SPOKANE — The Arlington girls basketball team had to travel all the way across the state to do it, but with a 52-35 win over Shadle Park in loser-out state regional game on Saturday, the Eagles punched their ticket to the state tournament in Tacoma for a third consecutive season.
“It feels fantastic,” Arlington head coach Joe Marsh said of his team’s accomplishment. “It’s just a great feeling. The girls are really excited. This was our goal, to get back to Tacoma, and we put ourselves in a position to do that. We’re really excited. This was a great day today.”
After defeating Edmonds-Woodway in a thrilling overtime game last Saturday to earn the third and final seed to regionals from District 1, the Eagles drew the Highlanders, who came into the regional game with a record of 7-16.
The matchup seemed favorable, but the Eagles still had to travel to Mt. Spokane High School for the game, which Marsh said wasn’t so bad.
“It was a nice little bonding trip,” Marsh said. “It’s a long drive but it came with a big prize, so it’s worth it. The girls get to hang out together. We spent the night here, so it was actually a nice little bonding trip for us before we go back to Tacoma.”
Arlington trailed in the second quarter before closing the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 25-24 lead at halftime. In the second half, the Eagles allowed just 11 points and pulled away for the victory.
“The difference was the defense,” Marsh said. “We just did a great job defensively.”
Arlington senior Jessica Ludwig led all scorers with 20 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds.
“She just had another huge game,” Marsh said. “This kid has just been phenomenal over the last part of the season. She just does not want it to end. Tonight it was a really physical game and she just banged all night long. She just had a great game.”
Junior Sevi Bielser added 17 points for the Eagles, including all five of Arlington’s 3-pointers.
“She has been (struggling) lately and tonight she didn’t,” Marsh said of Bielser. “She hit some big ones for us tonight. She had a great game. I’ve talked to her about this before. She’s our shooter. There’s no doubt about that, but she did a great job defensively tonight. She hit some huge 3s for us tonight. Those were the only five (3s) that we had and we needed every one of them.”
After losing the state championship game to Mead two years ago, the Eagles lost both games at Tacoma a year ago. Marsh doesn’t want to see that happen again this season.
“Our goal is to come home with a trophy now,” Marsh said. “We’ve got to where we needed to be and now it’s time to go there and win.”
At Mt. Spokane H.S.
Arlington10151611—52
Shadle Park91574—35
Arlington–Gracie Castaneda 2, Serafina Balderas 1, Sarah Shortt 5, Sevi Bielser 17, Peyton Brown 0, Brittany Denike 0, Olivia Larson 0, Emma Janousek 0, Jessica Ludwig 20, Jayla Russ 7. Shadle Park–Makenna Grier 0, Emile Tangeman 0, Nicole Bennie 3, Kayla Aronhalt 0 Jillian Groves 0, Sofia Pizzillo 8, Abby Baurnfeind 8, Shyla Carr 13, Willow Risinger 3, Emma Wagley 0, Haley Risley 0. 3-point goals–Bielser 5, Carr 1. Records–Arlington 22-3, Shadle Park 7-17.
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