By Steve Powell
spowell@marysvilleglobe.com
It’s all about the defense.
In their season opening games Tuesday night, both Arlington’s and Marysville Getchell’s girls basketball teams excelled because of their defenses.
The Eagles were relentless, pressing full court no matter what – if a basket was made, if there was a rebound or steal … any change of possession. That raised havoc on the visiting team from Burlington-Edison for three quarters as Arlington led 29-20. But the visitors almost as many points in the fourth as they had the entire game as they edged the Eagles 39-38, thanks to their free throw shooting.
B-E made 13 of 19 free throws, while the home team made just 8 of 16. Arlington also wasn’t hitting from 3-point land, making just 5 of 22, while B-E was 2 of 2. From the field, Arlington was 7 of 16, while B-E was 10 of 11.
Junior Sierra Scheppele led the Eagles with 16 points, but no one else had a hot hand. Sophomore Hailey Hiatt added 8 points, sophomore Josie Stupey 4, and five others had 2 points each: sophomores Jordan Bartlow, Ella Strittmatter and Makenzie Gage and juniors Allison DeBerry and Georgia Arnold.
MG’s Chargers used a trapping half-court defense to confuse visiting Mariner. The Marauders scored just 3 points in the first quarter and MG tallied 20 to win going away 50-21.
MG scored 10-straight points in the second quarter in just a few minutes. Junior Alexis Atkins, a 6-foot post player, scored after grabbing an offensive rebound; junior Kortney Crane stole the ball and assisted on Sydney Norton’s layup; Norton followed that with her own steal and lay-in; Norton then went coast-to-coast after grabbing a rebound for another layup; and Kiki Green ended the streak with two free throws.
Junior Brionna Palm and Norton led the Chargers with 9 points each, followed by Green with 8, Atkins and junior Maddy Grandbois with 6 each, junior Madison Hagglund with 5, Crane with 4 and Katie Powell with 3. Meanwhile, Lakewood lost its season opener at Oak Harbor 49-36.
Freshman Jasmine Graham led the Cougars with 11 points followed by Malia Ryden with 8, Natalie Krueger and Riley Molloy with 4 each, and Myriam Frechilla, Mandy Harrison and Shealey Miller with 3 apiece.
In boys basketball Wednesday, Josh Gutierrez scored 18 points and Anthony Whitis 15 as Arlington earned a season-opening 56-47 non-league win at Sehome. The home team actually outscored the visitors in the second half, but the Eagles had too big of lead, 29-17, at the break.
Other scorers for Arlington were Caden Smith with 8, Will Abram 7, Gerit DeBerry 6 and Michael Tsoukalas.
In other games, Stanwood beat Lakewood 66-53 and Kamiak beat Marysville-Pilchuck 56-42.
