Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Too Much Of Everything
A SALUTE TO FARMINGTON GIRLS STATE CHAMPS
FARMINGTON — The high regard opposing coaches and players held for Farmington’s girls basketball team went beyond a healthy respect as team after team realized their worst fears.
Farmington became the mostfeared team in Arkansas on its way to winning the school’s first team trophy since the 2011 softball team beat Ashdown in the softball finals. Farmington added to its heritage having won a Class 3A girls basketball state crown in 2004 under former coach Brad Blew.
Nobody, of course, wanted to lose to the eventual Class 4A State champions — but try as they might, they just couldn’t help it.
“It’s one of those things as a coach you dream of. It will always be one of the single greatest years in my life as a coach,” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson, now in his 21st year of coaching with 11 years as a girls head coach after succeeding Blew in 2009.
Tough To Beat
Opponents, who in past seasons managed to get one over on Farmington, found that next to impossible during 2019-20.
Batesville, which beat Farmington 72-59 on its home court in the quarterfinals on the way to winning it all in 2019, ate crow unable to live up to media predictions as the Class 4A State tournament favorite. The Lady Pioneers limped out of Cardinal Arena with a 76-64 defeat handed to them in the semifinals by Farmington on March 7, in spite of a 39-point barrage by junior Izzy Higginbottom.
Harrison, which beat Farmington
twice during the 2018-19 season, reeled off a 20-4 run in the District 4A-1 tournament finals at Prairie Grove on Feb. 22, 2020, but that only put them ahead by five at halftime. Brad Johnson made adjustments and the Lady Goblins managed only 17 points for the second half before losing 54-41, a feat Farmington replicated a week later in the 4A North Regional finals.
Pea Ridge banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer and pulled off an overtime win on Jan. 29, 2019. They tried with all their might to repeat that, taking Farmington into double overtime on Jan. 7, 2020, only to discover to their chagrin that a fourpoint lead and possession of the basketball wasn’t enough with 25 seconds left in the second overtime. Farmington emerged with a 48-47 win on Trinity Johnson’s trifecta with 2.6 seconds showing, the first and closest of four wins by the Lady Cardinals over Pea Ridge this season.
Not This Time
Berryville embarrassed the cold- shooting Lady Cardinals, winning 58-25 at Bobcat Arena on Jan. 15, 2019. Berryville hosted the 4A North Regional this year. Trinity Johnson emphasized a team mindset not to allow anything like that happen, and no team came close. Farmington went undefeated in conference ( 12- 0) and postseason (7-0), chalking up 19 of its 32 victories in games that mattered most.
“That’s the first thing we were talking about ’cause last time we came over here we normally get woken up 10 minutes before we get to Berryville and we didn’t last year,” Trinity Johnson said. “And so we made sure that everybody was up 15 minutes before we got here and that we were all awake and ready to play. We’re not about to get beat 25 like we did last year.”
Tourney Awards
Senior Makenna Vanzant was named Most Valuable Player for the 2020 Class 4A State Tournament. The 5-7 point-guard, who signed with Central Missouri, hit four 3- pointers chalking up 20 points, 6 assists and 3 blocked shots in a quarterfinal 65-48 victory over Pocahontas. She played well against Batesville, too, making 13-of-15 free throws and scoring 20 points to go with 6 assists and 2 steals.
Junior sharp- shooter Trinity Johnson, daughter of coach Brad Johnson, rose to the occasion during the state tournament. She came out blazing from 3- point range scoring 8 of Farmington’s first 12 points that were instrumental in getting the Lady Cardinals off to a good start while scoring 20 against Batesville. She finished with 12 against Pocahontas to make the All-State Tournament team.
Junior Tori Kersey scored 19 points against Batesville in addition to achieving a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the quarterfinal win over Pocahontas.
Kersey was also named to the All- State Tournament team.
Every player in the rotation including Audrey Culpepper, Joelle Tidwell, Carson Dillard, Morgan Brye and Kaci Drain contributed valuable minutes to winning Farmington’s state championship.
Too Much Cardinals
The Lady Cardinals (32-3) never lost to a Class 4A team. The Lady Cardinals were simply too resilient, too fast, too proficient at teamwork, too good on defense and most of all — too determined to win all the while having the time of their lives.
Country singer Daryle Singletary touched on the concept with the third single, “Too Much Fun,” from his self- titled debut album released in November 1995, which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles.
“Too much fun, what’s that mean?
It’s like too much money, there’s no such thing
It’s like a girl too pretty with too much class
Being too lucky, a car too fast
No matter what they say, I’ve done
But I ain’t never had too much fun”
The same could be said for the 2019-2020 Farmington girls basketball team designated as co-champions with Star City by the Arkansas Activities Association on April 6 with the state finals canceled in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.