Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Regional Champs To Host State
BERRYVILLE — Harrison hasn’t lost to any Arkansas team this season except Farmington, which beat the Lady Goblins 63-52 Saturday to win the 4A North Regional championship at Berryville’s Bobcat Arena.
The win gives Farmington a No. 1 seed and first-round bye coming into this week’s Class 4A State girls basketball tournament which Farmington is hosting this year. The Lady Cardinals tip-off state tourney action at Cardinal Arena Thursday at 4 p.m. versus the winner of a Wednesday’s first-round game between Crossett and Pocahontas.
Farmington coach Brad Johnson thinks Harrison is one of the best teams in Arkansas and may have all the tools to potentially reach the state finals. To beat such a top-notch opponent satisfies the veteran coach.
“They’re one of the best teams we’ve seen all-year long and they’re very well coached. They got great players in five spots, they can score at all three levels — so to be able to come back, to come from behind which we had to do again against them and make plays down the stretch and win, it’s a great win for our program,” Brad Johnson said.
Harrison looked much sharper in the first quarter than they did in a 54-41 loss to Farmington the previous week in the District 4A-1 championship at Prairie Grove. The Lady Goblins led 9-3 early on a trifecta and old-fashioned 3-point play by Mariah Hudson, but Farmington scored 12 of the next 20 points.
Hudson made a layup off a turnover with 5.5 seconds left in the quarter, but Makenna Vanzant, who wisely did not foul, took the in- bounds pass and raced up-court banking in a 3-pointer, that drew rousing cheers from Lady Cardinal fans, to beat the buzzer.
“That was a big shot. We’d just come off a turnover and they scored points off it. Makenna being a senior guard and doing all the things that she does, she had enough wherewithal to take the inbounds pass and immediately run it to halfcourt and try to get herself an open space,” Brad Johnson said. “And that was a monster shot. It really changed the momentum.”
The exploit cut Harrison’s lead to 17-15 at the end of the first quarter and Farmington forged a 25-25 tie at halftime. The Lady Cardinals took their first lead on Joelle Tidwell’s 3-point play in the third quarter. Marion Groberg answered with a 3-pointer to even the score at 30-30.
Harrison watched Torie Kersey eat up Pea Ridge’s defense on the baseline the night before and designed their defense to contain her. Kersey scored only two points, but contributed with blocked shots, rebounds and assists.
Kersey fed Vanzant cutting to the basket and Farmington regained the lead. Hudson gave Harrison its last lead with another 3-pointer midway through the third, but the Lady Cardinals had an answer for everything Harrison threw at them. Farmington closed out the third with a 12-3 run to take a 44-36 lead into the fourth.
With so much attention focused on Kersey, the Lady Cardinals found other means to score. Audrey Culpepper’s turnaround coming out of a time- out was followed by Trinity Johnson’s 3-pointer in the corner. Next occurred a fiveor-six point swing. Harrison missed three shots in one offensive sequence only to have Culpepper bust a trey at the other end.
Vanzant drew a charge then caught a pass in front of the rim. Two Lady Goblins surrounded her, but she deftly used a Euro step to slip left and lay the ball in. Sidney Shrum ended a 3: 44 Harrsion scoring drought with a 3-pointer, the last points of the third.
Harrison made another charge scoring 8 straight points capped by Hudson’s 4-point play to draw within 51- 49 with 5: 16 remaining in the fourth. Brad Johnson took time-out prior to Hudson’s free throw after getting fouled on a successful 3-point shot and stabilized his team.
Vanzant drove and put in one of her patented off-balance layups. Harrison’s legs were weary trying to keep up with Farmington’s running game and a 3-ball bounced out. Vanzant wrested the rebound out of the hands of a Lady Goblin avoiding a jump- ball and pushed the ball up- court where she delivered it to sophomore Morgan Brye on the low block.
Brye turned left and banked in a shot at the 3:22 mark and Vanzant added a pair of foul shots to culminate a 6-0 mini-run and up the margin to 8 points with Farmington leading 57-49.
The Lady Cardinals sank 6-of-7 free throws over the final 1:13 to seal the win.
“Our bench play did good again. You start talking about Morgan Brye, Carson Dillard and Kasi Drain and what they brought to the table, they allowed us to stay in that game and they just keep doing what they do,” Brad Johnson said. “We needed these kinds of wins to propel you for hopefully what’s going to be a run in the state tournament.”
FARMINGTON 63, HARRISON 52
Farmington 15 10 19 19 — 63 Harrison 17 8 11 16 — 52 Harrison (28-4): Mariah Hudson 4 2-5 13, Sidney Shrum 4 1-1 12, Marion Groberg 4 2-2 10, Brynn Oleson 2 2-2 6, Kenzie Parker 2 2-4 6, Caroline Cecil 2 0-0 5. Totals 18 9-13 52. Farmington (31-3): Makenna Vanzant 6 6-6 20, Audrey Culpepper 4 2-3 12, Joelle Tidwell 3 5-5 11, Trinity Johnson 2 2-2 8, Carson Dillard 2 0-0 6, Morgan Brye 1 2-2 4, Torie Kersey 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 17-18 63. 3-Point Goals — Farmington 8 (Vanzant 2, Trinity Johnson 2, Culpepper 2, Dillard 2), Harrison 7 (Hudson 3, Shrum 3, Cecil). Rebounds — Farmington 30, Harrison 28. Assists – Farmington 13, Harrison 11. Steals – Farmington 5, Harrison 3. Blocks – Farmington 4, Harrison 1. Fouled Out — Cecil, Shrum.