Prep girls basketball: Monroe 73, Arlington 65
Published 10:56 pm Thursday, February 3, 2011
ARLINGTON — After letting an opportunity to take hold of the No. 1 seed out of the Wesco North slip away earlier this week when it was defeated by Lake Stevens, the Monroe girls basketball team took care of business Thursday.
Senior guard Suzanna Ohlsen scored 24 points to lead Monroe (10-5 league, 12-8 overall) to a 73-65 victory over Arlington (5-10, 10-10), securing the No. 2 seed for the Bearcats entering the 4A District 1 playoffs next week.
“I was a little bit disappointed we weren’t able to get it done in our last game against Lake Stevens,” Monroe head coach Rodney Walker said. “Being the No. 2 seed now, we’re going to match up in a bracket with (South No. 1) Edmonds-Woodway and it’s going to be a much tougher road but we’ll come ready to play.”
Avoiding Edmonds-Woodway (14-0, 18-3), ranked No. 3 in the state in the Associated Press poll, is certainly a best-case scenario for any team hoping for a successful playoff run. However, sooner or later playoff teams are going to have to face the best. At least Monroe knows its play is starting to reach that high level.
“One of the areas we have been struggling a bit with this year was our defense,” Walker said. “Tonight we were able to pressure Arlington, force some turnovers and get our offense rolling. It’s starting to come together now at the end of the season.”
Monroe got out to a 19-14 lead after the first quarter but the game was decided in the second when the Bearcats went on a 26-17 surge to take a commanding 45-31 lead into halftime. As Arlington head coach Nathan Davis would attest, the Bearcats’ suffocating pressure was simply too much for the Eagles to handle.
“The key for them I would say, is their pressure and their tempo,” Davis said. “They force a lot of their turnovers with their pressure. We tried some adjustments in the second half and started to get some better looks.”
Arlington mounted a small comeback, cutting Monroe’s lead to five at a couple different points in the fourth, but it never could quite get out of the hole dug in the first half.
Eagles point guard Megan Abdo led the team with 16 points and seven assists
At Arlington H.S.
Monroe 19 26 9 19 — 73
Arlington 14 17 14 20 — 65
Monroe—S. Ohlsen 24, O’Hara 15, Brazel 5, Alexander 6, Wangner 0, Smith 5, Shore 0, Murphy 5, Wilkins 2, Snell 9, Turner 2. Arlington—Evans 3, Sarver 10, Van Loo 3, L. Brown 11, Showalter 9, Abdo 16, Ferro 7, Schmuck 2, W. Brown 2. 3-point goals—O’Hara 1, Brazel 1, Murphy 1, Snell 3, Evans 1, Sarver 2, Van Loo 1, L. Brown 1, Showalter 1, Abdo 1. Records—Monroe 10-5 league, 12-8 overall. Arlington 5-10, 10-10.
