“The game is meant to be fun”- FARMINGTON BASKETBALL COACH TOM ADAIR

Watch out for the Farmington Lady Scorpions in March. “We’re athletic, we have good speed, and good quickness, and good length, which is really helpful on defense,” said head coach Tom Adair.

Over the period of a week and a half, Farmington beat the #1 team in Class 3A (Tohatchi, 59-41), the #1 team in 4A (Kirtland Central, 40-37), and the #1 team in 5A (Hobbs, 46-45). “We’re playing really good defense right now, and that’s the key,” Adair added.  “Even when you have an off night, against Kirtland we were 4-for-28, but we still won the game because of our defense, and we made some key shots at the end of the game.”

Farmington has experience with three returning starters and 9 returning girls from varsity last season. This group lost in overtime at the state quarterfinals last March. “We have ‘Family’ on the back of our shooting shirts because that’s what we want to be,” said Adair.  “We want to be a family.  We want to be able to work through any adversity or difficulties that we face.  Our girls have handled that well and I’ve been pleased with that.”

Adair says a big key to their success this season has been the veteran leadership of his three team captains. “I’ve got three really good captains, two of them are starters (Kapiolani Antielu and Maleah Charlie),” said the head coach.  “They’ve given us good leadership, and Katalina Pete was varsity last year.  She brings us a spark off the bench and she’s real supportive of all of our teammates.”

Is this the year the Lady Scorpions make a deep run in the postseason?  “Well, that’s the plan,” Adair quickly responded.  “I really feel like we have the team to do that.  A lot of it is because of the leadership and we’ve got some good athletes and some good basketball players.  They understand the game and have good knowledge of basketball.”

For the remainder of the regular season, Adair is looking for high intensity from his team.  “I want a lot of energy and just get out there and have fun,” he explained.  “The game is meant to be fun, and I don’t want them getting frustrated or getting down on themselves.  We need to show poise and be able to handle the difficult situations in the right way.”