MIRACLE GIRLS: Kennedy Allison and Makenna Vanzant meet

Lady Blackhawks wishing for a chance at redemption believing they were better than the final score indicated.

That opportunity came Tuesday, Jan. 29 with senior Gabbi Adams banking in an improbable 3-point shot to send the game into overtime before Pea Ridge won, 63-60, ending a 12- game losing streak to Farmington that dated back to Feb. 10, 2009, Pea Ridge’s last win over Farmington, 53-33, at Blackhawk Gymnasium the year before Johnson took over as head coach.

Pea Ridge also won the last overtime game between the schools, on Jan. 20, 2009 at Farmington’s Myrl Massie Gymnasium, 55-52.

Farmington left the 4A-1 Conference from 2014-2018 and the schools didn’t play again until the Dec. 2017 tournament game.

Wave Of Emotion

Neal acknowledged Pea Ridge has been riding a wave of emotion over Kennedy’s recovery, which he said overshadows what the Lady Blackhawks accomplished on the basketball court.

“Not to take away from that great miracle that God provided that girl and she’s a close family friend of mine, and I think that we’ve rode on that last couple of weeks for sure by all means and I think our community’s gathered around our teams because she’s an athlete. But, I think this is a deal that we’ve been building for awhile and so we’re just piggybacking off that and keep the momentum going.”

Prior to the game Johnson said he was looking forward to actually be able to meet Kennedy and shake her hand and just tell her how inspirational her story will be, not only right now but for scores of kids from now on.

“Our heart goes out to them and obviously that’s something I’ve talked with Coach Neal about here recently,” Johnson said. “When you have something like that it can be devastating on the initial side of it, but what a blessing for that young lady’s life to be saved, to have the right people in the right spots to save her life. She’s back, back home. She attended the game the other night. It’s just so very, very special just to know about that blessing.”

Empathy For Emergency

In January of 2015, Farmington’s Ella Wilson collapsed after returning to the bench in a junior high game at Shiloh Christian. She went into cardiac arrest and was revived by a defibrillator with Farmington parent, Dr. Pete Ball, dad of Farmington senior Eliza Ball, and the Shiloh Christian school nurse acting as first responders.

Wilson underwent many of the same things Kennedy experienced, such as having an internal defibrillator implanted. She returned to play volleyball and graduated in 2018.

Having familiarity with life- and- death situations gives Johnson empathy for Kennedy and Pea Ridge.

“You know, our hearts again, go out to her and we know she’s got a recovery. It’s not going to be something that’s going to happen overnight, but we’re thinking of her family. We’re thinking of her and we’re thinking of that entire program cause if anybody understands those type of things it’s our kids,” Johnson said. “The other thing about this whole deal is it goes back to you look at what happened with Ella ( Wilson) and then what happened with Makenna ( Vanzant) last year, the game of basketball is a large community. At the end of the day, we compete against each other, but when those folks hurt, we all hurt. I’m just thrilled for that community and for that young lady that things went the way they did.”