ARLINGTON — For the second straight night a Wesco South opponent came into Arlington’s gym and walked out licking its wounds.
After the boys took care of business against Edmonds-Woodway the night before, it was the girls turn Friday night.
The Eagles jumped on Jackson early, racing out to a 12-0 lead behind a strong defense and hot shooting and never allowed the Timberwolves within striking distance in a 70-40 victory in the Wesco 4A crossover game.
“That’s just a great win for us,” said Arlington head coach Joe Marsh. “I don’t know if we can play better basketball than that. As a coach I can’t ask anything more from these girls than they did. They did everything we asked them to do.”
Lindsay Brown scored seven points and, along with teammate Ronnie Ladines, controlled the paint in a dominating first quarter performance to help the Eagles jump out to a 22-6 lead.
“We got on our heels early and they continued to knock down shot after shot and it was very hard for us to gain back momentum because of how well they played,” said Jackson coach Jeannie Boyer. “They set the tone with the physicality and if you don’t step up and match that you’re going to be on your heels all night and that’s essentially what happened tonight.”
Arlington’s Taylor Graham finished 4-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc and 14 points and fellow guard Krista Showalter had eight points and a 3-pointer.
“Taylor Graham is a great shooter,” Marsh said. “I’ve been telling her all year that shooters shoot and she’s starting to finally believe it and get that confidence. Every time she shoots it I think it’s going in.”
The inside play of Brown and Ladines opened things up for the Eagles shooter. Because of the Arlington duo, who both stand 6-foot-1, and early foul trouble, Jackson had to continually collapse whenever the ball went inside, opening up things for the outside shooters. Brown and Ladines each finished with 17 points.
“Our size is such an advantage,” Marsh said. “Lindsay Brown is a fantastic player. Then you have Ronnie Ladines and people forget about her and she does so much for us. Tonight she scored, she rebounded, she defends. And then that opens it up for our guards.”
“We got into early foul trouble and that changed the way we could play inside and when you’re trying to defend a player of (Lindsay Brown’s) caliber it makes it that much harder,” Boyer said.
Jackson’s Faithaleen Lopez-Flores scored seven points to help the Timberwolves end the first half on an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 13, but Arlington hit three 3s and outscored Jackson 13-6 to open the second half and build its lead back up to 20.
Jackson played without star guard Kelli Kingma once again and Boyer said after the game that there’s a good chance they may not see her for the rest of the season. Kingma, who had knee surgery on Dec. 27, is recovering well and rehabbing her knee but the timetable doesn’t look promising.
“Most likely we won’t see her until next year,” Boyer said. “But we’re keeping our fingers crossed.”
Next up for Arlington is Wesco 4A South leader Lynnwood next Wednesday.
At Arlington H.S.
Jackson610168—40
Arlington22132015—70
Jackson—Brooke Kingma 3, Faithaleen Lopez-Flores 7, Sierra Anderson 12, Shailanna Clinton 1, Mary Charleston 2, Imari Clinton 2, Sierra Hagans 4, Rachel Nies 0, Anna Johnson 0, Martina Mason 2, Drew Lochnane 8, Emily Boyd 0. Arlington—Taylor Graham 14, Veronica Ladines 17, Lindsay Brown 17, Krista Showalter 8, Emma Janousek 1, Jessica Ludwig 4, Winter Brown 3, Jayla Russ 6, Marissa Swegle 0. 3-point goals—Graham 4, L. Brown 2, Showalter 1, Kingma 1, Lopez-Flores 1, W. Brown 1, Russ 1. Records—Jackson 7-2 league, 8-5 overall. Arlington 9-0, 14-0.
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