They were four seconds away from making the 25th anniversary of their lone state championship something really worth celebrating Thursday evening.
But those four seconds will remain an eternity for the Farwell Lady Steers in pondering why they couldn’t quite win a second state championship.
Farwell was in control, or at least the lead, for most of the Class 2A Division II state championship game against defending state champion Martin’s Mill at San Antonio’s Alamodome. Holding a two-point lead in the waning seconds of regulation, though, the Lady Steers surrendered the lead on a layup with four seconds remaining to force overtime, where Martin’s Mill was suddenly in control, and Farwell suffered a heartbreaking 43-41 loss to fall short of another state title.
The Lady Steers finished the season 35-4. Martin’s Mill ends it 35-2 and took home an eighth state championship.
“Within regulation we had chances to get it and even in overtime,” said first-year Farwell coach Joe Crabb. “Overall it was a fantastic performance.”
Offense was hard to come by for both teams in the second half, especially for Farwell, as the Lady Steers managed only 15 points after halftime. With under three minutes left in regulation, Landri Richey scored on a layup to give Farwell a 37-35 lead, and for the rest of the way the defenses took over for a tense finish to regulation.
Nobody could score again until the final four seconds, when Martin’s Mill’s Allison Vaughan scored on a layup to make it 37-37 and force the extra period.
Martin’s Mill had the momentum at that point and took the lead for good 36 seconds into overtime when Vaughan scored on another layup. It was the last field goal for the Lady Mustangs, but they made all four of their free throws in the extra period to provide some cushion.
Farwell’s Isabella Jaime scored on a layup with 17 seconds left to cut it to 43-41, but the Lady Steers never got the ball back with a chance to tie it.
“It’s been a fun ride,” Crabb said. “I got to spend it with these seniors. We don’t want this to be the lasting memory because it’s so much bigger than that. They won it in 2000 and honored those ladies at a game this year and they were up there rooting for us. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Richey led Farwell with 12 points and nine rebounds and Jaime added 10 points. Martin’s Mill’s Mckenna Wise had a game-high 17 points and 12 rebounds.
The biggest lead either team had in the game was Farwell’s 17-10 lead in the second quarter. Martin’s Mill only led briefly by a point twice in the first quarter as the Lady Steers led 26-23 at halftime.
Wise started the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Lady Mustangs the lead as Farwell went cold offensively to start the second half. The Lady Steers had only six points in the third quarter as Martin’s Mill led 31-29 at the end of the period.
It was intense the rest of the way as neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.
“We started off that third quarter with a couple of turnovers and they went up three,” Crabb said. “Landri got us back in the game after that. It was a long fourth quarter and long overtime. I wish we had another minute.”
Richey, a four-year letterwinner, ended her career on the biggest stage possible and helped take the Lady Steers as far as they could go.
“It was just so much fun,” Richey said. “I’ve been playing with these girls and a few others for seven or eight years now. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but for sure it was a dream come true to be here.”
For a look at the box score please visit, https://www.uiltexas.org/files/athletics/state-basketball/boxscores-girls/Box_Score_Martins_Mill_at_Farwell_27_February.pdf