Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Cardinals Basketball Collects Tournament Wins
SPRINGDALE — One day after opening the girls basketball season posting a 66-49 strategy over 3A Greenland, Farmington faced another tough test against Pulaski Academy.
Farmington (2-0) defeated Pulaski Academy, a 4A-5 team, by a score of 78-63 on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018, during the Slim Chickens Classic girls basketball tournament hosted by Springdale Har-Ber.
The Lady Bruins (1-4) dogged Farmington senior guard Makenna Vanzant limiting her shot opportunities. Vanzant turned the isolation effort into vanity. She wisely didn’t force the issue. Vanzant took only two shots and made them both, including one 3-pointer tallying 7 points with a 2-for-2 trip to the free throw line.
With so much defensive attention focused on preventing Vanzant from driving to the hoop, senior Madisyn Pense stepped up to provide offense from the perimeter. Pense made 6-of-9 shots from 3-point range scoring a team-high 20 points and 5-11 sophomore Tori Kersey, Farmington’s tallest player who missed the Greenland game the day before, returned from Thanksgiving to contribute 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
Farmington played unselfish basketball racking up 25 assists. Pense and sophomore Trinity Johnson, daughter of coach Brad Johnson, had 5 apiece. The Lady Cardinals shot a sizzling 63 percent from the field (27-of43), and got to the free throw line.
Against Greenland, Farmington attempted only 4 foul shots. The Lady Cardinals were 14-of-19 from the charity stripe against Pulaski Academy achieving balanced scoring with 7 players contributing points. Trinity Johnson made 2-of-4 tries from 3-point land and scored 12 points.
Farmington led 19-13 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Bruins reduced the lead to only 38-36 at halftime. By the end of the third period Farmington had 60 points thanks to a 24-point explosion in the quarter. Pulaski Academy trailed by 13 and couldn’t close the gap in the fourth with Farmington winning, 78-63.
Senior guard Mattie Hatcher led Pulaski Academy with 20 points, while freshman Taylor Hernandez hit five 3-pointers and added 17.
FARMINGTON 78, PULASKI ACADEMY 63
P. Academy 13 21 13 16 — 63 Farmington 19 17 24 18 — 78 Pulaski Academy (1-4): Mattie Hatcher 20, Taylor Hernandez 17. Farmington (2-0): Madisyn Pense 7-13 0-0 20, Tori Kersey 7-9 4-6 18, Trinity Johnson 4-7 2-2 12, Alexis Roach 4-6 1-3 9, Makenna Vanzant 2-2 2-2 7, Audrey Culpepper 1-4 4-4 7, Eliza Ball 2-2 1-2 5. Totals 27-43 14-19 78.
3-point Goals — Farmington — 1018 (Pense 6-9, Johnson 2-4, Vanzant 1-1, Culpepper 1-4). Rebounds — Farmington 32 (Vanzant 9). Assists — Farmington 25 (Johnson 5, Pense 5). Steals — Farmington 8 (Kersey 3). Blocks — Farmington 2 (Roach, Vanzant). Turnovers — Farmington 21. Fouls — Farmington 19.
FARMINGTON 66, GREENLAND 49
Greenland 12 14 9 14 — 49 Farmington 17 25 12 12 — 66 Greenland (3-3): Fiona Wilson 11 5-5 27, Destiny Jackson 9 2-4 21, Fanning 0 1-2 1. Totals 20 8-10 49. Farmington (1-0): Makenna Vanzant 9-15 2-4 24, Madisyn Pense 6-20 0-0 15, Alexis Roach 7-7 0-0 14, Trinity Johnson 4-11 0-0 9, Audrey Culpepper 2-5 0-0 4, Kaci Drain 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 2-4 66. 3-point Goals — Greenland — 1 (Jackson). Farmington — 8-26 (Vanzant 4-7, Pense 3-10, Johnson 1-6, Culpepper 0-2). Rebounds — Farmington 34 (Vanzant 11). Assists — Farmington 16 (Culpepper 5). Steals — Farmington 5 (Vanzant 3). Turnovers — Farmington 10. Fouls — Greenland 5, Farmington 13. FARMINGTON —
Farmington 67, Huntsville 32
Farmington scored the first 16 points of the game and defensively held Huntsville to single digit scoring in each of the first three quarters. Madisyn Thomas broke the ice for Huntsville by draining a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter. Farmington then went on another 13-2 run stretching its lead to 29-5. The Lady Cardinals led 39-11 at the half and 55-19 after three quarters.
Farmington held Huntsville’s offensive in check. The Lady Eagles shot just 33 percent for the game and 25 percent behind the 3-point line, a statistic bolstered by some late threes against Lady Cardinal reserves in the fourth quarter.
FARMINGTON 67, HUNTSVILLE 32
Farmington 16 23 16 12 — 67 Huntsville 3 8 8 13 — 32 Farmington (3-0): Makenna Vanzant 6-12 2-4 17, Madisyn Pense 5-8 0-0 13, Joelle Tidwell 2-4 4-4 8, Trinity Johnson 3-6 2-2 8, Alexis Roach 3-8 0-0 6, Audrey Culpepper 2-2 0-0 4, Tori Kersey 2-4 0-0 4, Amelia Fuqua 1-2 1-2 3, Madison Earnheart 1-1 0-0 2, Camila Gurrola 1-1 0-1 2, Eliza Ball 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-50 7-11 65. Huntsville (1-4): Individual scoring totals not available.
3-point Goals — Farmington — 8-20 (Pense 3-6, Vanzant 3-6, Johnson 2-4, Tidwell 0-1, Roach 0-1, Ball 0-2). Rebounds — Farmington 27 (Roach 7), Huntsville 26. Assists — Farmington 14 (Vanzant 6), Huntsville 9. Steals — Farmington 10 (Vanzant 3), Huntsville 3. Turnovers — Farmington 8.
Farmington 65, Pottsville 54
Pottsville (3-2) has a lot of tradition finishing as the state runner-up in 2017 and reaching the state semifinals in Class 4A last year. Drew Siebenmorgen was promoted to head coach taking over for Chance Johnson, who became the full-time athletic director at Pottsville.
“A lot of these girls returning hadn’t been in big games themselves, but they’ve seen what the other girls have done, and that’s improved them a lot,” Siebenmorgen said.
Pottsville’s 5-7 senior guard Abby James is vying to land a college scholarship. Adept at driving to the basket and finishing with either hand, Siebenmorgen said the team tries to set her up at the 3-point line.
“She’s a good floor leader, and we’ll go a lot as she goes,” Siebenmorgen said.
FARMINGTON 65, POTTSVILLE 54
Farmington 21 16 21 7 — 65 Pottsville 13 11 17 13 — 54 Farmington (4-0): Madisyn Pense 18, Makenna Vanzant 14, Alexis Roach 14, Joelle Tidwell 10, Tori Kersey 5, Audrey Culpepper 4. Totals 65.
Pottsville (3-4): Individual scoring totals not available.