RAPID CITY – When the Arlington Cardinals advanced to the State Tournament, it was a new experience. But as people reached out to give advice, the one thing Arlington head coach Tara King kept hearing was to keep doing what got them to this point.
The advice was received loud and clear as the top-seeded Cardinals used their defense to defeat No. 8 James Valley Christian 51-41 Thursday afternoon to advance to the semifinals of the SDHSAA State Class B Girls Basketball Tournament.
“Everything that we had talked about and did well on defense today are the things we’ve been stressing all year long,” King said. “We just have to continue to do the things that we do well and the defensive side is something that we’ve been good at all year.”
The quarterfinal matchup started with a frantic pace as Arlington tried to adapt to the Vikings’ triangle offense. While JVC shot 66 percent in the opening quarter, the Cardinals balanced it by forcing nine turnovers to take a 16-13 lead going into the second quarter.
Arlington remained in the lead through the first half and opened up a 25-15 lead on Harley Johnson’s jumper with 2:24 until halftime but an offensive rebound by JVC’s Alexa Goertz and a jumper by Addyson Knight with 1:11 left in the half prompted a timeout from King.
“We had been doing really well, but I don’t know if we settled in too much or just kind of breathed and relaxed,” King recalled. “We were giving up more looks on the inside and giving up offensive rebounds. So the timeout was to stress that we need to do the things that we do well and the girls responded.”
After taking a 27-21 lead into halftime, the Cardinals’ defense turned it up a notch in the second half. Arlington held JVC to 24 percent shooting over the final two quarters and like many games, the defense sparked Arlington’s offense, using an 11-3 run over the final 4:05 of the third quarter to take a 41-28 lead into the final frame.
The separation was enough to keep the Vikings down in the fourth quarter and come away with the victory. While the win spawned one celebration, Johnson spurred another, scoring a team-high 18 points including her 1,000th career point.
The path to 1,000 points seemed uncertain for Johnson as they reached the midway point of the season but a conversation with King helped the team rally to help their lone senior reach the milestone.
“Without all of us on our team doing their jobs, accepting their roles and playing together, Harley is not able to accomplish that individually,” King said. “It always goes back to the team and we’re so happy for her that she got to achieve that milestone because it’s a fun way to end her senior year at the State Tournament and reach 1,000 points.”
Johnson also added five rebounds and four steals in the win while Jaelyn Huntimer had 15 points and five rebounds. Addalyn Steffensen also had eight points and seven rebounds while Jolyssa Steffensen had six points and five rebounds.
Arlington shot 36 percent in the game including 3-of-15 (20%) on 3-pointers. The Cardinals made 6-of-10 free throws and were outrebounded 40-34.
JVC shot 32 percent in the game including 2-for-19 (11%) on 3-pointers. The Vikings also went 7-for-11 (64%) from the free throw line and committed 18 turnovers.
The win helped the Cardinals improve to 22-2 on the season and advance to a semifinal matchup against Ethan on Friday night at 7 p.m. While the Rustlers handed the Cardinals their only Class B loss of the season in a 51-41 game during the Hanson Classic on Nov. 19, the Cardinals held the lead at halftime and believe they can pull off a win if they continue to do what got them to Rapid City.
“You learn things from losses and they played us differently in the second half,” King said. “Just being able to be flexible and take what the defense gives us should help and we’re excited to have another shot at them.”
