Farmington's shooters let it fly in the Lady Cardinals' 5A/6A District 1 opener Wednesday at Siloam Springs.
The Lady Cardinals buried 14 shots from behind the 3-point in a 72-61 victory over the Lady Panthers inside Panther Activity Center.
Makenna Vanzant hit six from long range and led Farmington (12-2, 1-0) with 27 points, while Madisyn Pense had five 3-pointers and scored 20 points.
Camryn Journagan contributed a first-quarter 3-pointer and added 13 points, while former Siloam Springs forward Alexis Roach hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second half and chipped in 10 points.
"I think we're pretty fortunate to have some kids that can shoot the basketball," said Farmington coach Brad Johnson. "We've got some versatile kids that can play a lot of positions, and that makes us difficult to guard."
Chloe Price led Siloam Springs with 18 points, while Morgan Vaughn had 16.
Farmington led 26-21 at halftime, and Siloam Springs cut it to 26-24 on a Vaughn 3-pointer to open the second half.
Vanzant answered with three straight 3-pointers as the Lady Cardinals began to pull away.
Vanzant's third trey gave the Lady Cardinals a 35-25 lead, and Roach scored inside to extend the lead to 12 points on the Lady Cardinals' next possession.
Roach, a junior who saw extensive playing time as a sophomore at Siloam Springs, hit back-to-back 3-pointers later in the third quarter to give Farmington a 43-29 lead.
The Lady Cardinals took a 47-37 lead into the fourth quarter. The Lady Panthers were able to trim the lead down to 51-44 after a Holleback basket and Vaughn 3-pointer, but Farmington got two straight 3-pointers from Pense to extend the lead back out to 13 points. The Lady Cardinals would lead by as many as 17 points in the second half.
"We played hard and lost to a very good team," said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. "At the end of the day, they shot the ball extremely well, and we give them a lot of credit."
Farmington seemed to be on the verge of running away with it in the first half. The Lady Cardinals scored the first nine points of the game after Vanzant, Roach and Pense scored on fastbreak layups, followed by a 3-pointer from Vanzant.
The Lady Panthers answered with seven straight on a three-point play from Shelby Johnson, a basket by Chloe Price and two free throws from Johnson to cut it to 9-7.
Farmington then took control, pulling ahead by as many as nine points on two different occasions before Siloam Springs ended the half on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 26-21 after baskets by Johnson and Hadlee Hollenback.
Farmington 72, Siloam Springs 61
Farmington^18^8^21^25 ^--^72
Siloam Springs^12^9^16^2^ --^61
Farmington: Vanzant 27, Pense 20, Journagan 13, Roach 10, Taylor 2.
Siloam Springs: Price 18, M. Vaughn 16, Hollenback 8, Johnson 7, Shreve 3, Noel 3, Williams-Loftis 3, A. Vaughn 2, Harried 1.
Sports on 01/07/2018