Cardinal Takes Off

Maxwell Finds Ways To Score For Farmington

Haley Maxwell, a Farmington junior, is averaging 14 points per game for the Lady Cardinals. Farmington will compete in the 4A-North Regional Tournament in Maumelle.
Haley Maxwell, a Farmington junior, is averaging 14 points per game for the Lady Cardinals. Farmington will compete in the 4A-North Regional Tournament in Maumelle.

— Haley Maxwell has seen her role on the Farmington girls basketball team change dramatically this season.

A year ago, the senior-dominated Lady Cardinals leaned heavily on Lexi Lewis and Breanna Jones for the bulk of their scoring. Maxwell, then a sophomore, was more of a supporting player.

“Last year I had a completely different role,” she said. “Mainly my job was to not turn it over and play good defense, just not mess up.”

The Lady Cardinals advanced to the Class 4A title game using the inside play of Lewis and the slashing of Jones. But with both now graduated, Maxwell’s assignment has evolved into that of a scorer this season.

Schedule

Class 4A

North Region

At Maumelle

Girls

First Round

Today’s Games

Game 1: No. 1 Prairie Grove vs. No. 4 Dardanelle, 4 p.m.

Game 2: No. 1 Dover vs. No. 4 Gentry, 7 p.m.

Friday’s Games

Game 3: No. 2 Maumelle vs. No. 3 Ozark, 4 p.m.

Game 4: No. 2 Farmington vs. No. 3 Pottsville, 7 p.m.

Saturday’s Games

Game 5: Winner Game  1 vs. Winner Game 2, 4 p.m.

Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 7 p.m.

Monday’s Games

Consolation Round

Game 7: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, noon

Championship

Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 6 p.m.

The 5-foot-8 guard has embraced the new challenge, scoring 14.1 points per game to help the Lady Cardinals (20-8) advance to this week’s 4A-North Regional Tournament, which was scheduled to start Wednesday, but was pushed back a day due to wintry weather.

The Lady Cardinals, which earned the No. 2 seed from the 4A-1, open tournament play at 7 p.m. Friday against Pottsville, the No. 3 seed from the 4A-4. The winner will earn a berth in next week’s Class 4A state tournament in Cave City.

Farmington coach Brad Johnson said the experience Maxwell gained last year with a long playoff run has proven invaluable.

“She’s playing with a lot more confidence this year,” Johnson said. “What she does for us score a tremendous amount of points in transition. She understands how to get to the basket. She can get herself in scoring position.

“She does a good job of anticipating where to be on the floor. She has a tremendous basketball IQ. She just understands the game.”

Maxwell said she knew her role on the team this season would be to take on more of the scoring load with Jones and Lewis gone.

To prepare for the season, she said she spent a lot of time in the gym, working on her shooting from all over the court.

“We knew we’d get zoned up a lot,” she said. “We’re a fast team, so we had to prepare to find open spots on the floor and shoot the ball better.”

Maxwell has found plenty of open spots this season, and she’s taking advantage of them.

Said Johnson: “You watch her through the course of the game, and you know that she’s scoring points, here and there. Then you look at the stat sheet at the end of the game, and wow, she’s got 17, she’s got 19, she’s got 22.

“She just has a knack for being able to score the basketball. And that’s a gift. Not everybody has it.”

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