BERRYVILLE -- Berryville outscored Farmington 24-9 in the second quarter to open up a 37-15 halftime lead and cruised to a 54-25 victory over the Lady Cardinals at Bobcat Arena on Tuesday.
Lady Bobcats coach Daniel Cornelison had his team prepared and took Farmington out of its up-tempo game.
"We watched a bunch of film on them. We knew what they could do really well and one thing was transition. We knew we had to keep them out of transition," Cornelison said. "I thought we did just an incredible job of slowing them down and kind of getting the game more at a speed and a pace we wanted it."
The first half was all Lady Bobcats. They controlled the defensive boards and intimidated Farmington's inside game.
Berryville (20-0, 5-0 4A-1 Conference) took an early 4-1 lead on a lob from Baylea Smith to Kelcee Hopper. The Lady Bobcats' size was a factor. Farmington didn't get much inside other than Makenna Vanzant's putback that pulled Farmington within 10-6, but Berryville finished the quarter with a 13-6 lead after Smith hit a 3-pointer.
The second quarter was all Berryville, who scored the first 18 points of the second, getting back-to-back treys from Smith after Lexy Anderson's offensive rebound and assist followed by Anderson's 3-pointer from the right wing. Hannah Morrell scored twice. Smith added another 3-pointer and Hopper hit an easy turnaround in front of the rim.
Berryville led 31-6 with 3 minutes, 17 seconds left in the first half.
The Lady Cardinals outscored Berryville 9-6 in the last 2:31 beginning with Vanzant's drive and shot over the towering timber of Berryville's dual 6-footers, Hopper and Morrell, but still trailed 37-15 at the half.
With her first field goal of the third quarter, Hopper reached 1,000 points for her career joining four other players on the court, who have each achieved the same benchmark this season. Smith and Morrell for Berryville; as well as Vanzant and Madisysn Pense of Farmington. Hopper finished with a game-high 18 points.
Hopper was nervous as the game got underway and didn't want to have to worry about scoring, but it didn't take long for her to loosen up.
"I was nervous that I wasn't going to get it, but the game started playing and we started off really good so I knew that was nothing to worry about," Hopper said. "I just needed to worry about playing as a team, but then when I got it, I don't even know how to describe it. It's an amazing feeling and having it at home and all these people cheering for me it was just an amazing feeling."
Berryville extended its lead to 51-19 in the third. No Lady Cardinal other than Vanzant, who finished with 11 points, had more than one field goal.
Smith hit a trio of 3-pointers adding 15 points for Berryville while Morrell chipped in 11.
Cornelison relished the victory, but soon turned his mind to preparing for a road game at Pea Ridge on Friday.
"We knew going into this game how good Farmington was and we knew that we had to play at a high level tonight, and to get this victory moving forward only gives us confidence," Cornelison said. "We've got another big game Friday night against Pea Ridge, another state-ranked team on the road. It's going to be an unbelievable test. It was nice to get this one, obviously. We were concerned because they do so many things well, but it was nice to get this win and hopefully it will just lead us on to bigger and better things."
Farmington^6^9^4^6^--^25
Berryville^13^24^14^3^--^54
Farmington (14-3, 4-1): Vanzant 11, Johnson 4, Culpepper 4, Pense 3, Roach 2, Tidwell 1.
Berryville: (20-0, 5-0): Hopper 18, Smith 15, Morrell 11, Anderson 7, Thurman 2.
BOYS
Farmington 67, Berryville 53
Farmington built a second-half lead and held off a Berryville charge in the fourth quarter.
Foul problems plagued Farmington almost from the tip-off. The Cardinals committed 9 team fouls in the first quarter alone but still managed to assume a 21-16 lead after one quarter. Berryville closed to within, 36-33, at halftime.
Both Farmington centers, starter Austin Shelley and backup Tony Mayo, drew their fourth personal foul in the third quarter. Will Pridmore played post on offense scoring on a lob to start a 12-2 Farmington run that gave the Cardinals a 54-40 lead with 7:29 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Bobcats ended a 3:42 scoring drought, then put together a 9-0 run to close within, 54-49, on J.D. Smith's free throws with 5:25 to go. From that juncture Farmington applied a heavy dosage of Pridmore in the paint and the senior responded with three quick field goals that coupled with Danny Valenzuela's 2-for-2 trip to the line restored the Cardinals to a double-digit lead of 62-51 at the 3:03 mark.
Pridmore scored 28 points for Farmington to lead all scorers while Valenzuela added 11.
Zach Webb led Berryville with 14 with Smith also in double figures with 10.
Berryville^16^17^7^13^--^53
Farmington^21^15^15^16^--^67
Farmington (14-6, 5-0): Pridmore 28, Valenzuela 11, Watson 8, Vollmer 7, Shelley 4, Mayo 4, Montez 3, Whitmore 2.
Berryville (9-11, 3-2): Webb 14, Smith 10, Kendrick 8, Peden 7, Logan 5, Davidson 3, Chester 3, Lehr 3.
Preps Sports on 01/16/2019