ARLINGTON — Arlington senior Gracie Castaneda is on point.

She’s “a kid that really likes the moment,” coach Joe Marsh said.

And for the Arlington girls basketball team, there is no better moment than now at the 3A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

The Eagles qualified after defeating Bishop Blanchet 49-30 Feb. 27 in the regional tournament. Castaneda led Arlington with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

As a result, she is the Marysville Globe-Arlington Times Athlete of the Week.

“We executed really well,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without my team.”

“Gracie does so much for us,” Marsh said, about her offensive and defensive output.

Averaging 10 points and five rebounds for the Eagles this year, Castaneda has been a crucial three-year-starter.

Castaneda, much like the other Eagles, is athletic and versatile and also relatively small.

But that doesn’t make her shy away from contact.

Despite her slim 5-foot-8 frame she had to go up against 5-foot-10 Blanchet star Jadyn Bush for rebounds. And she did just fine with credit to backside help from her team, she said.

“We do really good with their big girls because we help each other a lot,” Castaneda said.

They also countered Blanchet’s pressuring defense.

“They ran man on us. We haven’t got man on us in a long time,” Castaneda said. “So we had to run a lot of plays that night so we got a lot of baskets off that.”

Castaneda and her team practiced rebounding in the week prior, scrimmaging against the freshman boys basketball team to get them used to the size and physicality of Blanchet.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game going in,” Castaneda said. “We knew we had to execute well, which we did.”

And even before Blanchet, the Eagles have had success against Snohomish and Glacier Peak – teams that also have bigs.

“This team is used to playing against players bigger than them,” Marsh said.

The first round of the state tournament will be no different.

“We’re going to take it like we took the Blanchet game,” she said. “But we’re just going to have to help each other on their bigs and just pressure the crap out of them.”

Castaneda has played basketball since second grade. She has played other sports as well, but has simply enjoyed the intricacies of basketball.

“There’s a lot of different aspects in being a good basketball player,” Castaneda said. “You have to be athletic in a lot different ways.”

Universities like George Fox and Western Washington have reached out to Castaneda for basketball.

Whichever she attends, she wants to pursue elementary education. She wants to teach around the world, mainly because of an aunt who teaches in Saudi Arabia.

What she has learned in basketball is communicating with a diverse team, which will help her in teaching, she said.

“We are all from different areas and backgrounds,” she said.

“So I think that like benefited me.”

She also participates in little kids basketball camps the team puts on.

“She is a player any coach would want on her team,” Marsh said.

“It’s been a pleasure coaching her for four years.”