Lady Cardinals Cruise Past Lady Tigers

FARMINGTON — On Friday, Farmington Lady Cardinals (7-1) and Prairie Grove Lady Tigers (2-7) met on the hardwood for the third time this season for a nonconference slugfest. On December 2, the Cardinals traveled to Prairie Grove and clobbered the Tigers by 28 points. A mere 10 days later, the Cardinals, playing on the floor of Myrl Massie Gymnasium in Farmington for the final time, earned the sweep of their U.S. 62 rival by dispatching Prairie Grove by a score of 53-42.

“I thought in the second half that our length started to bother them [Prairie Grove] and I thought our kids did a good job of getting out in transition,” said Cardinal coach Brad Johnson. “Now I want to give Prairie Grove a lot of credit, because I thought they played a whale of a ballgame. They competed really hard, I thought they executed well and they pushed us to our limits. Fortunately our girls responded well and we were able to get the win.”

Prairie Grove’s Taylor Hartin, who led all scorers with 14 points, buried a 3- pointer at the 3: 12 mark of the opening period, then followed that with a baseline floater which put the Tigers ahead 6-5. Farmington’s Tayton Hopkins countered with a trifecta that allowed the Cardinals to carry an 8-6 lead into the second frame.

Maria McPherson kept Farmington’s momentum going with a hoop and harm 3-point play early in the stanza, while Trish O’Connell had a pair of successful drives to the bucket which combined with an inside basket from Tori Hamley and an offensive put back by Kristi DuChanois allowed Farmington to increase their advantage to 10 points, 24-14. A pair of freebies from the charity stripe by Prairie Grove’s Megan Reynolds with 4 ticks on the clock helped the Tigers trail by just 7 points, 24-17 heading into the locker room at halftime.

The Cardinals caught fire after intermission going on a 12-0 run to start the third period. The run was highlighted by triples from DuChanois and Tahlon Hopkins as well as a layup from O’Connell. Prairie Grove’s Parker Lopez finally stopped the bleeding with a pair of made free throws at the 3:11 mark of the stanza. A pair of baskets late in the period by Sara Stone and Reynolds helped the Tigers keep the score at a manageable 38-23 heading into the final frame.

BEN MADRID ENTERPRISE-LEADER Prairie Grove sophomore Parker Lopez tries to score between two Farmington defenders including Tayton Hopkins (right). The Lady Cardinals beat Prairie Grove 53-42 on Friday in the final game of the U.S. 62 girls basketball rivalry to be played at Myrl...