Arras comes off bench to spark Rams

YAKIMA – Sarra Arras has had a knack for stepping up in critical situations this season for the Riverside girls basketball team.

Arras came through again when Riverside needed a lift Saturday afternoon.

The senior reserve guard came off the bench to score all seven of her points in the fourth quarter. She hit two key 3-pointers and a free throw with 7 seconds to go, as the Rams captured third place with a 57-54 win over Chelan in the State 2A girls tournament at the Yakima SunDome.

It’s the Rams’ first state trophy in school history.

“This was the last game of the season and I just knew I had to step up,” Arras said. “I just went out there and put it all out there.”

With her team trailing 44-37, Arras hit her first 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 28 seconds to go, and she hit her second to cut the Goats’ lead to 47-44 at the 4:05 mark.

“She’s definitely our best shooter,” Riverside coach Dave Wood said of Arras. “We go back and forth replacing her on the defensive end, but as far as shooting and offense, I wish I had five of them like her.”

The 3-pointers seemed to loosen up Chelan’s 2-3 zone just enough for Riverside’s 6-foot-2 post Angela Hartill to get free inside. Her putback of her own miss with 2:02 to go gave the Rams their first lead since the game’s opening minutes at 52-51.

Chelan was content most of the game to sit back in the zone in hopes of bottling up Hartill. It worked in the first half.

But Hartill muscled her way from one side of the key to the other in the final two quarters, scoring 17 of her game-high 22 points. She scored eight points on second-chance opportunities in the second half, finishing with seven offensive rebounds to go with eight defensive rebounds. Her hustle inside also landed her at the free-throw line where she made 12 of 15 shots.

Chelan pulled within 56-54 when Erika Hanson made a foul shot with 9 seconds remaining, and the Goats immediately fouled Arras in backcourt.

“I tried to relax a little bit and take a deep breath,” said Arras, who made the first shot of the double bonus but missed the second. “I thought the second one was in, but I knew I had to make the first one because it made it a three-point game.”

The Goats had enough time for a final shot, but Kristin Schramm’s 3-point attempt was off the mark at the buzzer.

Wood said the state trophy was particularly rewarding for his nine seniors, five of whom were starters. He couldn’t praise his team enough for overcoming sickness (four players had the flu on Tuesday) and periods of poor shooting in the four-day tourney.

“Most of them have been together since the fifth grade,” Wood said. “So this has been a really sweet finish for them.”