Lady ’Hawks drop semifinal to Farmington

PRAIRIE GROVE — The Lady Blackhawks were frustrated by Farmington’s proficient offense as the Lady Cardinals won a 4A-1 District girls basketball semifinal, 56-39, Thursday, Feb. 20, in Prairie Grove’s Tiger Arena.

Pea Ridge plays an inthe-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 came out on top.

“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.

Farmington senior Audrey Culpepper made a 3-pointer that gave Farmington a 15-9 first quarter lead. Pea Ridge chopped the lead down to 15-13 on Aiden Dayberry’s 3 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.

Pea Ridge senior Allisa Short began the quarter with no fouls, then was whistled for four 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 9 points by Pea Ridge that drew the Lady Blackhawks within 3527 at the 2:16 mark.

Ravin Cawthon fouled out 31 seconds into the fourth and Farmington made the Lady Blackhawks pay by making both free throws.

Short fouled out with 5:58 to go.

A 9-3 Pea Ridge run capped by Winn’s layup 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, 56-39, and earn a shot at the district championship against Harrison on Saturday.

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

Farmington 56, Pea Ridge 39

PeaRidge 9 7 11 12 — 39 Farmington 15 10 14 17 — 56 Pea Ridge (16-7, 3-6): BlakeleeWinn 5 4-9 14, LaurenWright 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 — Pea Ridge 3 (Wright 2, Dayberry).