Arlington downs Lynnwood in key Wesco 3A/2A clash
Published 1:30 am Monday, December 11, 2023
ARLINGTON — After a narrow victory over Snohomish last Friday, the Arlington Eagles girls basketball team topped the Lynnwood Royals, another stout Wesco 3A/2A league opponent, 63-56 on Monday night.
Disciplined on both sides of the ball, Eagles seniors Samara Morrow, Katie Snow and junior Kierra Reese led the offensive attack. Reese recorded 21 points with a combination of 3-pointers and drives to hoop. Morrow and Snow were workhorses on the court, distributing the ball to teammates, rebounding and scoring.
Arlington (4-0 overall, 3-0 league) limited the Royals’ attack as senior point guard Aniya Hooker and guards Kayla Lorenz and Teyah Clark led the way for Lynnwood (4-1, 2-1). Hooker tallied 19 points and was also in and out of the paint facilitating the ball to teammates.
“(We had) to get it done with defense and defensive rebounding,” Arlington coach Joe Marsh said. “(Lynnwood) likes to put up a lot of points. They like to get up and down. We were trying to take Kayla Lorenz out of the game and make sure she doesn’t get too many easy looks. And then (we were) trying to control Aniya a little bit because she’s so tough when she’s free with the ball.”
The Royals got off to a quick start and opened with a 9-3 run, which ended being their largest of the game. Arlington’s offense soon eliminated the deficit with Reese and Snow putting up nine and six points, respectively, to take an 18-11 lead after the first quarter.
Arlington built its lead into double digits in the second, but the Royals hung around and pulled within 36-29 as the teams traded buckets heading into the half.
Throughout the third and fourth quarters, the Eagles forced difficult shots for the Royals while managing the clock with clean play on offense for the win.
“We played really well as a team today. We shared the ball a lot, getting scores from a lot of different people,” Snow said. “We need to keep working hard and playing as a team, finishing under pressure and not panicking as much.”
The loss ended a four-game win streak to start the season for Lynnwood.
“I thought we could have played a little bit better on the offensive end, and we missed a lot of stuff on defensive assignments,” Lynnwood coach Eddie McFerrin said. “It’s OK. It’s a good learning lesson for us.”
After two key conference wins, Arlington will be tested with another tough league opponent when it travels to Meadowdale on Friday.
“(It’s a) huge week for us early in the season,” said Marsh. “These are two really big wins for us and now we got to go to Meadowdale, which is going to be a tough one on the road. … It’s weird playing these kinds of games in December, but they’re important, and the kids know they’re important, so here we go again.”
