Harris Dominates as North Farmington Rolls Over Falcons

entered with the undefeated divisional record, but left Tuesday’s game with a lopsided victory.

Tempo, turnovers and a whole lot of Jasmine Harris made the difference for the Raiders (6-5, 3-2 OAA Red) in an impressive 47-38 win over their cross-town rivals at Farmington High. Farmington grabbed an 11-8 lead late in the first quarter, but the Raiders made a 25-4 run, until two separate free throws early in the third quarter got Farmington back into the game.

The difference? North Farmington set the pace of the game with its full-court press, forcing nine Falcon turnovers in the decisive second quarter alone. Even when Farmington did get the ball over halfcourt, players seemed to be in an unnecessary hurry. The resulting forced shots often gave North Farmington numbers on the other side of the court.

“Our defense likes to trap a lot all over the court, so even when they did get the ball over (halfcourt), we would look to trap their wings, and it allowed us to get some turnovers,” said Harris, who finished with a career-high 29 points. “I think we weathered their emotion early.” 

The Falcons (5-3, 4-1) also had no answer for Harris, a lanky, smooth junior who dominated play on the offensive end. Harris, as she often is able to do against most teams, got into the lane and found open shots. 

“She let the game come to her tonight and was able to score and find some open teammates at points,” said North Farmington head coach Tim Carruthers. “We’re a better team when we don’t need just (Harris) to score but when others are involved.”

Despite a small size advantage, North Farmington wasn’t able to dominate the rebounds. But it the Raiders were able to take their time on the offensive end, dictating the tempo and running their offense. The Raiders led by as many as 23 points midway through the third quarter. 

Falcons played hard

North Farmington went into a four corners offensive set early in the fourth quarter to run the clock and seemed to be in control. Farmington did make a late run, and although the Falcons never seriously threatened down the stretch, they played hard for all 32 minutes, and made the final score closer.

That effort, which included grabbing five offensive rebounds and a pair of loose balls in the final two minutes, can lead to more wins throughout the remainder of the year, said Farmington head coach Dave Browne. 

“We have to play them again, so we knew we couldn’t just let them run over us,” Browne said. “(Harris) is a matchup problem, and at times I thought (Farmington sophomore) Aaron Howell did a nice job defensively on her. But then we would be late rotating over defensively or get beaten for a rebound.” 

Browne put Raven Williams, a strong 5-foot-9 player, on Harris for much of the fourth quarter, and Williams gave the Falcons a spark with five points and solid defense. But by then, the damage had been done. 

“We worked on playing against their press in practice and in the first quarter we did a good job against it,” Browne said. “But then we fell behind, had a couple of turnovers and suddenly, it was panic time.” 

Junior Cherrish Willis, a quick guard, led Farmington with 16 points. She missed several open three-pointers, which could have made the game closer. Howell scored seven for Farmington. 

Leading 13-11 after the first quarter, Harris scored five straight points for her team. Sophomore Aaron Howell tried to keep Farmington in the game with a couple of outside shots, but Kaitlyn Kendall hit from the top of the key to extend the lead to 22-15. Hallee Kansman scored in the final seconds for a 12-point halftime lead. 

Willis sparked a 7-0 run at the end of the third quarter, scoring all seven points. That cut the North Farmington lead to 16 before a late Raider free throw. 

Kendall finished with six points for North Farmington, Freshman Megan Keller had just five points, but added six rebounds and used her athleticism to impact the game on both ends of the court. 

One of the biggest impacts for Harris was the emotion that comes with playing a city rival. 

“Our seniors haven’t lost a city championship since they have been here so our intensity level was up for this one,” said the six-foot junior. “They came out with emotion too but once we took control we were able to play our game.”