For the second year in a row, the Arlington Eagles proved to be the roadblock the Todd Beamer Titans couldn’t get over.
With a berth into the Class 4A State Girls Basketball Tournament on the line, the Eagles ended Beamer’s season with a 35-33 overtime victory Saturday at the Regional Tournament at Puyallup High School. The top-eight teams advance to Thursday’s State Tournament inside the Tacoma Dome.
Beamer’s year ends after finishing a perfect 20-0 during the regular season before losing in the South Puget Sound League Championship game to Mount Rainier. The Rams also beat the Titans (23-3) in the West Central/Southwest District title game.
After winning the SPSL South a season ago, Arlington downed Beamer in the same Regional Tournament round, 50-42.
Arlington (20-4) jumped out to a quick 10-5 lead midway through the first quarter Saturday. But the Titans fought back to tie the game at 12-12 with three minutes to go in the first half. Beamer led 17-16 at halftime.
The game was back and forth during the third quarter with Arlington grasping to a 23-22 at the end of the eight minutes. The two teams then pretty much exchanged baskets during the fourth quarter with the game ending regulation in a 33-33 tie.
Both teams had costly turnovers during the final 30 seconds of regulation. First, Beamer was called for five seconds with 26.2 left in the fourth and then Arlington turned it over with 1.1 remaining on the clock.
The Titans’ Nia Alexander missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime. The shot bounced off the rim.
The only basket during the four-minute overtime session came from Arlington sophomore Jayla Russ, who finished with a game-high 15 points. Beamer missed all of its shots during overtime.
The Titans’ Megan Huff and Quinessa Cayao-do tallied 26 of Beamer’s 33 points during the contest. Huff, a senior, finished with 13 and Caylao-do, a sophomore, contributed 12.