MAUMELLE -- Farmington's girls appeared to be on their way to the Class 5A State Tournament semifinals with 12 minutes remaining Friday afternoon.
A few minutes later, the Lady Cardinals found themselves in trouble and never recovered.
LITTLE ROCK PARKVIEW 62, FARMINGTON 56
LR Parkview^7^16^23^16^—^62
Farmington^12^18^13^13^—^56
LR Parkview (20-9): Lasker 18, Alexander 16, Bangura 12, Larry 9, McGraw 5, Williams 1, Grant 1.
Farmington (26-6): Roach 15, Pense 14, Vanzant 10, Tidwell 6, Journagan 5, Jones 4, Ball 2.
Little Rock Parkview ran off 17 unanswered points to take the lead for good, and the Lady Patriots ended Farmington's season by taking a 62-56 decision in Hornet Gymnasium.
"Obviously, we would like to replay those 6 minutes if we could," Farmington coach Brad Johnson said. "It's like I told our kids: that stretch of 6 minutes doesn't define the season. We've had a lot of difficult situations, from illness to tragedy. This group kept rallying every single day.
"That's a level of toughness I've never seen before. It hurts now and hurts all of us. But in a few weeks when the sting wears off, these kids will go back and look at this season, look at this team and be proud of it for the rest of their lives. God knows I'm proud of them and go to war with them every single day."
Farmington (26-6) had stretched a 30-23 halftime lead into a 41-29 cushion after Madisyn Pense hit a pair of 3-pointers, and the Lady Cardinals still had a 43-34 cushion after Alexis Roach's bucket with 3 minutes, 12 seconds left in the third quarter. Farmington, however, wouldn't score again until Joelle Tidwell hit two free throws with 5:18 remaining.
It was the break Parkview (20-9) needed. The Lady Patriots closed out the third quarter with 12 unanswered points and took a 46-43 lead on Mikayla Alexander's three-point play, then started the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer by Kania Lasker and a bucket by Jaida Bangura for a 51-43 cushion.
"We had a couple of costly turnovers," Johnson said. "They got to the bucket two or three times, and they got some open looks that way. We also got into some foul trouble, and all of that compounded.
"We had some shots that didn't fall during that time, and that's the game of basketball. Sometimes you're going to miss those shots. We also missed some at the free-throw line, which is a little uncharacteristic. At the state tournament level, sometimes that happens."
Makenna Vanzant, which had just one point through the first three quarters, connected on a pair of three-point plays to pull Farmington within 57-54 with 55 seconds left, but that was as close as the Lady Cardinals could get.
Roach finished with 15 for Farmington, followed by Pense with 14 and Vanzant with 10. Lasker led Parkview with 18, while Alexander added 16 and Bangura 12.
Preps Basketball on 03/03/2018