ARLINGTON — While the rest of the Northwest fends off the flu, the Arlington girls basketball team caught something else Wednesday night.
Three-point fever.
The Eagles netted 16 3-pointers in a 77-51 Wesco 4A North win over Lake Stevens at Arlington High School.
“You start knocking those down and it’s contagious,” said Randy Edens, the Lake Stevens head coach.
Count Arlington head coach Joe Marsh among those who were happy — albeit, a little surprised — to see the Eagles make so many long-range buckets.
“I wish I could say that was the gameplan,” Marsh said. “They did a good job of passing the ball. We got wide-open looks and they fell.”
Arlington scored more than twice as many points as it did in its previous outing, a 38-33 win over Monroe last Friday.
“Offensively, against Monroe we struggled,” Marsh said. “Early in the season your defense is typically going to be better than the offense. I told the team, ‘Just have some patience. It will come.’”
The Eagles’ offense sure showed up Wednesday night.
Lindsay Brown scored a game-high 18 points — with 15 of those coming from behind the 3-point arc — and grabbed 13 rebounds. Sophomore Jessica Ludwig had 13 points — including two 3-pointers — and Jayla Russ, a freshman, added 14 points — with two 3-pointers.
“Jayla comes in off the bench and she just works super hard,” Marsh said.
Seven different Eagles scored and all but one of them made at least one 3-pointer.
“We got contributions from everyone,” Marsh said. “… It was a total team effort.”
Arlington got off to a great start, hitting two 3-pointers to open the game. The first quarter ended in a 14-14 tie, and then, with Vikings’ star guard Brooke Pahukoa in foul trouble, the Eagles made their move in the second quarter, outscoring Lake Stevens 22-11. Russ had nine points in the quarter.
In the second half, the 3-point barrage continued. Of the Eagles’ 41 second-half points, 30 came from 3-pointers. Arlington also netted two free throws, and didn’t make a two-point field goal until Veronica Ladines put one in with about 14 seconds remaining in the game.
“They shot really, really well,” Edens said. “They were ready to go.”
Arlington (2-0 league, 5-0 overall) remained undefeated with the win. The scary thing for other Wesco teams is Marsh actually wants to do improve on offense.
“We’re not going to put up 77 points every night,” Marsh said. “But we are going to keep playing good defense and get better and better on offense every night.”
Alex Briggs led the Vikings (0-1, 3-1) with 14 points. Pahukoa, who picked up her fourth foul a minute into the third quarter and had to sit on the bench until a couple minutes into the fourth quarter, had 10 points.
There was a scary moment for the Vikings in the third quarter when Brittney Pahukoa, Brooke’s twin sister, appeared to roll her ankle coming down from a rebound as she fell to the floor. She limped off the court, leaving Lake Stevens Pahukoa-less for three minutes before she returned. Brittney Pahukoa had seven points, five rebounds and three steals.
Edens hopes the Vikings learn from their early season contest. With four seniors, he said his team is very young, and can learn a lot from games like this in loud, opposing gymnasiums.
“It’s a good learning moment,” Edens said. “We’ve got a lot of young players that have to get exposed to these environments. For them, this is probably where they’ll grow the most.”
Both Edens and Marsh mentioned that it was still early in a long season. They both hope their teams continue to improve as they work their way toward the rematch Jan. 25 in Lake Stevens.
“We said Lake Stevens is the best until somebody beats them,” Marsh said. “Tonight we got the better of them. But it’s a long season. And we’re not satisfied. We’ve got to keep going.”
At Arlington H.S.
Lake Stevens14111214—51
Arlington14221823—77
Lake Stevens—Alex Briggs 14, Mallory Gipson 0, Railey Pedersen 3, Ivy Blackmon 4, Brittney Pahukoa 7, Emily Vandergrift 4, Brooke Pahukoa 10, Kali Long 9, Hailey Wilson 0. Arlington—Taylor Graham 6, Veronica Ladines 4, Lindsay Brown 18, Krista Showalter 14, Emma Janousek 0, Jessica Ludwig 13, Winter Brown 8, Jayla Russ 14. 3-point goals–Briggs 4, Bri. Pahukoa 1, Graham 2, Brown 5, Showalter 3, Ludwig 2, Brown 2, Russ 2. Records—Lake Stevens 0-1 league, 3-1 overall. Arlington 2-0, 5-0.
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