Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Unprecedented Achievement
LADY CARDINALS WIN DISTRICT TOURNEY
HARRISON — In his illustrious career with more than 200 wins as Farmington girls basketball coach, Brad Johnson had never won a 4A-1 District tournament championship — until Saturday.
Farmington utilized the role of an underdog to defeat Berryville, 68-58, Saturday at Harrison’s Goblin Arena and establish an unprecedented achievement for Brad Johnson.
Coming into the tournament off a 55-46 loss to Harrison on Friday, Feb. 8, at Farmington’s Cardinal Arena, which opened in 2015 the same season the Lady Cardinals jumped into the 5A ranks before returning to 4A this season, Brad Johnson felt his girls could be successful in the role of an underdog.
“We felt like most of the year we played with a bullseye on our back and now we can flip that and we can play with a chip on our shoulder. That’s pretty exciting. These kids, I know they like winning, they come prepared to win,” Johnson said.
Berryville routed Farmington, 54-25, on Jan. 15 at Bobcat Arena and Johnson did not want the Lady Cardinals to get off to a bad start as they did in that game trailing 31-6. So he went to his daughter, sophomore Trinity Johnson, one of the highest percentage 3-point shooters on the team.
Trinity Johnson delivered by hitting 3-pointers from both
corners. Makenna Vanzant hit a trey keeping Farmington within 12-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Early on Berryville disrupted Farmington’s fullcourt game by stealing long outlets, but the Lady Cardinals were able to turn the tables by getting steals and continuing to make threes. Trinity Johnson’s third trifecta cut a 7-point Lady Bobcat lead to 21-17 and began an 11-4 Farmington run to end the half ahead, 26-25.
Senior Alexis Roach had four steals, two in the run, and stole Berryville’s in-bounds pass taking the ball in for a layup to begin the third quarter. The Lady Cardinals fashioned a 9-0 run in the third to gain separation on the scoreboard. Roach, who scored 10 points to go with 4 assists, cut to the basket making a layup and drawing a foul towards the end of the run that put Farmington ahead, 49-39 going into the fourth quarter.
Despite a combined 31 points in the contest from Berryville’s twin towers of 6-1 Hannah Morrell (17), and 6-0 Kelcee Hopper (14), the Lady Cardinals matched Berryville point-for-point in the fourth to claim a 68-58 victory.
Vanzant finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. Sophomore Tori Kersey had 15 points playing much more effectively than she did the first time against the Lady Bobcats.
Brad Johnson led Farmington into the 4A-1 District title game from 2012-14 and came up short each occasion, even when Farmington won the 2013-14 regular season conference crown and hosted the tournament at Mryl Massie Gymnasium. Last season, Farmington hosted and won the 2018 District tournament that included Harrison while still in the 5A West, but hadn’t claimed a district title in 4A under Brad Johnson until Saturday.
On a sweet note the coach’s daughter, Trinity Johnson, recorded 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and a blocked shot to help her dad achieve the distinguishment.
Farmington takes the No. 1 seed out of the 4A-1 into the 4A North Regional facing 4A-4 No. 4 seed Ozark at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Morrilton High School. A win there puts the Lady Cardinals into the state tournament.
FARMINGTON 68, BERRYVILLE 58
Farmington 9 17 23 19 — 68 Berryville 12 13 14 19 — 58 Farmington (23-6): Tori Kersey 15, Makenna Vanzant 15, Trinity Johnson 11, Alexis Roach 10, Madisyn Pense 7, Joelle Tidwell 7, Audrey Culpepper 3. Berryville (29-3): Hannah Morrell 17, Kelcee Hopper 14, Lexy Anderson 13, Baylea Smith 7, Lauren Compton 4, Mckayla Hussey 3.
Rebounds — Berryville 29, Farmington 24 (Vanzant 6). Assists — Berryville 16, Farmington 18 (Vanzant 7). Steals — Berryville 10, Farmington 9 (Roach 4). Blocks — Berryville 2, Farmington 2 (Culpepper, Johnson).