Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Cards Finish As State Runner-Up
FARMINGTON GIRLS FALL TO HARRISON
HOT SPRINGS — Farmington helped create a monster that 4A-1 girls basketball has become and bowed to that across-the-board strength, losing Saturday’s state championship, 68-54, to league rival, Harrison.
The Lady Goblins benefited from a week to prepare for their fourth game of the season against Farmington after losing the previous two contests in postseason and were able to capitalize on strengths they couldn’t fully implement during a 76-64 loss in the District 4A-1 semifinals and a 63-61 loss to the Lady Cardinals in the 4A North Regional consolation game two weeks ago.
“It was our fourth time to play them and there were no secrets coming in so hat’s off to them,” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson, adding, “But one thing I want to say about our basketball team is how unbelievably proud I am of them … I’ve said this before and I told it to them again, one game doesn’t define our season.”
Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud is another coach responsible for molding 4A-1 girls basketball into a powerhouse. He makes no bones about the strength of the league.
“In the Class 4A, our conference is the toughest one there is in the state. I think there was two or three teams that you put them in any other league around the state and they probably win it. They didn’t even make it to the state tournament or didn’t even make it to the Regional tournament,” Froud said. “We had a lot of ladies that didn’t make the All-State team because we just had so many good players in this league.”
Harrison point guard Alex Hill, honored as Most Valuable Player of the State tournament, forced Farmington to change defensive assignments early by driving to the basket and scoring 5 of Harrison’s first 7 points to establish an early 7-0 lead. This became a scenario she would repeat throughout the contest while scoring 30 points and using her lateral quickness to pull down 10 rebounds.
Farmington did adjust with junior Megan Hernandez laboring to stay in front of Hill, but the threat was always there and the Lady Cardinals couldn’t keep the ball out of Hill’s hands. She made 13-of-17 free throws, many coming down the stretch with Farmington fouling to stop the clock.
Trinity Johnson broke the ice for the Lady Cardinals by getting to the free-throw line and making a pair, but midway through the first period, Farmington had only 7 points when Trinity Johnson drained a trifecta reducing the deficit to 13-7 and trailed 20-15 at the end of the first quarter.
Harrison made good use of its size advantage on the low block with freshman Reese Ricketts producing a double- double off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds. In prior games Farmington was able to draw her out away from the basket and drive by her, but this time she remained a solid fixture in the low post.
Farmington pulled within four points at 22-18 in the second quarter on Trinity Johnson’s 3-point play, but Harrison went on a 15-4 run and led by as many as 15 points before Farmington freshman Reese Shirey nailed a 3-pointer with just over a minute left. Four points and steady rebounding from Ricketts helped Harrison take a 37-25 lead into halftime.
Tori Kersey topped Farmington with 27 points and took a steal coast-to-coast, trimming Harrison’s lead to 50-41 at the end of the third quarter. Kersey scored three straight points as Farmington closed to within, 52-47, at the 3:02 mark of the fourth, but that was as close as they would get.
Harrison scored the next 8 points to widen the gap to 60-47 on Hill’s free throws with 1:19 left. The Lady Cardinals forced Harrison to make foul shots to beat them, but couldn’t come up with baskets on the offensive end and the game slipped away down the stretch. Dillard got a trey to bounce in making the final 68-54.
The loss brought an end to Brad Johnson’s 6-game winning streak in state tournament play including a pair of wins from 2020 when the Lady Cardinals reached the State Finals and didn’t get to play because of covid and were declared co-champions with Star City.
“For us, this thing started last year at this time, not being able to take the floor and we graduated a bunch of seniors from off that team, and to have this group come back and battle the way they did all year, just kind of stayed together, stayed focused and put themselves in position to play at state and have a chance to win a state championship is unbelievable,” Brad Johnson said.