ARLINGTON — The Arlington girls basketball team proved there’s more than one way to win a game.
After outshooting and flat out outscoring opponents with an average 54 points per game in their wins since early December, the Arlington girls showed they could win with defense against Cascade, winning a 37-25 home contest Jan. 8.
“They played great defense and so did we,” said Arlington girls basketball coach Nathan Davis. “We just had to grind it out. We executed well down the stretch.”
The game was never much more than a four-point contest until late in the fourth quarter and decidedly cool free-throw shooting early in the period cost either team an advantage. In a stretch in which five players went to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, only Arlington’s Tiffany Daggett helped her team. Then, with 3:41 left to go, Arlington junior Quinn Kesselring hit a field goal that helped ignite the Eagles’ play to run away with the game.
Kesselring and Arlington senior Kyra Prause poured it on, leading the girls on a 13-4 run to close out the game and shooting a combined 5-for-7 from the charity stripe, curbing Cascade’s attempted comeback by fouling for possessions.
“They’re very athletic and physical,” Davis added. “Our goal was just to play great defense on their two studs (Katey Gross and Danielle Love).”
Gross was held to 12 points and Love to eight, shooting less than 30 percent for the game.
Seven girls scored for Arlington with Prause chipping in a game-high 15 points.
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