The large crowd of fans inside Hal Henard Gym Monday night saw the second straight quarterfinal game go down to the wire as the Upperman Bees from Baxter took a 54-51 win over the Cardinals from Farmington, Ark.
A possible game-tying shot by Farmington as the final horn was nearing careened away and the Bees are headed to the Tuesday night semifinals.
Stars were abundant for both teams. Taylor Dolente finished with 16 points and made 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the final 2:30 of the game for Upperman. Gracie Butler finished with 14. On the other bench, Farmington’s pure shooting guard Easton McCollough made seven 3-pointers (7-of-10 from behind the arc), some from almost unheard of positions, and finished with 25 points to go along with four assists and five steals. The Cardinals lost despite shooting 54 percent from the field in the game (19-35).
The Cardinals got a 3-pointer by McCollough followed by a layup by Sadie Morrison to overcome a 45-41 Upperman lead and take a 46-45 advantage with 2:44 left.
Two straight Farmington turnovers resulted in free throws by McCollough that kept the Bees in the lead. An off-balance bucket from the right elbow by McCollough with 14 seconds to go got Farmington to within 53-51.
Morrison made another free throw after an immediate foul by the Cards to put the Bees up 54-51, giving Farmington a chance to get a 3-pointer to tie. But a shot by Kameron Farish from the left corner hit the side of the backboard and bounced off as Upperman moves on.
Upperman (54): South 2-6 0-0 6, Taylor Dolente 3-6 8-8 16, Gracie Butler 4-7 6-9 14, M.Butler 2-7 2-2 7, Carson 4-6 1-2 9, Crouch 0-0 2-2 2, Stone 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-32 19-23 54.
Farmington (51): Easton McCollough 9-13 0-0 25, Dillard 1-4 0-0 3, Shirey 2-4 0-0 6, Thornton 3-5 1-1 7, Morrison 4-7 1-2 9, Farish 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-35 3-4 51.
3-Point Goals: UHS—5 (South 2, Dolente 2, M.Butler). FHS—10 (McCollough 7, Shirey 2, Dillard).
Score by quarters:
Upperman 21 7 12 14–54
Farmington 16 10 6 19–51
