Spartans lead, trail, then rise again for second win over Port Townsend

Published 12:54 pm Friday, December 12, 2014

The Roughriders found the road through Bainbridge a little rougher than anticipated last week as the Spartans sorted out their temporary trailing of the visitors from Port Angeles right quick.

If only all of life’s problems could be put in order as easily. It looked effortless.

The Bainbridge High varsity girls basketball team jumped to an early lead with a big three-pointer almost immediately during their second game of the year last week, then fell behind as things smoothed out for the Roughriders and PA found their offense.

Trailing 9-6 as the game’s first quarter came to a close, things didn’t look good for the home team.

Then, with six minutes left in the second, the Spartans fell further behind (14-6) before taking control of the game back seemingly as easily as they’d lost it, pulling ahead (20-18) with a little more than a minute left in the first half.

The third quarter was a Bainbridge ballgame, clearly.

The Spartans pulled further ahead, and though the Roughriders made some offensive gains they were insufficient to turn the tide of the contest. BHS led 30-18 with 4:28 to go, and laid it on almost immediately in the fourth quarter to cement the win.

Bainbridge’s overall record improved to 2-0 with the non-league victory.

The team’s points leader was sophomore guard Taylor Tye, who managed to score 14 points.

Junior wing Katie Usellis chipped in 10 points, senior guard Paige Brigham finished with eight and both Paulina Bredy and Natalie Beatie ended the game with four points scored.

Having both of the season’s initial two games at home, Spartan Head Coach Nicole Hebner said, was definitely an advantage.

It makes the players more at ease, she explained, which is especially important for young athletes who don’t play basketball all year as they get back in the groove and rediscover each other’s skills on the court in the wake of the off season.

“There are going to be sometimes when things just aren’t going your way,” Hebner said. “And you’ve got to come together as a group, pull through and make it all work out and once we found a group that clicked on the court, we went with it and we took the lead going into the half and it turned out to be a pretty good game.”

After jumping to an early lead, BHS was overtaken by the Roughriders, who managed to maintain control of the quarter for a little more than a quarter — a fact which Hebner said tells her that this year’s Spartan squad has some learning to do when it comes to crunch time.

“If we can get out and we can run and we can get easy baskets and we can keep pressure in the other team’s face, that’s where we’re going to excel,” she said.

Looking at each quarter of the game individually, Hebner said the Spartans had clear and distinct areas of excellence.

“I really liked our second quarter,” she said. “We were down by eight there for a little while and then took a four-point lead into the half, so that’s a 12-point difference.”

“Once things start going in you get a little bit of momentum swaying your way,” she added.

The team’s next game — on the road against Eastside Catholic originally slated for Friday, Dec. 5 — was postponed.

The Spartans played next on Wednesday against Roosevelt before returning home to battle Garfield High at 6:15 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12.