Arlington falls to Bishop Blanchet in state quarterfinals

TACOMA – The Tacoma Dome has not been kind of late to the Arlington girls basketball team.

After making it to the state championship game in 2013, the Eagles have struggled in subsequent trips to the dome. For the second consecutive season, Arlington struggled shooting the ball in the quarterfinal round, as the Eagles lost to Bishop Blanchet 67-44 Thursday morning in a Class 3A contest.

Arlington faces Wilson, which lost 53-50 to Cleveland, at 9 a.m. Friday in a loser-out game.

“We could not put the ball in the basket in that first half,” Arlington head coach Joe Marsh said. “Against really good teams, that’s going to make your life difficult. This is two years now we’ve come in here and have just not been able to knock down shots in this gym and it makes it tough for us.”

Arlington shot 6-for-33 (18 percent) in the first half, with no player scoring more than four points over the opening two quarters. The Eagles fared better in the second half (32 percent), but by that point the Braves’ had built an insurmountable lead.

“Not much went right, let’s just put it that way,” Marsh said. “They’re really good. When you get to this point, everybody’s good and you have to come out ready to play and we dug ourselves a hole and we just struggled.”

Marsh credited the struggles to a combination of nerves and Bishop Blanchet’s defense. The Braves jumped out to an early lead in the opening minutes and never looked back. They led 18-7 after the first quarter and 35-15 at halftime.

Jadyn Bush led Bishop Blanchet (23-7 overall) with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Lily Dipietro and Taylor Chambers added 15 and 10 points, respectively, for the Braves, who out-rebounded Arlington 56-32.

Bishop Blanchet’s height proved to be tough for Arlington to handle. The Eagles have just two players listed at 6-feet.

“We’ve been fortunate all year long. Coming into this season with our size — with our lack of size — we knew rebounding was going to be an issue,” Marsh said. “But we have managed, by and large, all season to out-rebound teams. You have moments in games where we struggle a little bit. Tonight (Bishop Blanchet) just got everything.”

Sevi Bielser led Arlington with 14 points. Gracie Castaneda scored 10 points and Jayla Russ added seven.

“We came out with way better energy in the second half,” Marsh said. “We came out and worked hard. When you dig yourself that big of a hole against that good of a team, it’s tough. … We never shoot the ball that poorly. We have nights where the ball doesn’t go in as much but we just did not get anything to go tonight.”

Bishop Blanchet head coach Bryan Willison said he was “a little surprised, but extremely happy” with the final score. The Braves’ coach said his team focused on defending down low — with several Bishop Blanchet players swarming to the ball — and preventing the Eagles from getting into a groove from the perimeter.

“We didn’t want to have them go in the middle and we didn’t want them to shoot outside, so that’s a tough thing to do — we had to make sure we covered both,” Willison said. “In the second half, they started bombing those threes away.”

Arlington (22-4) has a quick turnaround, with less than 24 hours from the final buzzer to the start of its loser-out game against Wilson. Marsh said bouncing back after a tough loss is difficult — and even more so at nine in the morning.

“I think, probably, the hardest thing in this tournament, besides winning a state title, is showing up in the morning for those consolation games,” Marsh said. “It’s a really tough turnaround. It’s hard to do and you’re still feeling the sting of that one the day before.

“For us, it’s about pride now. We had a great season. We had just a fantastic season. We just got it handed to us a little bit today, so we’re going to go lick our wounds and be done with it and just forget about this one and try to come out tomorrow and work as hard as we can.”