By: KJ Cardinal
FARMINGTON, NH – When the final buzzer sounded on The Bash a season ago, the Farmington girls found themselves on the losing end of a one-point title game. The Tigers appeared to have kept the receipt on that feeling as they ran roughshod on the field at this year’s event to come away with the title at the 45th Annual Mike Lee Holiday Basketball Bash at Farmington High School.
Farmington defeated Portsmouth Christian Academy, 61-42, on Monday night in front of a packed house at The Jungle to capture its first Bash crown since 2009. The Tigers have now won nine titles in tournament history, breaking a tie with Kennett for the most championships in the event’s existence.
The Tigers dominated the state’s largest holiday tournament from the onset, winning their four games by an average margin of 28.5 points per game. They did so with wins over Division II Sanborn and Coe-Brown, a victory over D-III Raymond and the final triumph against D-IV foe PCA.
In the final, Farmington came out the gates hot on both ends of the floor and took a commanding 20-6 lead after the first quarter of play. The Tigers got eight points in the opening stanza from 6-foot junior Anna Cardinal to set the tone against the undersized Eagles squad.
PCA wasn’t about to rollover, however, as the Eagles chipped away at the Tigers lead and trailed by 11 at the half, 29-18.
The second half belonged to Farmington as sophomore Zoey Johnson pumped in eight third-quarter points and freshman Shaylee DiPrizio closed out the fourth with seven of her own to put a bow on the dominant victory.
DiPrizio finished with a game-high 19 points and was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Johnson tallied 16 of her own and joined DiPrizio on the All-Tournament Team, alongside senior Madi Ricker (8 points). Cardinal netted 12 points on the night, with 10 of them coming in the first half.
For the tourney, the Tigers had four players nearly average double-digits as DiPrizio (19.0 points per game), Johnson (16.5), Cardinal (9.0) and Ricker (9.0) led Farmington throughout the five-day event.
PCA was paced by Ava Buchanan’s 17 points, while Jaela Stockbower added 10 of her own. The duo were also named to the All-Tournament team along with Emma LaPierre of Coe-Brown and Kourtney Kaplan of Franklin.
The Belmont girls were awarded the Team Sportsmanship Award and PCA’s Tilly Arico received the Bill & Betty Vachon Award for individual sportsmanship.
Check out the full photo gallery of the event by KJ Cardinal…
