ARLINGTON — Santa made an appearance at Arlington High School to take holiday photos with fans during the Lady Eagles’ matchup against the Lady Panthers of Snohomish on Dec. 16.

The Eagles made it a holly jolly night for themselves by overpowering the Panthers for a 52-39 win.

“Last game (Dec. 14 against Lake Stevens) we had a lack of energy, so we wanted to come out hot,” junior guard Krista Showalter said. “I’d say we did pretty well, since we won by 13.”

Showalter, senior guard Megan Abdo and senior forward Stefanie Schmuck attacked the basket with strong drives to the baseline, willing their team to a 15-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Eagles outscrapped the Panthers as they dove for loose balls and pushed the ball down the court.

Senior center Kaiti Ferro patrolled the paint and swooped in to clean up on rebounds. When Arlington missed a basket, they earned free throws instead.

“We stepped our game up and got into the post,” junior forward Lindsay Brown said. “We got everybody the ball.”

Showalter snuffed out Snohomish’s passes to the post and found Abdo running the sideline to bull rush the Panther defense in transition.

Arlington went to a full-court double-team trap inside of a minute left in the first half and led 23-11 at intermission after Ferro snuck behind the Panther defense for a lay-in as the half expired.

Junior forward Lindsay Brown blocked a Panther fast break layup to put Snohomish’s offense in its place.

The Eagles rarely fired from outside because Snohomish did not force them to.

Schmuck waved her arms as she stood unguarded behind two Panther defenders beneath the basket and converted easy basket after easy basket throughout the night. Ferro made herself at home in the post as well, drawing fouls as she muscled up with drop steps and power dribbles.

Brown was a hot target in the fourth quarter as she broke the Panther defense and powered through a foul to score. Abdo nailed a three-pointer from the top of the arc when the defense crashed down to stop Brown’s penetration.

“I’ve been working on my power moves and getting two feet on the ground,” Brown said. “I get confidence and a lot of and-ones.”

Snohomish fired three-pointers, down 50-39 with little over a minute left in the fourth, but the shots would not fall and Arlington secured its second conference win of the year.

Brown and senior guard Jensen Evans led the Eagles in scoring with 13 points each. Showalter racked up three points, eight assists and four steals.