Farmersville junior Daniella Jimenez reaches out with her right hand to attempt to keep possession for the Lady Farmers during last Friday’s home game against Community. The Lady Farmers improved to 1-0 in District 13-4A following a 45-41 win over the Lady Braves. Photo by Victor Tapia / C&S Media
By David Wolman
The Farmersville girls basketball team entered 2025 with the hopes of turning around its season.
The Lady Farmers had struggled to a 5-11 record prior to the Christmas holiday with five of those losses coming by at least 20 points, although Farmersville ended last year on a positive note with back-to-back wins over Perrin-Whitt and Gordon.
The biggest thing that head coach Sandra Hoge said that helped her Lady Farmers regroup for the start of the New Year was rest. And all of that rest and the hard work that Farmersville put forth in practice following a much-needed, one-week layoff paid off in a big way for the Lady Farmers in their first game of 2025, a 45-41 home win over a Community-Nevada team that came into the Jan. 3 District 13-4A opener with a 14-6 record.
“It’s a big step in the right direction for us,” Hoge said. “We’ve struggled to piece things together. Tonight was a great team effort by everybody on the floor. We finally played tough basketball. When things didn’t go our way, we just buckled down and overcame some of the challenges that they posed to us.”
Junior forward Katelynn McRay set the tone, scoring seven straight points after Community had scored the game’s first two points on a steal and layup for a 7-2 Farmersville lead less than two minutes into the game.
The Lady Braves countered with an 8-0 run thanks to some lockdown defense. Community retook the lead after a steal and layup by freshman Ria Carter and then bumped its advantage to 10-7 following a running jump shot by sophomore Kennady Goynes. The Lady Braves forced six Lady Farmer turnovers in the first quarter.
Farmersville regrouped and they went to work near the basket. The Lady Farmers used their size advantage to capitalize on fouls that were called on the Lady Braves within 10 feet of the basket. Farmersville went 9 of 13 on free throws in the opening eight minutes of play with a foul shot by McRay with 21.8 left in the frame giving the Lady Farmers a 16-10 lead.
McRay scored 10 of her 11 points in the first half. Senior Kylie McGee netted a team-high 12 points for the Lady Farmers, which included a 6-of-9 effort at the free-throw line.
Farmersville also welcomed back junior point guard Alexia Hernandez, who made her season debut as she recovered from an injury. Hernandez played limited minutes as she works to get back into game shape, but her return made a huge difference for the Lady Farmers. The junior finished with eight points, including a perfect 6 for 6 at the foul line.
“Alexia is still about 70%,” Hoge said. “She’ll continue to give us some minutes out there as she continues to get back to full strength. She just did a great job of calming everybody out there. Rileigh Blankenship also played point guard, and she did a great job out there and has for us.”
Farmersville put together its best stretch of basketball on the offensive end in the third quarter and took their largest lead at 36-24 on a layup by sophomore Peighton Purser.
But the resolve of Farmersville was put to the test after Community blitzed the Lady Farmers with a 10-2 run to begin the fourth quarter. The Lady Braves had a couple of chances to tie or take the lead, but disciplined defense by McRay in the game’s final seconds forced Community to misplay a dribble, resulting in a turnover. Blankenship was fouled with 3.3 seconds remaining in the ballgame and made one free throw to clinch the win for Farmersville.
“It was eye opening for them,” Hoge said. “We’ve battled and we’ve battled and played some tough teams. They came out there tonight and we showed that we were not afraid of them and handled whatever came our way.”
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