Smoothing Out A Bump

LINCOLN REGROUPS; FARMINGTON GIRLS RECORD KEY WINS

FARMINGTON — Coaching in a game he was leery of, Farmington girls basketball coach Brad Johnson could not draw an easy breath until the horn sounded.

“I think Berryville is a state- tournament caliber team,” said Johnson.

Fighting an uphill battle, Farmington overcame a trio of double digit scorers for Berryville to hand the Lady Bobcats a 46-44 loss on their home court Feb. 8.

Elsewhere in league play on a make- up Saturday, co-conference leader Ozark (20-3, 9-2) went down, 51-36, at Prairie Grove (16-5, 10-2) leaving Farmington (19-4,111) in sole possession of first place with one week left in the regular season.

Getting the road win at Berryville (16-8, 7-5), fourth in the 4A-1, was not easy with Alex McCallister (14), Britni Smith (12) and Allison Smith (10) combining for 36 Lady Bobcat points.

Farmington came from eight points down midway through the third narrowing the gap to a single bucket, at 35-33, entering the fourth quarter and held their breaths when a Berryville shot in the lane rimmed off at the final buzzer.

Senior guard Haley Maxwell was Farmington’s leading scorer with 16 points.

LINCOLN — Things went much easier for the Lady Cardinals at Lincoln on Feb. 7 than they did in a 3-point home court win in January. The absence of Lincoln senior Hayle Sugg in the Lady Wolves’ 55-27 loss to Farmington was overwhelmingly evident in all facets of the game. The five-foot-10 post player was difficult to defend in the post with her strength and finishing ability around the basket. She was also a force on the boards, defensively and a threat in the open court with an ability to handle the basketball.

Opponents had to respect Sugg in the paint to the degree that simply by establishing position, Lincoln’s perimeter shooters would often be free on the outside. Due to a recent turn of events, Sugg has not only been scratched from the starting lineup but is no longer on the team and Lincoln is not the same team without her.

A pair of quick whistles on Lincoln’s starting point guard Shelby Rowe during a 28 second span sent the senior to the bench with four personal fouls with 4:02 left in the second quarter and the contest spiraled downhill from there. Farmington led 25-8 at halftime and upped their lead to 49-21 when Tahlon Hopkins took the ball strong to the basket polishing off a 24-13 Lady Cardinal spurt through the third and half of the fourth periods.

Courtney Lloyd’s putback for Lincoln broke the run and Rowe added a free throw and a driving bank shot.

“I thought they competed in the second half. We still missed some shots but they competed. That’s what we talked about at halftime,” said Lincoln coach Deon Birkes, who also praised the play of sophomore Madison Reed, who saw playing time. “She’s a good kid, not the fastest, not the biggest, but she has a lot of heart.”

“We’ve still got to play basketball. We’ve got to play hard and play good defense. No matter what you do, you’ve got to execute, though.”

Tayton Hopkins and Taylor Smith then combined for six straight Farmington points and the Lady Cardinals won going away, 55-27.

Johnson expounded on the advantages of having freshman Tayton Hopkins make plays from the point guard position.

“She’s extremely quick on both ends of the floor. She is able to turn ball-handlers in transition. She sees the floor real well and she keys a lot of our easy buckets.”

At one juncture, Tayton Hopkins executed a halfcourt pass to Taylor Smith for a lay- up to beat a trap and Johnson didn’t have to sweat about crunch time.

“It wasn’t real pretty,” Johnson said, adding, “One thing we don’t ever have to get on them [ Lady Cardinals] about is effort. Tichina Scales, particularly in the second half, played really well. She had the chore of guarding Lincoln’s best guard and offensive-wise she had 18 points.”

FARMINGTON 55, LINCOLN 27

Farmington 12 13 17 13— 55 Lincoln 2 6 10 9 —27 Farmington (18-4, 10-1) Tichina Scales 18, Haley Maxwell 12, Tahlon Hopkins 11, Tayton Hopkins 6, Taylor Smith 6, Tori Hamley 2. Lincoln (7-14, 3-8) Jaycie Neeley 10, Courtney Lloyd 7, Shelby Rowe 5, Madison Rich 3, Samantha Cheatham 2.