Lady Tigers Cruise In 58-44 Win Over Cards

FARMINGTON — The Prairie Grove Lady Tigers and the Farmington Lady Cardinals, two of the top ranked teams in the 4A classification, waged an intense battle Friday at Farmington’s Myrl Massie Gymnasium.

The Tigers, guided by coach Kevin Froud, state champions two seasons ago and a state finalist last season, came into the contest ranked number two, while the Cardinals, under the tutelage of coach Brad Johnson, have worked their way up the 4A ladder to the number three spot.

On Friday, the Tigers maintained their league dominance with a 58-44 win over the host Cardinals, earning the top spot in the 4A classification in the process.

Prairie Grove exploited a foul-plagued Farmington squad with 27 points from the charity stripe, but the real edge for the Tigers was the play of point guard Haylee Fitts, who had a career night with 17 points.

“Haylee had one of her best games,” said Froud, adding “She had 17 points and sat the whole second-quarter on the bench, so she could have had 25 points or something.”

Fitts was dialed in from long distance in the first period, stroking three triples, which helped Prairie Grove build a 14-3 lead.

“Farmington had a good game plan, they were going to guard Justyne ( Huber) and guard Shelly (Michelle Lumsargis) closely and we talked about some of the other players having to step up and make plays, and Haylee did that,” Froud said.

A basket from Farmington’s Lexie Lewis, followed by five consecutive points from Breanna Jones, helped cut the lead to 14-10, but a basket by Huber before the end of the frame, increased the Tiger lead to 16-10.

Huber, who had seven of her 16 points in the second period, opened the stanza with an inside basket. Then, Farmington’s Tiffany Rhame and Prairie Grove’s Lacey Beeks traded triples making the score 21-13. Five points from the free-throw line, three from Rene Scheyder and two from Payton Journagan, was all Farmington scored over the remaining 7:06 of the second period.

Meanwhile Prairie Grove got nine more points follow- ing Beeks’ 3-pointer. Brooke Barnette’s layup with 25 seconds to play, put Prairie Grove up 30-18 going into intermission.

A Hayley Maxwell 3-ball at the 5:07 mark, followed by a Scheyder layup drew the Cardinals to within 11 points, at 38-27. But, the Tigers countered with an 8-0 run, capped off by a Whitnee Fitts trifecta that put the Tigers back up 4627. Scheyder pulled the trigger on a triple with 24 seconds that made the score 46-30 going into the final stanza.

Farmington’s fortunes continued to fade when the officials whistled Lewis for her fifth foul early in the frame. The call on Lewis earned the referees coach Brad Johnson’s ire, which resulted in a technical foul on the Cardinal bench boss.

Lumsargis converted the technical freebies and the Tigers added eight more points from the free-throw line in the period, helping them maintain their advantage, and allowing them to earn the 5844 victory.

“I thought we dug ourselves a hole with points and with foul trouble,” said Johnson, who went on to say he thought the kids fought hard, but just dug too big of a hole to climb out of.

Lumsargis followed Haylee Fitts and Huber in the scoring column with eight points. Beeks and Barnette added seven points each and Whitnee Fitts rounded out the Tiger scoring with three points.

Jones and Maxwell led Farmington in the scorebook with 10 points each. Scheyder followed with eight; Rhame, five; Lewis, four; Journagan, four; and Danielle Winkle, three.