Arden: A Tale Of The Tape
Wilbur-Creston can thank Holly Arden.
Because of her, the Wildcats survived a late second-half rally to beat Reardan 61-55 and take home the fourth-place trophy from the 19th girls State B high school basketball tournament Saturday at the Arena.
In the other consolation games, Wishkah Valley defeated Waterville 56-37 for third place and Morton beat Rainier 44-40 for fifth.
Those losers finished sixth and eighth, respectively. Reardan finished seventh.
The day’s best game went to Wilbur-Creston and Reardan. The Wildcats took a 31-21 lead into the second half, but the Indians responded by outscoring Wilbur-Creston 17-10 in the third quarter.
Things took a turn for the worse for the Wildcats when Arden went down with an ankle injury.
Arden, who sprained her left ankle in Wilbur-Creston’s win against Pomeroy on Friday, sprained her right ankle after stepping on Reardan’s Lisa Bocook with 2 seconds left in the third quarter.
“I was mad because I thought I was going to be out for the rest of the game,” Arden said.
With Arden on the bench, the Indians went on a seven-point run to assume a 45-43 lead with 6:22 remaining.
With his team in jeopardy of falling out of contention, Wilbur-Creston coach Steve Jantz sent Arden back into the game when the 5-foot-6 senior assured him she was ready.
Arden hit 3-pointers on two consecutive trips downcourt to put the Wildcats up 51-47.
“Holly Arden, what can you say?” Jantz said. “This kid is crying in warmups because her ankle hurt so bad. Then she just plays real big.
“When she sprained her ankle right before the end of the third quarter, I think everyone thought she was done for the year. But it was her other ankle. We taped it up and she came back.”
Reardan coach Bryce Wilson said it wasn’t the first time the Indians have struggled against Arden.
“She had 24 or something against us in the Bi-County League championship,” Wilson said. “She had a good night, so you can’t take anything away from her. She’s had a couple good performances against us and we just haven’t been able to defend her very well.”
Wilbur-Creston raced out to a 14-8 lead in the first quarter behind Mindy Bandy’s six points.
Reardan trailed by five at the start of the second quarter, but the Indians went on a 6-0 run to take an 18-17 lead.
The Wildcats responded by going on a nine-point run of their own for a 26-18 lead. Alyssa Erickson scored six of her 10 first-half points in the second quarter.
“She (Erickson) previously scored zero against Reardan in the league and district championships,” Jantz said. “She just came tonight and played the way she’s capable of.”
The Indians were held to three points in the final 5-1/2 minutes of the first half.
Jantz said the Wildcats’ defense on Brenda Rohner was critical.
“Everybody stepped up. We weren’t going to let Rohner score from the freethrow line, and we weren’t going to let her beat us off the dribble.”
Jessica Martin had 17 points and seven rebounds in her final game for Wilbur-Creston.
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