Published: Friday, January 27, 2012
Lake Stevens girls bounce back with win over Arlington
Vikings rest on their defense in a 57-38 win over the Eagles Friday night
ARLINGTON -- Two nights after suffering its first loss of the season, the Lake Stevens girls basketball team got back to its winning ways on Friday night with a 57-38 decision against Arlington.
And the Vikings followed a familiar recipe -- some stellar defense sprinkled with offensive spurts here and there -- to push their season record to 16-1.
Lake Stevens limited a good Eagles team to just 18 points through most of three quarters, and by then the visitors had pulled out to a 20-point margin. Arlington rallied to close within eight points midway through the fourth quarter, but the Vikings then eased away again in the late moments.
"Our defensive effort was fantastic," said Lake Stevens coach Randall Edens. "The kids were really tuned in defensively, and that got us through some of our offensive struggles at certain junctures."
Arlington got a game-opening 3-point field goal from guard Megan Abdo and another from guard Jensen Evans moments later, but the Eagles managed just two more field goals in the first half against a stifling Lake Stevens defense. The third quarter was more of the same, and with a minute to play in the period it was 38-18.
"Lake Stevens is really, really good," said Eagles coach Joe Marsh, whose team slipped to 12-5. "They came out in the first half and took us out of everything we wanted to do. They gave us a lot of trouble ... and that was the difference in the game."
Still, Arlington did not go away quietly. Another Abdo 3-pointer late in the third quarter seemed to kick-start the Eagles, leading to a 16-4 scoring burst. Arlington got two layins in a space of 25 seconds to pull within 42-34 with 3:50 to play, and the home crowd came to life in hope of a miracle comeback.
It was not to be. Showing their poise, the Vikings took command in the final minutes by closing the game with a 15-4 burst of their own. Nine of those points came at the free-throw line.
"We made a nice little run in the fourth quarter," Marsh said, "but it was too little, too late."
Lake Stevens was playing its first game since losing 60-56 at Stanwood on Wednesday night. The loss stung, Edens admitted, "but we have the right group to bounce back from that."
"With Arlington being close to us in the standings," he added, "we couldn't just expect to roll in here and have it be an easy game. We had to be really focused on the task at hand, and the girls were really focused."
Edens has coached some outstanding teams in recent years, and this season's squad has a chance to be his best. Certainly it is one of his strongest defensive teams, with a season defensive scoring average of less than 40 points per game.
Vikings assistant coach Gil McKinnie directs the team's defense "and he's fantastic," Edens said. "I give the defense to him and he does it for us in practice every day. Our kids see the results and they understand, hey, this is pretty powerful.
"There are going to be stretches where we're not scoring offensively, but we still want to have defense as kind of our calling card," he said. "And our kids believe in that. We've done a great job defensively all year."
Brooke Pahukoa had 20 points for the Vikings to lead all scorers with teammate Katie Goddard chipping in 12 points. Abdo and Lindsay Brown both had 11 points for Arlington.
At Arlington H.S.
Lake Stevens 14 10 14 19 -- 57
Arlington 7 5 9 17 -- 38
Lake Stevens--Goddard 12, Pilon 4, Molstre 8, Brittney Pahukoa 5, Brooke Pahukoa 18, Long 8, Briggs 2. Arlington--Evans 3, L. Brown 11, Showalter 5, Abdo 11, Grogan 0, W. Brown 2, Ferro 2, Leatherman 4, Winterrowd 0. 3-point goals--Goddard 1, Evans 1, Abdo 3. Records--Lake Stevens 10-1 league, 16-1 overall. Arlington 8-4, 12-5.
And the Vikings followed a familiar recipe -- some stellar defense sprinkled with offensive spurts here and there -- to push their season record to 16-1.
Lake Stevens limited a good Eagles team to just 18 points through most of three quarters, and by then the visitors had pulled out to a 20-point margin. Arlington rallied to close within eight points midway through the fourth quarter, but the Vikings then eased away again in the late moments.
"Our defensive effort was fantastic," said Lake Stevens coach Randall Edens. "The kids were really tuned in defensively, and that got us through some of our offensive struggles at certain junctures."
Arlington got a game-opening 3-point field goal from guard Megan Abdo and another from guard Jensen Evans moments later, but the Eagles managed just two more field goals in the first half against a stifling Lake Stevens defense. The third quarter was more of the same, and with a minute to play in the period it was 38-18.
"Lake Stevens is really, really good," said Eagles coach Joe Marsh, whose team slipped to 12-5. "They came out in the first half and took us out of everything we wanted to do. They gave us a lot of trouble ... and that was the difference in the game."
Still, Arlington did not go away quietly. Another Abdo 3-pointer late in the third quarter seemed to kick-start the Eagles, leading to a 16-4 scoring burst. Arlington got two layins in a space of 25 seconds to pull within 42-34 with 3:50 to play, and the home crowd came to life in hope of a miracle comeback.
It was not to be. Showing their poise, the Vikings took command in the final minutes by closing the game with a 15-4 burst of their own. Nine of those points came at the free-throw line.
"We made a nice little run in the fourth quarter," Marsh said, "but it was too little, too late."
Lake Stevens was playing its first game since losing 60-56 at Stanwood on Wednesday night. The loss stung, Edens admitted, "but we have the right group to bounce back from that."
"With Arlington being close to us in the standings," he added, "we couldn't just expect to roll in here and have it be an easy game. We had to be really focused on the task at hand, and the girls were really focused."
Edens has coached some outstanding teams in recent years, and this season's squad has a chance to be his best. Certainly it is one of his strongest defensive teams, with a season defensive scoring average of less than 40 points per game.
Vikings assistant coach Gil McKinnie directs the team's defense "and he's fantastic," Edens said. "I give the defense to him and he does it for us in practice every day. Our kids see the results and they understand, hey, this is pretty powerful.
"There are going to be stretches where we're not scoring offensively, but we still want to have defense as kind of our calling card," he said. "And our kids believe in that. We've done a great job defensively all year."
Brooke Pahukoa had 20 points for the Vikings to lead all scorers with teammate Katie Goddard chipping in 12 points. Abdo and Lindsay Brown both had 11 points for Arlington.
At Arlington H.S.
Lake Stevens 14 10 14 19 -- 57
Arlington 7 5 9 17 -- 38
Lake Stevens--Goddard 12, Pilon 4, Molstre 8, Brittney Pahukoa 5, Brooke Pahukoa 18, Long 8, Briggs 2. Arlington--Evans 3, L. Brown 11, Showalter 5, Abdo 11, Grogan 0, W. Brown 2, Ferro 2, Leatherman 4, Winterrowd 0. 3-point goals--Goddard 1, Evans 1, Abdo 3. Records--Lake Stevens 10-1 league, 16-1 overall. Arlington 8-4, 12-5.
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