PINE BLUFF — Dumas coach Glory Slater knew going into the Class 4A state basketball tournament that the Lady Cats were going to have to improve in three key categories to stave off early elimination — shoot well, limit turnovers and rebound.
Dumas did neither of those things well Thursday against Farmington in opening-round action and was bounced from the season finale with a 50-27 loss.
“We have been doing it all year,” Slater said. “We have missed shots inside, in the lane. We have been standing there watching the game. And (Farmington) got some offensive rebounds and scored. That team, and I’m not just saying this, that team is not 23 points better than we are.”
But the Lady Cats (18-11) had trouble in the shooting department for the entirety of the contest, connecting on 9 of 38 shots from the floor in the first three periods and making just one field goal in the final stanza in 14 attempts.
“That’s the story of our life,” Slater said. “And I bet most of those were in the lane.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The turnover battle didn’t fall in Dumas’ favor either as the Lady Cats gave the Lady Cardinals the ball 16 times on unforced errors. Rebounding was critical as well, with the Lady Cardinals holding an 18-13 advantage.
Dumas had the early momentum, holding a 9-5 lead after the initial period. But Farmington went on a 14-2 run to lead 18-14 mid-way through the second and led 23-16 at the halftime break.
Dumas missed its final 13 shots of the game.
Slater said her returning players are expected to learn from this year’s miscues.
“If they don’t get the fundamentals down, we aren’t going anywhere,” she said. “I worked so hard. I was up until 4 o’clock in the morning watching film. Well, I was up ‘til 3 then the lights went off for an hour. I guess that was the Lord saying I needed to go to bed because what I was doing was going to be in vain.”
Shabr’an Richardson led all scorers with 19 points in her final game as a Lady Cat.
Breanna Jones led Farmington (24-7) with a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 10 boards. Payton Journagan added 11 for the Lady Cards.