Lady Cardinals Wreak Havoc

FARMINGTON CAUSES 27 TURNOVERS IN 55-27 WIN OVER HUNTSVILLE

FARMINGTON – Farmington shook off a cold-shooting first half and raced to a 55-27 win over Huntsville in 4A-1 girls basketball action Tuesday, Jan. 22, at Cardinal Arena.

Farmington (17-4, 6-1) forced 27 Huntsville (7-14, 3-4) turnovers with a relentless full-court press, than combined with alternating half-court defenses, allowed a mere 8 points after halftime.

“We did a really good job of forcing tempo and I thought we did it both offensively in our transition and I also thought we did an outstanding job in our fullcourt pressure defense,” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson. ‘We jumped back and forth between man and zone. We did a pretty good job of pressuring their guards.”

Huntsville led 7-6 on senior Kara Drewyor’s left-handed shot with 1:23 remaining in the first quarter. The Lady Cardinals missed a number of shots around the basket but still managed to put together an 8-0 run to move in front 14-9 when Audrey Culpepper wrapped a pass around a defender to Tori Kersey for a backside layup.

Drewyor’s jump-hook kept Huntsville with 16-14 and the Lady Eagles used a 5-2 mini run to again narrow Farmington’s lead at 21-19 on Grace Mayes’ deep 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:48 left in the first half.

Huntsville would not score again in the second quarter and Farmington scored nine unanswered points to take a 30-19 lead into halftime.

“We didn’t give a lot of points up in transition. They hit some shots early and kind of stayed with it, but our kids did a good job of not panicking,” Brad Johnson said. “We missed some shots in the beginning of the game, but they just stayed the course and began to allow the pressure to turn into transition, which turned into higher percentage shots. In the second half those shots began to fall and the floodgate opened.”

“Our effort was outstanding. Our kids did a good job of executing and I didn’t think they flinched any. It’s easy to play real hard when the ball’s going through the hole. When it’s not, you got to find ways to manufacture points and our kids did an excellent job of doing that tonight and just kind of maintaining control until shots would start to fall like we want.”

Sophomore Tori Kersey led Farmington in scoring with 16 points off the bench while Alexis Roach added 12 and Makenna Vanzant, 11.

Mayes led Huntsville with 13 points.

FARMINGTON 55, HUNTSVILLE 27

Huntsville 9 10 5 3 – 27 Farmington 12 18 11 14 – 55 Huntsville (7-14, 3-4): Grace Mayes 5 0-0 13, Drewyor 4 0-0 8, Poor 1 0-0 3, Thomas 1 0-0 3. Totals 11 0-0 27. Farmington (17-4, 6-1): Tori Kersey 7 0-0 14, Alexis Roach 5 2-2 12, Makenna Vanzant 3 4-6 11, Trinity Johnson 3 1-2 9, Audrey Culpepper 2 2-2 6, Joelle Tidwell 1 0-0 2, Madisyn Pense 0 1-2 1. Totals 21 10-14 55.

3-Point Goals — Farmington 3-9 (Johnson 2, Vanzant). Huntsville 5 (Mayes 3, Poor, Thomas). Rebounds – Farmington 29, Huntsville 17. Assists – Farmington 14, Huntsville 10. Steals – Farmington 19, Huntsville 3. Blocks – Farmington 0, Huntsville 1. Turnovers — Farmington 6, Huntsville 27.