DEFENSE GRINDS OUT WIN, WILSON GOES FOR RECORD IN FARMINGTON SWEEP

FARMINGTON -- Defense was Farmington's calling card from start to finish Tuesday against Siloam Springs. With the Lady Panthers playing a tough brand of defense themselves, Farmington opened 5A/6A District 1 with a grind-it-out type win as just enough offense in key spurts was enough to pull away from Siloam Springs for a 40-31 decision in Cardinal Arena. "If you went in that locker right now our girls would probably be disappointed because of our offense," Farmington girls basketball coach Brad Johnson said. "But they grind it out, played defense and rebounded and made plays when they had to. "And like I told them, had our conference started with losses today. We started on the half with wins, and this was a big process for us in the right step." Siloam Springs (4-11) fell behind 9-2 in the early minutes but locked in with half-court defense to bring the game down to its slower pace. For most of the contest, the Lady Panthers did enough to slow down Farmington's strong scoring threat led by Makenna Van Zant and Madison Pearce. The main problem for Siloam Springs was more of the offensive end. "I thought we defended well and for the most part we blocked out," Lady Panthers coach Tim Rippy said. "We just couldn't put the ball in the hole and we struggled to finish. "We tell our kids if you defend and hold a team to 40 you should have a chance to win. And we gave ourselves a chance, but we struggled to finish it." A 3-pointer by Chloe Price cut the Siloam Springs deficit to 27-24 in the closing minute of the third quarter, after the Lady Panthers played Farmington (11-3) within single digits throughout the first half. That was as close as Siloam Springs would get, however, as Pense and Van Zant got back-to-back three-point plays to spark an 8-0 run early into the fourth quarter. "I thought we executed when we had to," Johnson said. "We hit some big shots in some critical situations there at the end of the third. And we hit some free throws and hit some shots when we ran sets. "So we made plays, and that's going to be the league this year. The team that can find enough plays down the stretch to win are going to win in this league." Pense scored 14 and Van Zant 11 to lead Farmington, while Price led the Lady Panthers with 15. Farmington travels to Greenbrier on Friday and Siloam Springs returns home Friday to host Harrison. Boys Farmington 70, Siloam Springs 48 Matt Wilson broke the Siloam Springs' zone defense right from the start Tuesday, then went ahead and blasted a school scoring record. Wilson scored a Farmington single-game record 49 points, 25 which came by midway through the second quarter, as the Cardinals rolled past the Panthers. "It felt good, honestly," Wilson said. "After all the countless nights in the gym working on my game, it feels like it paid off. So to get the record means a lot."