Commanding Cards
Farmington’s harvest comes with ease
FARMINGTON 58, MORRILTON 31
HOT SPRINGS – Farmington started slowly, but once the Lady Cardinals started rolling, they steamrolled to a state title.
The Cardinals defeated the Morrilton Lady Devil Dogs 58-31 in the Class 4A girls championship game Thursday night at Bank OZK Arena.
Shooting 2 of 10 from the floor and leading just 5-4 in the latter stages of the first quarter, the Lady Cardinals (37-1) hit four of their final five shots in the quarter and held a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
It escalated quickly in the second period.
Farmington was leading 18-14 with 6:58 left in the half, but the Cardinals closed the quarter on a 16-0 run in which they did everything they needed for a victory. In that stretch they hit 6 of 12 shots, had four offensive rebounds and forced six turnovers.
At the half it was 34-14. “It was just an outstanding effort and to be able to cap this season off this stage is one of the most special things I have been a part of,’’ Farmington Coach Brad Johnson said.
Morrilton (32-3) showed a little life in the third quarter. The Lady Devil Dogs trimmed the 20-point lead to 15 but the Cardinals had it back to 20, 45-25, with eight minutes left to play.
Farmington dominated almost every statistic. Points off turnovers favored the Cards 16-6, points in the paint 308, second-chance points 130, fast break points 14-2 and points off the bench 11-0.
Tournament most valuable player Reese Shirey led Farmington with a solid all-around game. The senior had 15 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal in 28 minutes.
Zoey Bershers, who had 3 three-pointers, added 11 points and 3 blocked shots.
Marin Adams also scored 11 and Kaycee McCumber had 9 points and 8 rebounds.
“We talked in the locker room, if back in August I told them they were going to be in the state championship game they would have called me a liar,’’ Morrilton Coach Carin McNabb said. “They are a really good team, they have a good point guard, good post play, they all can shoot it, they stretch the floor which makes us have to space out a little on defense and then they are able to drive by you and they do a good job in transition. They are a solid team and congratulations to them.”
Morrilton was led by Aubrey Henderson with 10 points and Jennifer Hartmank had 8 points.
Farmington had a 33-23 rebounding edge, including 14 offensive boards. The Cardinals also forced 16 turnovers and had 9 steals and blocked 3 shots. They shot 23 of 55 (41.8%) for the game while the Lady Devils Dogs were 9 of 28 (32.1%).