Suffocating Defense

FARMINGTON — The Lady Cardinals played suffocating defense, yielding only 6 field goals and none in the second quarter when they broke the game open in beating Pea Ridge, 56-24.

Farmington (15-4, 6-1) was victorious over Pea Ridge (315, 0-7) on Jan. 15 with offensive execution to match their defense. Senior point guard, Tiffany Rhame, led the way with a game-high 20 points, hitting 6-of-7 shots including 5-of-6 from 3-point range.

“She shot the eyeballs out of it tonight,” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson.

“We trust her decision making. She’s doing the things great guards can do. She can shoot it when she’s open and she made good choices tonight.”

Rhame has been working on her shot a lot and said stroking the 3- ball was a good feeling. Several times teammates found her wide open behind a screen.

“My team did a really good job. It’s like we took our anger out on Pea Ridge,” Rhame said.

Farmington was coming off the first conference loss of the season, 56-44, at Prairie Grove the week before when their shooting was ice cold.

“We spent a lot of time this week talking about it — working on sound defense, blocking out and finishing plays,” Johnson said.

“We’re trying to play the game within the game, not just beat our opponent. We took a step forward tonight.”

With the loss, Pea Ridge remained winless in conference play although Johnson pointed out they took league- leading Prairie Grove to overtime the week before.

“We just couldn’t hit shots. Its hard to win a road game and Farmington is a good team,” said Pea Ridge coach Heather Wade.

“If we’d hit a few more shots I think it would have given us a little more confidence in the second half.”

Pea Ridge players were twice called for technical fouls in the game and the Lady Blackhawks’ Mikhaela Cochran was ejected for punching Farmington’s Haley Maxwell after fighting over a loose ball with 5:09 left to play.

“I definitely don’t like the technicals,” Wade said.

Johnson praised the play of Kaci Sigmon off the bench, noting the 5-foot-11 senior hit a shot out of the corner and a turnaround.

“Where she really helps us is defending the other team’s post player in the paint,” Johnson said. “She’s been playing well the past few weeks.”

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Tiffany Rhame, a 5-foot-5 senior point guard, nails a 3-point shot against Pea Ridge. Rhame made 5-of-6 shots from beyond the arc and led Farmington to a 56-24 over the Blackhawks on Jan. 15.