ARLINGTON – Aberdeen Christian fell behind early and could never get over the hump Saturday afternoon.

The third-rated Knights dropped a 50-40 non-conference girls’ basketball decision to Arlington.

“We knew we were playing a really good team on a back-to-back,” said Christian coach Michael Rohrbach, whose team played at Wilmot on Friday night. “They sped us up and we didn’t hit many shots.”

The Cardinals jumped in front 15-5 in the opening period and then extended the lead to 16 points at the half.

A big factor in the contest was Christian’s struggles to shoot the ball from the perimeter. The Knights were just 1 of 18 from three-point range.

That allowed Arlington to surround Christian center Mallory Miller with multiple players.

“Offensively, we have to hit some outside shots to keep the defense honest,” Rohrbach said. “We didn’t, and Arlington was able to pack it in all game.”

The Knights made a dent into the deficit in the second half cutting the margin down to a single digit, but was unable to mount a serious challenge down the stretch.

“We tried to crawl back in the second half,” Rohrbach said, “but had just dug ourselves too big of a hole to climb out of.”

Miller finished with 22 points, 18 rebounds, four blocked shots and four steals.

Hadley Carlson topped Arlington with 11 points, 18 rebounds, and three assists, Harley Johnson followed with nine points. The Cardinals improved to 9-4 with the win.

Christian, 11-2 on the season, plays at North Central on Tuesday, before hosting Northwestern at the Civic Arena on Thursday.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (11-2): Joy Rohrbach 0 4-8 4, Kaylee Block 1 3-6 5, Hanna Miller 0 1-3 1, Mallory Miller 8 5-5 22, Grace Kaiser 1 3-3 5, Chloe Bosma 1 0-0 3. Totals 11-49 16-24 40.

ARLINGTON (9-4): Hadley Carlson 5 1-3 11, Jolyssa Steffensen 1 1-2 4, Addalyn Steffensen 2 2-2 7, Grace Parry 2 0-0 5, Harley Johnson 2 3-4 9, Ellisyn Vincent 2 0-0 6, Jaelyn Huntimer 2 0-0 4, Tanaya Weiss 1 2-2 4. Totals 17-50 9-13 50.

Aberdeen Christian 5 14 28 40

Arlington 15 30 39 50

3-point field goals – Bosma; J. Steffensen, A. Steffensen, Parry, Johnson 2, Vincent 2. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 15; Arlington 18. Rebounds – Aberdeen Christian 40 (M. Miller 18); Arlington 39 (Carlson 18). Turnovers – Aberdeen Christian 19; Arlington 19. Assists – Aberdeen Christian 5 (H. Miller 3); Arlington 9 (Carlson 3). Blocked Shots – Aberdeen Christian 4 (M. Miller 4); Arlington 1. Steals – Aberdeen Christian 12 (M. Miller 4); Arlington 11 (J. Steffensen 5).