Farmington Weathers Fourth Quarter Storm

LADY CARDINALS CLAIM THIRD IN HOLIDAY TOURNEY

— Despite taking a pounding on the boards, other areas of Farmington’s game excelled empowering the Lady Cardinals to defeat Watson’s Chapel, 66-61, Dec. 28.

The victory gave Farmington (14-2) third-place during the First Arkansas Bail Bonds Invitational at Mountain Home while Watson’s Chapel (7-5) finished fourth.

Farmington coach Brad Johnson isn’t taking the lop- sided final score for granted, calling Watson’s Chapel a perennial powerhouse out of 5A coached by Leslie Henderson, whom Brad Johnson hails as “a future Hall-of-Famer.” Farmington held on in spite of being outscored 25-15 by Watson’s Chapel in the fourth. Watson’s Chapel closed within 59-55 on Maya Trotter’s field goal, but

Makenna Vanzant put the game away at the free-throwline in the final minute. She made 11-of-14 foul shots.

The benefit for the Lady Cardinals girls basketball team, according to Brad Johnson, was exposure to a variety of competition.

“We got to see a lot of different styles of basketball, a lot of real quality players, go against some quality coaches and quality schemes,” Brad Johnson said.

Audrey Culpepper blocked a number of shots in the paint throughout the first half as Watson’s Chapel learned the hard way how effective she’s become as a rim-protector. She finished with 4 for the game. The Lady Cardinals shot better than 50 percent from the field while holding Watson’s Chapel to 33 percent shooting. Farmington racked up 14 assists, 9 steals and 5 blocks.

Farmington fell behind 10-2 in the first before they got going. Trinity Johnson nailed a pair of treys in the quarter and Vanzant and Tori Kersey both converted fastbreak layups to help the Lady Cardinals move in front 20-18 at the end of the first. Vanzant took a steal the length of the court and Carson Dillard made a trey in the second as the Lady Cardinals extended their lead to 33-27 at halftime.

Trinity Johnson and Culpepper uncorked treys in the third and Farmington held a 51-36 cushion going into the fourth before the Lady Wildcats made an all-out charge. Ky’aria Ginger led Watson’s Chapel with 17. Nine of her points came in the final period which saw six different players put points on the board for Watson’s Chapel.

Vanzant led all scorers with 24 points for the Lady Cardinals. Her all-around effort generated an impact in multiple categories. Vanzant contributed 3 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 steals, and a blocked shot. Kersey added 16 points on 8- of-10 shooting to go with 6 rebounds and 3 steals while Trinity Johnson had 14, including four 3-pointers.