3A girls semifinals: Meghan Fiso's 17 points power Garfield past Arlington into finals

BY TJ COTTERILL TACOMA — If there’s one aspect that’s made this Garfield High School girls basketball team so difficult to matchup with, it’s letting Meghan

BY TJ COTTERILL

TACOMA — If there’s one aspect that’s made this Garfield High School girls basketball team so difficult to matchup with, it’s letting Meghan Fiso go to work around the high post.

The University of Michigan-bound senior has been lethal with
her mid-range jumper there since the Bulldogs entered the tournament, and it
was no different in Friday’s semifinals – with Arlington trying to be the next
team to figure out an answer.

Fiso scored a game-high 17 points and the Bulldogs
suffocated Arlington defensively to roll to a 53-36 victory and secure a spot
in the 3A state championship game for the second time in three seasons, when
they play Lake Washington at 9 p.m. Saturday in the Tacoma Dome.

“I knew I’m here to win a gold ball,” said Fiso, who was
playing in the Tacoma Dome with West Seattle the previous three seasons. “We
just came in locked in and focused as ever. We knew that while we’re here we
want to get it done and bring that gold ball back to Garfield.”

And Fiso has taken over as the Bulldogs’ team leader this
tournament and helped Garfield look like the state favorite most thought it
would be entering the season.

“We started off rocky this season but it made us better,”
Fiso said. “I think that’s why we’re here.”

Sahcari Davis added 14 points for Garfield and Kareyna
Taylor scored 12, but the Bulldogs’ defense held Arlignton to 12-for-43
shooting (27.9 percent for the game, and they took a 43-27 lead into the final
quarter.

WHAT MADE THE
DIFFERENCE

Garfield locked in defensively in the second half. The
Bulldogs were up 34-24 at halftime before Arlington made just 5 of 20 shots (20
percent) in the second half.

It wasn’t like Garfield was tearing the cover off
offensively, but Fiso was deadly whenever she got the ball around the free
throw line and her fallaway jumper with four minutes remaining put Garfield
ahead 51-30.

“All tournament I have noticed I can hit those,” Fiso said. “So
I’m just going to take those every time I get them. If that’s what I got to do
to score then that’s what I’ll take.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Meghan Fiso, Garfield

Fiso scored a game-high 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting with
six rebounds a steal and an assist. She’s stepped up for the Bulldogs in scoring
absence of Dalayah Daniels, a five-star recruit, who went 0-for-3 from the
field but finished with four points and 13 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Garfield plays Lake Washington for the second time this
season, this time, though, for the 3A state championship at 9 p.m. Saturday at
the Tacoma Dome. Garfield beat the Kangs 61-57 on Feb. 20 in the Sea-King
district tournament. 

Follow TJ Cotterill on Twitter @TJCotterill.