The Bainbridge High girls varsity basketball team suffered a tough home court loss Friday, Jan. 29 against the visitors from Ballard.
The final score saw the Spartans down 52-30.
BHS led at first, and maintained the lead through much of the first quarter before the Beavers seemed to find their stride, leaving the Spartans behind for the rest of the contest.
It was the team’s sixth consecutive loss at home and left the Spartans with an overall season record of 3-12 (2-9 in conference). BHS is ranked sixth in the Metro Mountain Division. Bishop Blanchet boasts the top spot, with an overall season record of 17-1 (12-1 in conference).
Despite its early lead, the Bainbridge squad finished the first quarter down 7-4. In the second, Ballard hit the gas and gained some distance on the board, leading 20-8 by the half.
The third quarter belonged to the Spartans. Apparently rejuvenated during the break, the squad returned focused and refreshed and outscored the Beavers 13-12.
Down 32-21 going into the final quarter, the Spartan run hit a speed bump and the team was quickly outmatched, finding themselves behind again (20-9) by the final buzzer.
Carly Lant led the BHS team on the board, scoring 13 points throughout the night.
Taylor Tye managed six, and Katie Usellis chipped in four points.
Spartan Head Coach Nicole Hebner said that half of the team’s game had come together much better than the other.
“Defensively, we do OK but we’ve got to score,” she explained. “We just didn’t make a lot of shots.”
Many points scored by the visitors were more because of Spartan mistakes, she added, than their own prowess.
Ballard is known to be a very cohesive team, Hebner said, with no one player standing out as a particularly obvious threat. Instead, the Beavers do a very good job of working together and passing the ball around.
“We knew that they’re a very good team,” she said. “We’re trying to not necessarily focus on other teams as much, but more on us and trying to get us to have everyone on the same page and able to play together.”
