Sports Roundup – Hoopsters lose close one to Lakeside/Spartans take out Lions

Published 9:00 am Saturday, December 16, 2006

Spartans miss easy shots, suffer first defeat of year.

When Lindsay Bratonia and the rest of the Bainbridge girls basketball team look at the game film, they won’t like what they see.

“I don’t want to watch it,” the senior co-captain said with an embarrassed laugh. “It’s going to be really painful. Everyone’s going to be cringing in their seat.”

The Spartans and Lions missed too many layins, but Lakeside was able to hang on and defeat sixth-ranked Bainbridge 57-53 Wednesday at Paski Gymnasium.

“We had some nice opportunities that we missed,” head coach Penny Gienger said. “Quite a few layins (as well). But we fought, I thought. We played really hard. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

That was evident throughout the game as Lakeside took the lead early, but Bainbridge came back to keep it close.

They couldn’t break ahead, however, until the 3:32 mark in the second quarter, when Brittany Gray hit a pair of foul shots and a layin, then later made a nice pass to Megan Burris for the score.

The teams traded the lead well into the fourth, when Emily Farrar hit two big three-pointers, the latter putting Bainbridge up by one. But Lakeside’s Morgan Merri­man scored in the paint on the next play.

Gray hit two free throws to pull Bainbridge within one, then the Spartans caught a break when Erika Fisher was called for a lane violation on her foul shot.

She missed the next one and Farrar was there to grab the rebound, but her three from the corner was off the mark.

Gray scored with 25.8 seconds left after a nice steal and a putback, but the Lions hit their foul shots to close it out.

Despite the loss, Gienger feels the Spartans will get better.

“I think we ran our offense well,” she said. “I think the girls recognized what they were trying to do (defensively,) and that’s the mark of a good team.

Gray finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds, five steals and three assists. Burris had eight points, eight rebounds, five steals and three blocks.

Bainbridge plays fifth-ranked Meadowdale Dec. 28 at home and at North Kitsap Dec. 29.

Spartans take out Lakeside

It was a surprise when Lakeside guard Chas Todd put the Lions on the board first by taking advantage of a Bainbridge defensive lapse.

That was the last one for the second ranked Spartans, as they scored 26 straight points en route to a 83-39 shellacking of the Lions Tuesday at Paski Gymnasium.

Steven Gray and Coby Gibler scored 25 and 21 points respectively, while the Bainbridge defense held Lakeside to just 31 percent from the floor.

“I was very, very proud of the way we came out defensively,” head coach Scott Orness said. “We know that our defense will be the thing that takes us where we want to go.”

Bainbridge forced Lakeside into 19 turnovers in the first half.

Nick Fling was the culprit on two consecutive steals in the first quarter, while Gray had six steals for the game, three of which led to a layup and two dunks.

“It gets you jacked up,” forward Austin Wood said of their defensive play in the first half. “(When) guys are getting dunks and they’re scoring only two points in the first quarter, it really gets you jacked up.”

Bainbridge led 51-12 at the half.

The Lions’ Spenser Walker came out hot in the third quarter and scored 20 points, but Bainbridge kept them from gaining any momentum by scoring 16 points in the final five minutes of the quarter.

Gray was 10 of 12 from the floor and had nine assists, while Gibler had 10 rebounds.

Nick Fling had six assists and three steals, while Rudy Sharar had eight points off the bench.

Walker finished with 27 points for Lakeside.

Bainbridge plays at fifth ranked Clover Park Dec. 15, then at North Kitsap Dec. 29.