Johnica Farmer Re-Writes MHS Record Book

By: Rich Maclone
Published: 02/20/10

Senior Johnica Farmer made her last game in a Mashpee High School uniform quite memorable.

Farmer set a new single-game scoring record for the MHS girls’ basketball program, lighting up Provincetown High School for 32 points to eclipse Leah Tiexeira’s record of 31 points in a game, which was set a year ago. That wasn’t the only place that Farmer was adding her name to the record books on this day, as the Falcons easily defeated PHS 43-31.

For starters, the Mashpee senior guard had a triple double against the Lady Fishermen. To go along with her gaudy point total, she also had 10 rebounds and 10 steals.

As far as the record books, she moved way up the list in several different categories. Farmer, who played just three years at Mashpee, after attending Nantucket High as a freshman, ends up as the sixth all-time leading scorer at Mashpee High, finishing with 658 career points. Tiexeira is first all-time on that list with 784. Elizabeth Stickley, a 2008 graduate, is second with 744. Megan Santos, a 2002 grad, is third with 735. Courtney Robinson, a 2003 graduate, is fourth with 670 and Shannon Merrifield, a 2006 graduate, rounds out the top five with 667.

Farmer also finished in the top 10 all-time for the Falcons in assists, rebounds and steals. She is sixth all-time in steals, with 143. She is eighth all-time in assists, with 85, and she is 10th all-time in rebounds, with 258.

“It was a great way to end a great career,” Mashpee Head Coach Brian Hyde said. “I’m proud of Johnica, and all the seniors, Aurianna (Franco) and Lindsey Stewart. They all played well in their last game for us.”

Farmer learned that she had a chance to set the school record for points in a game with just a few minutes left to go in regulation. Sitting three points behind Tiexeira’s mark of 31, the official scorer scanned the record book and saw just how close she was and informed Hyde.

With the game hardly in doubt the Falcons let Farmer shoot for the record, getting her the ball every time down the court. She pulled to within a point of the mark with 2:32 left to play when she dropped in a lay-up. With 55 seconds left to go, and her team leading by 14, she canned a pull-up jumper to eclipse the record and make it her own.

“I’m sad that it’s over,” Farmer said of her high school career. “But I felt that I worked really hard today and I sealed the deal.”

The Lady Falcons, as a team, pretty much sealed the deal in the third quarter. Mashpee held a comfortable lead through most of the ballgame, leading by seven at the end of the first quarter, 13-6, and seven at the half, 18-11.

Midway through the third quarter the team still clung to that seven-point margin when they caught fire and put the game away with a 10-0 run in about a minute’s time. Stewart, who made her first start in an MHS uniform in the game, started the surge for the Lady Falcons, rebounding a miss and going coast-to-coast for a lay-up. Farmer then scored eight straight points, first converting a Franco steal into a trip to the line, where she hit both shots. She then pilfered the ball away from Provincetown at the three-point line and drove the length for a basket before stealing the Lady Fishermen’s inbound pass and canning a jumper from the wing to make it a 34-19 ballgame.

After another Franco steal, Farmer stuck back her own miss to put the Lady Falcons up by 17, 36-19.

Late in the third quarter the Lady Fishermen, who were playing with just five players in the game, lost one of their starters with a foot injury, which forced them to go the rest of the game with just four players on the floor.

MHS was taking it easy on the depleted team. Farmer opened the quarter with a three-ball, but then after that the two teams meandered their way back and forth as they waited for the time to tick off the clock, that is until MHS learned how close Farmer was to history.

She hit the last two buckets, scoring all seven of the team’s points in the quarter, and made sure that her name will be remembered at the school for some time to come.

The game wrapped up an otherwise difficult season for the Mashpee ladies as they finish at 4-16 overall. Out of the difficult South Shore League, MHS posted a 4-2 record.

Coach Hyde said that the MHS athletic department is considering petitioning out of the SSL next year and having the girls’ program play an independent schedule, which would allow the Lady Falcons to schedule teams of closer ability.

Leave a Reply

In order to comment you need to be logged in.