Farmington takes 4A-North titles

4A-NORTH REGION GIRLS

MORRILTON — Farmington let Gentry hang around for a little while in Saturday’s 4A-North Regional finale.

But when the Lady Cardinals stepped on the gas, they didn’t let up.

Jenna Lawrence, a fourstar recruit who signed with the University of Arkansas in November, scored 26 points and the Lady Cardinals pulled away from the Lady Pioneers 64- 43 at Morrilton’s Devil Dog Arena.

Gentry actually held a lead halfway through the first quarter and were within five (27-22) at the half.

“It’s hard to beat a team like so many times, but at the same time they’ve [Gentry] got a very good basketball coach,” Farmington Coach Brad Johnson said. “I feel like, maybe across the state, they haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve. They’ve got some dynamic guards; they can really shoot it.”

Gentry’s Melissa McCarty’s backdoor cut put the Pioneers up 5-2 with 6:12 to play in the first quarter. But the Cardinals, sparked by Lawrence took a 12-9 lead to start the second quarter.

Down 21-13 after Farmington’s Marin Adams popped a three-pointer, the Lady Pioneers’ Kaitlyn Caswell hit a three to help pull her squad within 21-19. Johnson credited Coach Toby Tevebaugh with having his squad prepared.

“Even though they’re not real big, they really defended us in the first half,” Johnson said. “They’ve made a living throughout the year controlling the tempo, and I thought they did that in the first half. They were actually dominating us on the defensive glass.”

After a slow start to the second half, Farmington caught fire. And it was Lawrence who started the run.

She hit a three- pointer with 5:03 left and after scoring twice in the paint, the Lady Cardinals’ lead had swelled to 40-25 with 2:33 left in the quarter.

“I thought we started to push the tempo and we got some steals,” Johnson said. “You do that and you will start to get going.”

MORRILTON 60, GRAVETTE 42

One day after having its 13- game winning streak snapped, Morrilton’s Cheyanne Kemp scored 32 points to power the Lady Devil Dogs to a win over Gravette in the consolation round of the 4A-North Regional Tournament.

Morrilton (28-4) got 12 points from Johnna Brockman.

Alexa Parker led the Lady Lions (1713) with 15 points.

BOYS

FARMINGTON 76, DARDANELLE 55

Dardanelle didn’t get to 29 victories by accident. Saturday, they gave Farmington all it could handle for much of the first half.

Then again, Farmington didn’t get to 33-0 by accident, either.

The Cardinals erased an 18-13 first half deficit by going on a 13-0 scoring run. The team’s star scorer, Layne Taylor, was responsible for seven of his 18 points during the comeback. Farmington used a late third-quarter run to secure a victory in the 4A-North Regional finals at Devil Dog Arena in Morrilton.

Then in the third quarter, after the Sand Lizards had clawed to within three (40-37), sophomore Sam Kirkland announced himself.

The sharp-shooting guard buried 3 three-pointers in a span of 52 seconds to give the Cardinals a 56-40 lead. Farmington (34-0) never looked back. Leading 62-48 after three, Kirkman’s fifth second half trey gave the Cardinals an insurmountable 68-49 advantage with 5: 12 left in the game. Kirkman finished with 21 points, including six second-half three-pointers.

“I just had a lot of confidence shooting the ball,” Kirkman said. “I really wanted to win that game. That was probably one of the first times we’ve been down like that. They kind of punched us in the mouth, and we did a great job after that, figuring out the zone and sticking shooters in the corner.”

Braden Tanner led Dardanelle (29-5) with 23 points.

MORRILTON 54, FOUNTAIN LAKE 43

JaCorey Mosley scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the second half as the Devil Dogs defeated Fountain Lake in the consolation finals.

The Devil Dogs (23-9) defeated the Cobras (21-10) for the third time this season.

Colby Lambert led Fountain Lake with 23 points, including 11 in the final quarter. Teammate Evan East added 11 points.