HUNTSVILLE -- Farmington transformed defense into quick offense, utilizing teamwork to get an open shot in a hurry on the way to throttling Huntsville, 68-25, in a 4A-1 girls basketball contest.
The Lady Cardinals (21-1, 7-0) won big at Huntsville's new gym on Tuesday, Jan. 17 with Jenna Lawrence scoring 20 points to reach the 2,000 career point plateau. She also collected 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
The 6-feet-3 future Lady Razorback recently nominated as a McDonald's High School All-American made it look easy. Huntsville led 6-5 early on Kenna Kirk's free throws, an Alissa Pillow trey and Elly Harriman's foul shot. Lawrence had yet to attempt a shot, but things changed suddenly.
J'Myra London began a Lady Cardinal 16-1 run with a putback of a Lawrence miss from the baseline. Farmington wouldn't relinquish the lead again.
On defense Lawrence intimidated a Lady Eagle shot without leaving her feet. She cleared the rebound, got through traffic, patiently dribbling all the way to the opposite goal, then finished with a leaner that gave the Lady Cardinals a 9-6 lead.
Sophomore Zoey Bershers blocked five Huntsville shots in the first five minutes of the game. The 6-feet-3 post had consecutive rejections, forcing the Lady Eagles to in-bound repeatedly. Lawrence stole the ball and that led to Hannah Moss' trifecta.
Lawrence took a steal in for a layup out of the full-court press.
One first quarter sequence epitomized Farmington's effectiveness in disrupting Huntsville's offense, gaining control of the basketball and putting it in the hoop at the other end. Kaycee McCumber used her 6-feet-1 wingspan to deflect a pass. Bershers grabbed the loose ball and passed to point-guard Reese Shirey. She didn't waste time dribbling up-court, not with Lawrence open from the left wing where she buried a 3-pointer that put Farmington up 19-6.
Huntsville rebounded a missed Lady Cardinal 3-point attempt, but McCumber smothered the outlet, creating a turnover and the Lady Cardinals enjoyed the luxury of in-bounding underneath their own basket. Lawrence flashed across the paint as Farmington swung the ball to sophomore guard Marin Adams on the left wing. A Huntsville defender guarding Lawrence in their man-to-man over-played coming over her left shoulder.
Adams recognized that and delivered a pass to Lawrence. With the defender on her hip, Lawrence turned right and dribbled twice to the front of the rim where she laid the ball in to reach 2,000 points for her career. It was one of the easiest buckets the prolific scorer experienced while working a half-court set.
Lawrence thought she might get her 2,000th point from a 3-pointer, but that shot didn't go down so she decided to set up in the paint.
"It was just an easy post up, just turn around, I jumped up and shot it," Lawrence said. "Honestly, I thought I was going to get it off a three, but I missed it so I was like, 'Alright, let me just post up and let me get this easy real quick so I was real thrilled whenever I made it."
Huntsville broke the run with Alissa Pillow's 3-pointer, but had no answers. Farmington led 21-9 after one quarter and 40-16 at halftime. The disparity reached 60-23 at the end of the third quarter.
Shirey and Moss hit double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively while Bershers contributed 3 points and recorded 7 blocked shots for Farmington.
"It relieves my pressure. I know if a girl gets past me I'm going to have another 6-feet-3 post there about to block her shot into the stands so it just relieves me. Last year I was the only really tall girl so I had to depend upon protecting the lane. Now there's two of us and even when we count Kaycee [McCumber] that's three over six-foot players in there protecting so if the other team goes in there, they're in for a lot," Lawrence said.
Farmington 67, Huntsville 25
Farmington^21^19^20^7^--^67
Huntsville^9^7^7^2^--^25
Farmington (21-1, 7-0): Jenna Lawrence 9 0-0 20, Reese Shirey 4 1-1 11, Hannah Moss 4 0-0 10, J'Myra London 4 0-0 8, Kaycee McCumber 1 2-4 4, Zoey Bershers 1 1-2 3, Marin Adams 1 1-2 3, Morgan Uher 1 0-0 3, Lindsey Scogin 1 0-0 3, Peyton Denham 1 0-0 3, Naomi Hernandez 1 0-0 2, Gabby McBurnett 0 1-2 1, RaeAnne Smith 0 0-2 0. Totals 28 6-13 67.
Huntsville (5-10, 4-3): Alissa Pillow 3 2-3 10, Julie Emitt 2 1-1 7, Maggie Foster 1 0-0 3, Mena Thomas 1 0-0 2, Kenna Kirk 0 2-2 2, Elly Harriman 0 1-2 1. Totals 7 6-8 25.
3-Point Goals -- Huntsville 5 (A. Pillow 2, Emitt 2, Foster). Farmington 8 (Lawrence 2, Moss 2, Shirey 2, M. Uher, Denham).