ARLINGTON — The Lady Eagles basketball team didn’t get too much time to think about the holidays as they were swarmed by the fast-paced Golden Eagles.
But despite committing a season-high 31 turnovers, Arlington defeated Ferndale 58-51 in a nonconference game Dec. 23.
“That was a big game for us,” said Arlington coach Nathan Davis, whose girls snapped a three-game skid. “They were a really fast team — they played a lot like Monroe.”
The up-tempo style threw the Eagles off, as they had trouble locating teammates while losing track of defenders at the same time during breaks. And in all the confusion, Ferndale senior guard Haley Locker thrived, coming away with nine steals.
“She was really fast,” said Eagles guard Jensen Evans. “She was kind of all over the place, but Lauren Grogan really stepped up and handled her pressure.”
Evans got the Eagles started, scoring eight of her team-high 14 points in the first half, allowing Arlington to own a 26-24 lead halfway through. The junior finished with a trio of 3-pointers.
The see-sawed for the third and the middle of the fourth quarters until Davis brought in senior Jasmine Redix, who immediately got an offensive rebound, steal and an assists in her first two possessions.
“Jasmine did a tremendous job tonight providing energy for us right when we needed it,” said Davis. “She just waits for her turn.”
Arlington matched its largest lead in the game — which was at 5-0 in the first quarter — on the heels of a 6-2 run with just two minutes remaining in regulation to make the score 51-46.
The Eagles began to sniff out a theme in Ferndale’s offense, and took advantage by getting steals on three consecutive possessions.
“We knew that they started running the same play,” said Evans. “When the guard would drive down, she’d go through and come off a screen, we just started switching there.”
Also coming through down the stretch was junior post Kaiti Ferro, who finished with 10 points and went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
The Eagles’ previous season high in turnovers was 16.
With the win, Arlington gets back to .500 with a 4-4 overall record.
