Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Cardinals Secure Rare Rout Of Pea Ridge
FARMINGTON — Two plays, one involving Carson Dillard who plays in the All- Star game this week, epitomized Farmington’s epic 72-40 win over Pea Ridge on senior night, Feb. 11, at Cardinal Arena.
At the end of the first quarter Jenna Lawrence rejected a shot, rebounded, dribbled into the front court and busted a trifecta to beat the horn, putting the Lady Cardinals up 22-14. Later, with the third quarter winding down, Reese Shirey’s steal led to Dillard’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer that established a 67-35 Farmington lead at the end of the third, ensuring a running clock in the fourth quarter.
Dillard stroked five 3-pointers outshining all other scorers with 24 points.
In the aftermath of the lopsided loss, Pea Ridge girls basketball coach Heath Neal offered an honest assessment of the factors that Farmington leveraged in its favor.
“You’re playing a really good team. We feel like we got a really good team. We’ve got a young team. We’ve done a lot of good things throughout the year and that’s a veteran team that’s been doing it a lot of times, been to a lot of semifinals and finals games and so they know how to win. Then you got the ride and the emotion of senior night and playing in that crowd so we have to play above par. They’re going to have to play down a little bit for us even to get close,” Neal said.
Pea Ridge started well, jumping out to an 11-7 lead on a trio of 3-pointers including two from Amelia Dayberry and one by Leah Telgemeier. Telgemeier also scored on a drive.
Farmington cut it to 11-9 on Morgan Brye’s basket and took it’s first lead at 12-11 with Megan Hernandez nailing a trey. Pea Ridge briefly regained the lead on Lauren Wright’s floater but the Lady Cardinals closed out the quarter with a 10-1 surge highlighted by Lawrence’s blocked shot, rebound and long 3-pointer after pushing the ball into the front-court.
“Pea Ridge came out and shot it well early. They executed well, they were getting to the basket. We kind of kept answering the bell over and over til we got get it stopped. Then we managed to go on a run and gain separation, big shot right there at the end of the first quarter I thought really energized us and we just kind of took off from there,” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson.
The Lady Cardinals generated another 10-0 run during the second quarter to double their lead. After Bella Cates’ three narrowed Farmington’s lead to 32-22 the Lady Cardinals scored 10 points in 1:36. Shirey got to the hoop and Dillard utilized a lateral dribble to knock down a trifecta, the first of eight straight points scored by the senior guard as Farmington opened up a 42-24 halftime lead.
With 34 seconds to go in the third Dillard fed Hernandez for a 3- pointer then framed Farmington’s runaway win by firing in another three at the buzzer to establish a 67-35 Lady Cardinal lead at the end of the third quarter, ensuring a running clock in the fourth.
“We got a stagger set we love to run for Dillard and she has made a career out of hitting big shots in timely moments and that’s another example of a player making a play and we fed off that and we closed out the third quarter and I just thought there was a lot of energy and enthusiasm and passion. It was fun to watch our kids play with that much passion tonight,” Johnson said.
Dillard led a quartet of Lady Cardinals in double figures with 24 points, with Lawrence scoring 15, Hernandez 12 and Shirey 10. Farmington made 11 total 3-pointers.
“They’ve got a good ball club. They’ve always had rich tradition. We have that, too, and we’re growing through our group right now. I’m super proud of them, they’ve done a lot of good things throughout the year and we’re right in the mix,” Neal said.
Wright and Cates scored 9 points apiece for Pea Ridge with Telgemeier chipping in 8.