Arlington girls beat Lincoln 48-33, reach 3A semifinals

Published 11:29 pm Thursday, March 3, 2016

TACOMA — The Arlington Eagles are not afraid to shoot the three.

Arlington put up 29 shots from beyond the 3-point arc and sank enough of them to defeat Lincoln 48-33 in a 3A state quarterfinal game late Thursday night at the Tacoma Dome.

With the victory the Eagles advance to play Kamiakin at 9 p.m. Friday in a 3A state semifinal at the Tacoma Dome. Lincoln faces Edmonds-Woodway in a loser-out game at 2 p.m. Friday.

“That’s what we’ve done all year. We tell these kids if they’re open, take them,” Arlington head coach Joe Marsh said. “… We’ve shot threes all year long. It’s part of what we do. I like kids to have a lot of freedom to shoot them if they’re open and they’re in rhythm and we did that tonight. We knocked some down. It’s a great weapon for us. It’s tough to shoot in the dome sometimes, but when these kids get a feeling, they hit them.”

Both teams came into Thursday night’s contest with just one loss. Lincoln had one big advantage — height — but Arlington had the shooting advantage on the perimeter. The Abes had three players listed at 5-foot-10 or over, including 6-foot-2 center Tamia Braggs.

Arlington, in comparison, has 6-foot-1 Jayla Russ and 6-foot-2 reserve Tahlia Miears.

“We’ve dealt with bigs all year,” Marsh said. “We did a great job. We knew Braggs was a great player, we’re going to get in front of her and get lots of help. And we did that tonight for the most part.”

Instead of working the ball inside, Arlington (24-1) elected to do its damage from deep, with 29 of the Eagles’ 49 shot attempts from beyond the arc. Arlington netted eight of them – finishing 27.6 percent from deep.

Not even the Tacoma Dome, which is notorious for throwing shooters off, could hinder the Eagles.

“Yes, it’s a concern,” Marsh said. “But I just told the kids, ‘Don’t even think about it. Just shoot. You’re in a gym, there’s a 10-foot hoop just let it go if it’s open.’ We run stuff for 3’s, so we ran some plays to get some. We like to shoot them. It’s a thing that we do well, so we’ll live with them.”

Arlington got 3-pointers at the end of each of the first two quarters. Sophomore Peyton Brown netted a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter to tie the score 9-9. Sevi Bielser made another in the closing seconds of the second quarter to give the Eagles an 18-17 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Eagles continued to shoot from beyond the arc as they began to pull away late. Serafina Balderas finished with 10 points to lead Arlington, Bielser scored nine for the Eagles and Sarah Shortt added eight — with all three making at least two 3-pointers.

“Fina hit some big ones and once Sevi hits one, she might hit six,” Marsh said. “They left her a couple of times and she knocked them down.”

“It’s an amazing feeling to count on everyone on your team,” Balderas said. “If I’m on one night, everyone looks to get me the ball. If Sevi (Bielser) is on one night, we look to get her the ball. My team just did a really good job of that tonight and knowing who was on and who was off. We just worked together as a team once again.”

Kondalia Montgomery led Lincoln with nine points and Braggs added eight for the Abes, who were held to a season-low 33 points.

Lincoln averages 56 points per game.

“The defense was phenomenal tonight,” Marsh said. “That’s been our thing all year long. When you manage to hold that team to 33 points we’re in pretty good shape. We feel if we hold anybody to 33 points we’re going to have a good chance to win a game. Just a tremendous effort, all the way around, tonight by our defense.”

Arlington is back in the Tacoma Dome for the fourth consecutive season. The Eagles finished second in 2013, when current seniors Russ, Emma Janousek, Gracie Castaneda and Balderas were freshman, and fourth at last year’s state tournament.

“It’s fantastic. It’s been a couple of years,” Marsh said. “These kids were freshman last time we were here (in the semifinal). We’re really excited for these seniors. This team is excited and they’re playing well and they want to end their career the right way.”

“I’m just excited for us to keep going,” Russ said. “Last year we kind of got down after the (Bishop) Blanchet loss. We came back the next day, but I’m excited for us to actually be in the semifinal and keep going forward.

“I’m really honored to get the experience. Everyone on my team just works for each other and we all have one goal. It’s a loving feeling.”

At the Tacoma Dome

Arlington 9 9 14 16 – 48

Lincoln 9 8 7 9 – 33

Arlington–Gracie Castaneda 4, Serafina Balderas 10, Sarah Shortt 8, Sevi Bielser 9, Peyton Brown 3, Olivia Larson 0, Emma Janousek 7, Abby Anderson 2, Jayla Russ 5, Tahlia Miears 0, Kelsey Mellick 0. Lincoln–Faith Brantley 5, Aamira Turner 0, Nashontae Frazier 5, Azallee Johnson 0, Kondalia Montgomery 9, Morticia Mccall 6, Sjonte Frazier 0, Victoria Mukisa 0, Tamia Braggs 8, Shawndreia Brown 0, Essence Waller 0, Sa’Naya McAfee 0. Records–Lincoln 24-2. Arlington 24-1.