Lady Cardinals Punch Ticket To State

FARMINGTON BLOWS OUT OZARK 67-32

MORRILTON — Farmington (24-6) locked in its third straight trip to state and seventh in the last 10 years with a runaway 67-32 win over Ozark last Wednesday at the Class 4A North Region hosted by Morrilton.

“The No. 1 goal last night in the first-round of Regionals was to punch the ticket (to state),” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson. “And for us now is how good can we play over the next couple of games of seeding? We know that we’re in the state tournament at this point and so we’re just going to work to that end of trying to be the best basketball team we can be and be playing our best basketball at the right time.”

In a meeting of tradition-rich girls basketball programs which last met in Regional play at the 4A North championship at Lincoln on March 1, 2014, with Farmington winning 56-46, the Lady Cardinals had the upper hand. Farmington competed in the 5A ranks for the past four seasons.

Farmington jumped out to a 12-5 first quarter lead on the strength of 3-pointers by Madisyn Pense and Makenna Vanzant alternating between Joelle Tidwell’s feed to Alexis Roach in the paint and Audrey Culpepper’s putback setup by Vanzant’s blocked shot at the other end. The Cardinal point-guard pushed the ball up and found Kersey inside. Her shot was off, but Culpepper cleaned up on the boards.

Kersey added 6 more points in the second to help Farmington achieve a 25-17 halftime lead.

Ozark pulled within five points early in the third before the Lady Cardinals erupted hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the period.

Trinity Johnson backed out with an offensive rebound then hit a 3-pointer. She set up Makenna Vanzant’s trifecta on a cross-court pass. Alexis Roach’s blocked shot triggered a fast-break with Vanzant pushing the ball and dishing to Madisyn Pense for a 3-point basket giving Farmington a 34-20 lead at the 5:05 mark.

Lauren Nagel drained a three for Ozark, but Farmington piled up the next 10 points lickety split stretching its lead to 44-23 on a pair of Kersey foul shots at the 1:25 mark. Pense came off a screen to nail a trifecta keeping Farmington’s cushion above 20, at 49-28, to close out the third.

Culpepper put in another Farmington miss to get the lead up to 31 points (63-32) activating a running clock with the sportsmanship rule in effect for the last three minutes as reserves took to the court for both teams.

Roach and Kersey led the Lady Cardinals with 14 points apiece while Pense chipped in 11.

The win advanced Farmington into Friday’s semifinal.

Savannah Scheffer led Ozark with 9 points.

FARMINGTON 67, OZARK 32

Ozark 5 12 11 4 — 32 Farmington 12 13 24 18 — 67 Farmington (24-6): Alexis Roach 5 4-6 14, Tori Kersey 6 2-4 14, Madisyn Pense 4 0-0 11, Makenna Vanzant 3 1-2 9, Trinity Johnson 3 0-0 8, Audrey Culpepper 2 2-2 6, Joelle Tidwell 1 1-2 3. Totals 22 11-14 67. Ozark (14-16): Savannah Scheffer 4 0-0 9, Kelsee Barnett 3 2-3 8, Kayla Barnett 1 4-7 6, Summer Joy 2 0-0 4, Lauren Nagel 1 0-0 3, Anna Grace Gibbons 1 0-0 2, Mary Grace Ree 0 0-2 0. Totals 12 6-12 32. 3-Point Goals — Farmington 6 (Pense 3, Johnson 2, Vanzant), Ozark 2 (Schaffer, Nagel). Rebounds — Ozark 18, Farmington 32 (Vanzant 10). Assists — Ozark 6, Farmington 17 (Vanzant 7). Steals — Ozark 3, Farmington 7 (Vanzant 4). Blocks — Ozark 1, Farmington 1.