Lady Blackhawks fall to Cardinals
FARMINGTON — In the aftermath of a 72-40 loss Friday, 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 1211 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 Jenna 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’ 3 narrowed Farmington’s lead to 32-22, the Lady Cardinals scored 10 points in 1:36. Reese Shirey got to the hoop and Carson Dillard utilized a lateral dribble to knock down a trifecta, the first of 8 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 3 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. Pea Ridge upended Gentry, 46-43, on Thursday in a make-up game but fell to fourth in the 4A-1 Western Division standings with Gravette beating Prairie Grove 63-44 on Friday.
The Lady Blackhawks were to begin postseason play on Tuesday.
“The district tournament is at our place so we get to play on our home court. We’ve got a little bit of a journey to get to the regional tournament but I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything,” Neal said.
Farmington 72, Pea Ridge 40
PeaRidge 14 10 11 5 — 40 Farmington 22 20 25 5 — 72 Farmington (25-1, 11-0): Carson Dillard 8 3-3 24, Jenna Lawrence 5 3-3 15, Megan Hernandez 5 0-0 12, Reese Shirey 3 2-2 10, Morgan Brye 2 0-2 4, J’Myra London 2 0-0 4, Hannah Moss 1 0-0 2, Lana Qedan 0 1-2 1. Totals 26 9-12 72. Pea Ridge (16-10, 7-5): Lauren Wright 3 2-4 9, Bella Cates 3 1-3 9, Leah Telgemeier 3 1-2 8, Amelia Dayberry 2 0-0 6, Sydney Spears 2 1-2 5, Paige Brown 0 2-4 2, Mikayla Humphrey 0 1-2 1. Totals 13 8-17 40.
3-Point Goals — Pea Ridge 6 (Dayberry 2, Cates 2, Telgemeier, Wright), Farmington 11 (Dillard 5, Lawrence 2, Shirey 2, M. Hernandez 2).