Hot Tickets: What to watch this week in prep sports

Four high school sports events to keep an eye on this week:

Girls basketball: Arlington at Stanwood, 7:15 p.m. Tuesday. This non-league clash is the first of two meetings between these Wesco 3A rivals (they play again in a Jan. 31 conference game). In their league matchup last season, eventual Wesco 3A/2A co-champion Arlington edged Stanwood in overtime.

Boys basketball: Jackson at Marysville Pilchuck, 7:15 p.m. Wednesday. The defending Wesco 3A/2A champions host the defending Wesco 4A champions in a compelling non-league showdown. This marks the beginning of the post-RaeQuan Battle era for Marysville Pilchuck, which returned nearly every other player from last season’s historic Class 3A fourth-place state team. Jackson, meanwhile, looks to replace a talented senior class after graduating four of its top five scorers from last season’s 4A state-qualifying squad.

Boys basketball: King’s at Lakewood, 7:15 p.m. Wednesday. These former Cascade Conference rivals square off in an intriguing non-league matchup. Lakewood earned an impressive win last week over Stanwood, which reached the 3A state regionals last season. King’s, coming off a 1A third-place state finish last winter, opened its season with a narrow loss to reigning 4A state qualifier Glacier Peak.

Boys wrestling: Stanwood at Lake Stevens, 7 p.m. Thursday. This non-league dual features likely two of the area’s top teams. Lake Stevens, which tied for an 11th-place state finish in 4A last season, opened with a 35-34 win over state power Tahoma last week. Stanwood took 13th place in 3A last season and returns a pair of third-place state medalists in Riley Van Scoy and Isaac Ortega.