FARMINGTON - Prairie Grove played spoiler Saturday night at Meryl Massie Gymnasium.
The Lady Tigers, the No. 3 seed in the 4A-1 district tournament that was twice defeated by Farmington in the regular season, broke open a back-and-forth battle late in the third quarter as it defeated the Lady Cardinals 47-42 in the championship game.
“This is four years straight it’s been them and us in the district finals, and every time it’s been nip-and-tuck every game,” Prairie Grove Coach Kevin Froud said. “I was just extremely proud of the way our girls competed. We had kids come in and hit big shots.”
Freshman Parker Lopez’s three-pointer, followed by a putback by Ashley Cox with 1.9 seconds left in the third quarter, extended Prairie Grove’s lead to 32-27 going into the fourth quarter. TheLady Tigers made just one field goal the rest of the game but hit 13 of 17 from the freethrow line to put away Farmington.
Farmington (22-5) made just 5 of 10 free throws in the final quarter and 9 of 20 for the game.
“You can’t miss the easy ones,” Farmington Coach Brad Johnson said. “We got to the line, just like they did. We just didn’t convert.”
Lacey B eeks, P rairie Grove’s regular leading scorer, finished with 10 points but eight came from the freethrow line. Macie Kultgen added 10 for the Lady Tigers.
Tayton Hopkins led Farmington with 13.
BOYS PRAIRIE GROVE 52, FARMINGTON 46
Dylan Soehner scored a game-high 14 points and Ty Tice added 13 as Prairie Grove (16-11) won its third game in four days to capture the 4A-1 district tournament championship.
“Earlier in the year we lost those close games, but now we’ve won eight of the last nine,” Prairie Grove Coach Steve Edmiston said. “They say you want to be playing your best ball at the end, and we’re doing that right now.”
Farmington (15-11) pulled within two points at the end of the third quarter, but fell behind 42-36 early in the fourth quarter and could never recover.
“This time of year you’ve got to play your best ball, and we didn’t do that tonight,” Farmington Coach Beau Thompson said.
Mac Spears led the Cardinals with 14 points.
Sports, Pages 19 on 02/23/2014