The Rainier Beach Vikings plundered and pillaged their way through Paski Gymnasium and the best efforts of the Bainbridge High boys varsity basketball team Tuesday, sacking a 97-44 win before sailing home.

The guests got ahead fast and stayed handily in the lead throughout the game, despite several bursts of speedy scoring by the Spartans.

It was the island team’s first home game since Dec. 30, and marked the start of a four-game home streak that officials hope will bolster the struggling squad’s record.

The loss to Rainier dropped the Spartans to 3-12 overall (1-9 in conference). They are tied, with Ballard, for the 12th spot in the league standings.

A road-heavy early season schedule and a seemingly perpetual plague of illness and injury had thus far kept the Spartan roster stretched thin, the lineup constantly in flux, and consistency a maddeningly elusive goal, BHS Head Coach Steve Haizlip said.

“Honestly, this year’s been a grind,” the coach said. “For me, we’ve just been very inconsistent.

“We have six guys out tonight again with injury or illness; we had six guys out earlier in the season for an extended period of time.”

Light on the bench, and considering also that the Vikings are ranked third in Metro (9-2 in conference), nobody, Haizlip said, entered Tuesday’s game with any illusions of an easy homecoming.

“I think the message tonight was we want 100 percent effort in consistency,” Haizlip said. “When you play a good team like this, all I can ask is that they battle and they give it their all and from there, you can build on that.”

The Vikings jumped out in front Tuesday 2-0 in less than 30 seconds, and Bainbridge did not get on the board until 4:58 remained in the first quarter (courtesy of a big three-pointer by Lyle Terry).

Down 26-9 at the end of the first, the Spartans hung tough through the rest of the first half but entered the third on the wrong side of a 54-22 score.

The third quarter saw the Spartans rack up some points (79-38), but ultimately their biggest achievement was managing to keep the Vikings under 100 by the finale — no small feat as the gung-ho guests were obviously going for it.

Being on the road so frequently so far this year, Haizlip said, has “definitely” had an effect on the team and the upcoming home outings are a highly anticipated change of pace.

“We’re excited to come back,” he said. “[The road] takes its toll. Twelve o’clock ferry, 11 o’clock ferry. I think now it’s just we get to be home, something we’re comfortable with, a little less travel and more fan support.”

Starting a streak, or finding a groove, has been the island squad’s biggest hurdle this year, the coach said. They’ve only managed to string together two consecutive wins.

“Ballard (on Jan. 6), that was a great win for us,” Haizlip said. “I thought we were making the step. Then we came out and weren’t really ready for Roosevelt (on Jan. 13), so what I’m looking for is that we just continue to battle.

“I always try to build off the positives that we’ve had, and we had positives.”

Garfield boasts the top spot in the league with a flawless 10-0 conference record. Nathan Hale is also having a perfect season thus far (9-0). Though, by the numbers, Bainbridge is not as far out of the running for a respectable place as they may seem at first. In the bottom half of the rankings, only one league win separates many closely ranked teams, making the final six games of the season even more crucial than usual.

Bishop Blanchet, for example, sits behind Bainbridge and Ballard by one loss (1-10), and Lakeside, Chief Sealth and Ingraham all claim only two league wins themselves.

The Spartans play again at home at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20 against Chief Sealth.