SHOREWOOD — Down 16-4 in the first quarter, it looked pretty bleak for Arlington in the semifinals of the Wesco 3A girls district basketball tournament Feb. 17.

“That’s your nightmare as a coach, coming out into the game,” Arlington coach Joe Marsh said. “And a lot of times in those games, great starts end up leading to wins.”

But that wasn’t the case for Arlington, as “maturity and experience” won the night, Marsh said.

The Eagles kept chipping away in the next quarters, eventually gaining the lead in the fourth quarter to defeat Glacier Peak 52-45.

Arlington advances to the championship round against the No. 1 seed Lynnwood Feb. 20 at Jackson High School at 6 p.m.

In the second quarter the Eagles found their shots from the perimeter, with 3-point goals from Serafina Balderas and Sevi Biesler, who led with 15 points and five 3-point goals.

“[Biesler] has stepped up as of late,” Marsh said. “We watched her early, and if she gets a clean look and it goes, she might hit one, and she hits six.”

Arlington closed to within 28-24 at halftime.

“We came in at halftime down four, and I said ‘Girls, they had a great first half, and here we are down four. It’s a whole new ballgame now,'” Marsh said. “‘We got sixteen minutes of basketball, now it’s our time to play basketball.'”

Entering the third quarter, Arlington’s Emma Janousek and post Jayla Russ tied it 28-28 but the Eagles found themselves behind 36-35 at the end of the third.

About a minute and a half into the final quarter, Arlington finally broke Glacier Peak’s lead. Biesler’s sharp shooting and Arlington’s ability to get to the free-throw line made the difference, outscoring Glacier Peak 17-9 in the final quarter.

“I felt like if we could take a lead in this game as hard as we worked and being down all game, it just gets you over that edge,” Marsh said. “It changes the momentum of the game.”