FARMINGTON — With time running out for Pea Ridge to in-bound, officials called a foul on Farmington setting up Blakely Winn’s game-winning free throw with 3.9 seconds left.
“That was a tough way to lose it,” said Farmington coach Brad Johnson.
Pea Ridge coach Heath Neal said the game plan wasn’t really able to be executed because of a pressure defense employed by Farmington.
“I didn’t anticipate a full-court run and jump the whole game, which bothered us a little bit late,” Neal said. “We handled it pretty well in the first half. We played pretty well defensively other than [Tori] Kersey getting loose a lot. She had a career night.”
The Tuesday, Jan. 12, barn-burner girls basketball game won by Pea Ridge, 58-57, at Farmington was decided by a foul called on an inbounds as the ball was put into play.
Farmington senior forward Tori Kersey had just scored her 38th point of the contest by finishing a baseline drive to tie the game at 57-57 with 15 seconds left. Pea Ridge went on offense, advanced into the front-court and called time-out with five seconds remaining.
The Lady Blackhawks veered dangerously close to committing a 5-second violation with players jostling for position in the lane. A whistle blew the moment Pea Ridge attempted a risky pass lobbing the ball into the teeth of Farmington’s defense to the front of the rim. Winn set up on the right low block and was not open on the play. Farmington junior Morgan Brye blocked her path to the ball, which was thrown in from the left side.
In an effort to create space, Winn leaned hard into Brye but couldn’t move her. The Lady Cardinal 5-9 forward bent over slightly from the impact with Winn crashing upon her back and reaching out trying to make a catch in traffic. Winn was not able to secure the ball, but Pea Ridge’s tallest player, 5-11 Sydney Spears, grabbed it off a deflection and put up a shot that missed at pointblank range.
Officials ruled no shot. Foul charged to Farmington’s Brye, her second, and the 12th team foul assessed against the Lady Cardinals during the second half sending Winn to the free-throw-line to shoot a double bonus.
Contradictory to the seven seconds remaining as reported in the state-wide newspaper, only 3.9 seconds showed when Winn made the first free throw. Those 3.1 seconds that didn’t exist made a huge difference, because Winn’s second free-throw coming out of a Farmington time-out rattled off the rim.
A lot of contact ensued and Farmington couldn’t get a handle on the rebound with Pea Ridge players rising over them. No foul was called. The ball fell out-of-bounds and was ruled in possession of Farmington. Only 2.2 seconds were left at that juncture. Farmington took time-out, in-bounded at the far end, and managed to get Carson Dillard’s desperation shot off from beyond half-court. The shot missed and Pea Ridge claimed a 58-57 win.
Pea Ridge played brilliantly in the first half starting 5-of-6 from 3-point range in the first quarter. Gracie McGarrah scored all 15 of her points in the first half including four treys in the first quarter.
Foul calls against Farmington senior, Trinity Johnson, daughter of coach Brad Johnson, and the player who made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to knock off Pea Ridge, 48-47, in double overtime on the Lady Blackhawks’ home-court a year ago on Jan. 10, 2020; took her out for most of the game. A foul called against Trinity Johnson with no time showing on the first quarter clock enabled Pea Ridge to take a 10-point lead, 23-13, into the second quarter on Lauren Wright’s free throws.
Trinity Johnson sat out the second quarter and Winn’s steal and layup with time expiring extended Pea Ridge’s lead to a dozen points, 39-27, at halftime.
“Any time we can score 39 points in the first half, that’s a really good deal,” Neal said. “Our kids hit shots in the first half. They got in our legs a little bit so we didn’t hit those shots in the second half.”
Twenty-two seconds into the third another foul was whistled against Trinity Johnson and she went back to the bench.
Pea Ridge led 44-35 after three quarters and when Trinity Johnson came back out to start the fourth quarter 37 seconds elapsed before she got tagged with her fourth personal. She returned around the three-minute mark and drilled a 3-pointer cutting Pea Ridge’s lead to 51-47 with 2:34 to play.
Kersey scored 17 points in the fourth leading a furious Farmington rally scoring with either hand. At the 1:44 mark she drove right and banked in a shot. Kersey took a steal coast-to-coast and after Winn converted both ends of a 1-and-1, Kersey scored off a spin move going to her left bringing Farmington to within, 53-55, with 1:11 to go.
Aiden Dayberry took a shot in the mouth and checked out. Pea Ridge fans wanted a foul, but didn’t get one.
Josey Goldberg replaced her in the line-up and hit 2-of-4 free throws sandwiched around a short jumper by Kersey keeping the Lady Blackhawk lead at two. The athletic Kersey did a tap dance down the baseline tying the game at 57-all and setting up what fans thought might be a thrilling finish before the last foul call.