Bentonville’s balance holds off Farmington

FARMINGTON — Tom Halbmaier didn’t go to a go-to player when Bentonville’s girls had their lead cut to a single point.

Several Lady Tigers contributed to the cause, and that made their coach happy Tuesday night as they opened their season with a 48-36 victory over Farmington in nonconference basketball action in Cardinal Arena.

“I thought the girls did a great job of finding a way to win down the stretch,” Halbmaier said. “They hit some timely shots and timely 3-pointers, and we knocked down some free throws that we needed to knock down.

“I felt like every time Farmington made a run, we had a kid step up. We had balanced scoring tonight, and not one player stood out. That is going to be a key ingredient for us — that balanced play.”

Madison Brittain’s second 3-pointer gave Bentonville (1-0) a 21-11 lead with 1 minute, 30 seconds before halftime, only to have Farmington cut it to 21-16 by halftime. The Lady Cardinals made it even closer as Tori Hamley’s bucket made it a 22-21 game with 5:20 left in the third quarter.

Alexia Hernandez then scored four of her eight points in the fourth quarter and helped push the Lady Tigers’ lead back to a 30-23 margin, then Ashley Murch added a buzzer-beater from inside the lane to give Bentonville a 32-26 edge at the end of the third quarter. Farm- ington opened the fourth quarter with a Kaylee Brown 3-pointer, but the Lady Tigers scored the next six points and took a 38-29 lead on Abby Roberts’ 3-pointer with 2:57 remaining.

“Bentonville is big and rangy,” Farmington coach Brad Johnson said. “When you can run five girls on the floor that are between 5-9 and 6-1, their length makes them a good defensive team.

“I thought our kids competed. We did a pretty good job overall of handling that length. We competed decent on the boards even though we were undersized. This time of year, nonconference games have to test you, and this was a quality opponent.”

Krista Clark came off the bench to score 11 points and was Bentonville’s only player in double figures. Journagan paced Farmington with 12, while Hamley added 11.

Bentonville travels to Conway for a benefit game Thursday and won’t play another regular-season game until it hosts the Crabtree Invitational in December. Farmington returns to nonconference action next week with a home game against Gravette.