Young Arlington Whips Cold-Shooting Cheney

State AA girls

State experience meant something after all during Cheney’s Wednesday opener against Arlington.

Not the experience of Cheney’s returners from last year’s sixth-place state team.

Consider, instead, Arlington’s state tournament history: one appearance (1982), three wins, no losses, one title.

Make that 4-0 at state for the Eagles (16-9) after their 55-38 win inaugurated the girls State AA high school basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

Young Arlington, which starts two sophomores and one freshman, held the Blackhawks (20-5) to 20-percent shooting from the field. The Eagles advanced to today’s quarterfinals against fellow District 1 member Monroe, a 57-48 winner over Chief Sealth (18-4).

Cheney, which won its first two games at state last year before succumbing to injuries, plays a loser-out game this morning - again at 9 - against Chief Sealth. The Blackhawks beat CS 49-43 in last year’s second state game.

“We’re not in the winners’ bracket, which is where we thought we’d be,” said Cheney coach Marty Jessett. “Now we’re in an eight-team (losers’ round) tournament and we’ll try to win that.”

Senior Erin Helgeland, headed to the University of Washington on a soccer scholarship, led Arlington with 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Helgeland scored eight during a 19-3 run that deflated the Blackhawks after they had closed to 33-27 with 1 minute, 38 seconds left in the third quarter.

“I was shocked that we beat them by so much,” Helgeland said. “I wasn’t shocked that we won… . We weren’t nervous at all.”

Cheney handled the ball poorly (23 turnovers) but had two bigger problems: how it shot and where it shot.

The shooting figures for Cheney starters Lisa Anderson (1 for 10), Kara Weitman (0 for 7) and Toni Bifano (0 for 6) demonstrated the difficulties. Jessett said his players may have adopted a false sense of security after sophomore point guard Anna Getz nailed two 3-pointers during the first couple of minutes.

“We weren’t the aggressors… . We just settled for jumpers instead of attacking the basket,” said Jessett, a second-year coach with a 45-7 record at Cheney. “There’s no excuse for that. It’s not like there was heavy pressure or something. We were just making mistakes.”

Until Ginger Ewing exploited the second-team defense for a pair of late baskets, Cheney had canned just seven field goals. The Blackhawks’ best showing was at the free throw line, where an 18-of-26 effort proved that their shooting touch wasn’t completely lost.

Quick Arlington twins Cherrith and Chassie Wiersma combined for 23 points, but Jessett said the Eagles were no fleeter than Frontier League rivals East Valley and Riverside.

“We just didn’t play our game,” Jessett said, “and our transition defense wasn’t very good.”

Cherrith Wiersma and Helgeland scored all of Arlington’s points during a 13-3 run after Cheney led for the final time, 12-11, midway through the second quarter.

Jessett and Arlington’s Mike Burkholz were both assessed technical fouls under the new rule that punishes coaches for leaving their seats for an extended time.

Arlington was 1-59 during the three seasons before Burkholz’s arrival last year.

Arlington 55, Cheney 38

Arlington 7 11 17 20 - 55

Cheney 8 6 13 11 - 38

ARLINGTON Hebert 1, Miles 2, Helgeland 20, Simmons 0, Che.Wiersma 15, Richardson 5, Flowers 0, Cha.Wiersma 8, Galli 0, C.Tischer 1, Bechmen 3, B.Tischer 0.

CHENEY Ewing 8, Bifano 0, Weitman 5, Getz 14, Pischel 0, Edgett 0, Anderson 4, Sooy 2, VanMatre 4, Reagan 1, Montague 0, Krogh 0.

, DataTimes