FARMINGTON — Even before Tahlon and Tayton Hopkins walked through the door, Farmington had big hopes for its senior high girls basketball team.
PROFILES
ALL-NWA MEDIA CO-NEWCOMERS OF THE YEAR TAYTON HOPKINS TAHLON HOPKINS
SCHOOL: Farmington SCHOOL: Farmington CLASS: Freshman CLASS: Junior POSITION: Point Guard POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 5-8 HEIGHT: 5-10 NOTABLE: Named All-Conference. NOTABLE: Named State and All-… Averaged 9.0 points, 4.09 assist, Conference. … Averaged 10 points, 2.8 steals and 2.6 rebounds per 8 rebounds and 2.4 block shots per game. … First year of high school game. … First year of high school basketball after previously playing basketball after previously playing in the Tri-State Home-School in the Tri-State Home-School Athletic Association. Athletic Association. Hopkins duo had guided the NWA Hornets of the Tri-State Home School Athletic Association to a national runner-up finish in both 2011 and 2013, and all through the season their play for the Lady Cardinals didn’t disappoint.
But the addition of the sisters, playing their first season of high school basketball, took the Lady Cardinals to another level.
“There’s no question they made our basketball team better,” Farminton coach Brad Johnson said. “The best thing about the whole situation was just how good of people they are. They came in and fi t right in with our team.”
Tahlon, a junior forward, and Tayton, a freshman point guard, are home-schooled students in the Farmington district. Before this year they hadn’t played with the Lady Cardinals, or any other high school team. But an Arkansas Activities Association rule passed last summer allows home-schooled students to participate in interscholastic activities for the school district in which they live, as long as they meet requirements by passing the SAT-10 Assessment before they participate in any activities.
With all the necessary requirements in place, the Hopkins sisters made the decision to give high school basketball a shot this season.
“The whole gameplan and watching fi lm was the biggest change,” Tayton said. “We had never done that before. So that was the biggest diff erence.
“But we had come up and watched the team practice in the summer and we had a good feel for the team before we came on board. It took a little while to get a good mesh, but we knew we had a good team and we worked well together.”
Farmington had high hopes even before the addition of the two sisters and even bigger expectations after. The
Helping to guide Farmington to a 4A-1 Conference title, a regional championship and a semifi nal spot in the Class 4A playoffs, Tahlon and Tayton Hopkins are the All-NWA Media Co-Newcomers of the Year for schools in Class 5A and below.
“Tahlon really helped us on defense,” Johnson said. “The way she could block shots in there, it really changed things. And Tayton, she gets 4.09 assists per game. For a freshman. That’s a great number.
“You really couldn’t have asked for the situation to have gone any better than it did with them coming in this fi rst year.”
Tahlon gave Farmington size and strength in the low post, averaging 10 points, eight rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots per game. Tayton was the Lady Cardinals quarterback on the court, scoring 9 points with her 4.09 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
Both Hopkins sisters agreed the biggest takeaway from their first year of high school basketball was simply being a part of the team.
“The team sleepover, that was one of the most fun things we did,” Tahlon said. “Just getting to know the other girls on the team was the best part.”
And the hardest part was not winning in the end. Farmington’s loss to Malvern in the state semifinals left a bitter taste in these girls’ mouths. Because above all else, joining the Lady Cardinals was about winning.
“For me it’s always about winning,” Tahlon said. “I hate to lose.
“Awards, they’re great, but we came to Farmington to win a state championship.”