on the bonus. Brye and Tori Kersey both converted a 1-and-1 helping offset nine points by Pea Ridge that drew the Lady Blackhawks within 35-27 at the 2:16 mark.

Farmington then scored its first field goal in nearly three minutes with Culpepper finding Kersey cutting to the basket. Dillard drove and scored to end the third with Farmington in front, 39-27.

"I just kind of told them Look, there's going to be contact. You're going to get fouled. They're not going to call it so you have to play the game and just kind of stay poised is what we do," Brad Johnson said. "We did a really good of job managing the game, that physicality. At the same time I thought they did a really good job of sticking to the game-plan and just kind of letting the game come to them."

Ravin Cawthorn fouled out 31 seconds into the fourth and Kersey made the Lady Blackhawks pay by making both free throws. On Farmington's next possession Vanzant drove and got blocked but Joelle Tidwell claimed the offense rebound and passed to Dillard spotted up for a trifecta on the wing. That put Pea Ridge in a 17-point hole.

Short fouled out with 5:58 to go. Kersey got her own rebound after being blocked. A 9-3 Pea Ridge run capped by Winn's layup only brought the Lady Blackhawks within 47-36 and Winn fouled out with 2:25 remaining. Lauren Wright kept the margin at 11 with a driving layup, but Farmington held Pea Ridge without a field goal in the last two minutes and closed out the contest on a 7-1 run to win, 51-39, and earn a shot at the district championship against Harrison on Saturday.

"I thought our bench played really good. Carson Dillard came in and she hit some big shots and did a good job of helping handle the basketball and just played really sound on the defensive end," Brad Johnson said. "Lot of good minutes tonight out of a lot of people."

The loss dropped Pea Ridge into the consolation game against Gravette, which was beated by Harrison, 42-26, in the other semifinal.

Farmington 51, Pea Ridge 39

Pea Ridge^9^7^11^12^--^39

Farmington^15^10^14^12^--^51

Farmington (25-3, 9-0): Makenna Vanzant 3-9 6-6 14, Tori Kersey 2-11 5-8 9, Carson Dillard 3-6 0-0 8, Morgan Brye 2-6 2-4 8, Audrey Culpepper 2-8 0-0 6, Trinity Johnson 2-2 0-0 5, Joelle Tidwell 0-6 1-2 1, Kaci Drain 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-49 14-20 51.

Pea Ridge (16-7, 3-6): Blakelee Winn 5 4-9 14, Lauren Wright 4 2-2 12, Aidan Dayberry 2 3-6 8, Allisa Short 1 1-2 3, Josey Goldberg 1 0-2 2. Totals 13 10-19 39.

3-Point Goals -- Farmington 9-23 (Brye 2-4, Culpepper 2-5, Vanzant 2-5, Dillard 2-5, Trinity Johnson 1-1, Drain 0-1, Tidwell 0-2), Pea Ridge 3 (Wright 2, Dayberry).

Rebounds -- Farmington 35 (Kersey 17), Pea Ridge 27. Assists -- Farmington 12 (Vanzant 7), Pea Ridge 6. Steals -- Farmington 2 (Kersey, Tidwell), Pea Ridge 2. Blocks -- Farmington 1 (Culpepper), Pea Ridge 3. Turnovers -- Farmington 9.

Sports on 02/26/2020