FARMINGTON GIRLS RIGHT ON SCHEDULE, ACCORDING TO THEIR HEAD COACH

If the teams on Farmington’s schedule want to beat the Scorpions, they won’t have to find a way to stop one girl, they’ll have to stop three with the same last name. “Kiiyani Anitielu is one of our top guards,” said Henderson.  “She’s been with me the last four years and is leading us right now.”

“Kiiyani has two other sisters that have developed,” said the head coach.  “There’s Kamalani, a junior, and Kapiolani, a sophomore.  I’ve been pretty surprised with the backup we have with them.  They’ve brought a lot of experience as well.”

The sisters are just part of a talented Farmington girls basketball team.  Did head coach Larenson Henderson think they would be THIS good? “Honestly, no,” he replied.  “I knew we were going to win more games than losses, but no.”

This is Henderson’s fourth year with the program after a run at Shiprock High School where he won a state title in 2017 and reached the final two other seasons.  He’s trying to get his Farmington team there this March. “It’s a big goal for us right now,” he explained.  “I mentioned it when I got to Farmington that it takes a couple years to try and build a program and to see it develop those four or five years , I’m excited for it.”

Farmington last won a state title in 2002.  “We don’t talk about it right now, we just take it game by game and continue what we need to work on,” Henderson said.  “We have a little tightening up here and there on our defense and offense, but we have the big picture in mind and that’s to make it to the state tournament and try to do something there.”

Farmington suffered their first loss of the season last weekend, falling to La Cueva 51-49.  The Lady Scorps bounced back with an 81-46 victory over rival Piedra Vista to improve to 20-1 on the season.  Farmington will host Sandia Saturday afternoon.