ARLINGTON — Heading into the 2009-10 season Wesco Conference coaches conducted a poll determining which teams were the strongest.

The Marysville-Pilchuck girls came in seventh out of nine teams.

“When we got that ranking, the girls really took that to heart,” said coach Julie Martin.”

Time will tell if that vote is exactly what the lady Tomahawks needed to hear, but after a 59-52 win over Arlington to remain perfect (5-0) in conference play, it sure seems like it.

In tight rivalry game, Junior Dacia Heckendorf scored eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Tomahawks past the Eagles.

“She was really clutch at the free throw line for us tonight,” Martin said about the 5-9 junior who made six consecutive freebies to seal the win.

But Heckendorf did more than hit free throws, she also came up with a crucial steal, defensive rebound and assist to help M-P complete an 11-4 run after tying the score 49-49 with just under three minutes remaining.

“We needed to come out and have a strong fourth quarter,” Heckendorf said. “We had to have a lot of heart to win that one.”

Now Marysville has defeated four teams ranked higher than them at the start of the year.

The Tommies owned a 32-20 halftime lead, but watched as it dwindled away due to foul trouble and loose defense in the third quarter. Arlington attacked the lane and switched to a zone to force M-P into getting creative offensively. The result was a 24-10 run. Marysville hung on with three-pointers from Emily Enberg, Becca Lentz and Morgan Martinis.

“We like to make them interesting,” Martin said about her team that has seen three of their conference wins coming by a margin of seven or fewer points. “We weren’t playing our best defense that quarter.”

Arlington eventually took a 49-47 lead that didn’t last a minute.

A large crowd came to watch these rivals play for the first of two games this season, and Heckendorf said that a win over Arlington means more than remaining perfect in conference play.

“Not just because it’s Arlington,” she said. “It’s because we can take it one game at a time and win those games by playing together.”

Also having standout games for M-P were Enberg and Martinis.

Entering the fourth quarter, Martin didn’t tell her team to look to any one player.

“That’s what I tell everybody about this team,” she said. “We work together so well that we look for the open shot — regardless of who it is.”

That philosophy worked down the stretch, with all three of Marysville’s final buckets coming without an Arlington player in sight.