At Nathan Hale on Tuesday, the boys’ basketball team put together the perfect antidote to their fourth quarter problems the previous weekend, in which North Mason and West Seattle had broken open close games to win by an average of 12 points.
The Spartans opened up a 33-13 halftime lead against the Raiders and extended the margin to 29 points after three quarters en route to a 57-34 win to even their Metro League record at 1-1.
The venues for the boys’ basketball team on Friday and Saturday were different, but coach Scott Orness’s verdict was the same for both games: “We played well but we couldn’t execute at crunch time,” he said.
“Not being able to handle pressure was our downfall.”
Despite holding narrow halftime leads in both games, the Spartans lost at home to West Seattle 66-55 on Friday, then dropped Saturday’s game at North Mason 59-46.
The Bainbridge gymnasts opened the season by overwhelming Nathan Hale by a score of 163.85 to 131.95 on Friday afternoon at the Raiders’ gym.
The Spartans swept the top four spots in all-around competition in addition to placing one through six in bars, vault and beam. Bainbridge also had the top four scores in floor exercise.
It took about 20 seconds to remove any suspense about the outcome of Friday’s girls basketball season opener against West Seattle.
Alice Russell scored on a two-foot bank shot just 10 seconds into the game. Smothering Spartan full-court pressure forced a quick turnover, then Russell converted an inbounds pass into a basket and a free throw at the 7:40 mark.
Spartan hoopster Teddy Picha may not have made the biggest play in Tuesday’s season-opening 61-49 win over visiting North Kitsap. But he definitely made the smartest.
With just over two minutes left in the first half, Bainbridge was struggling. The Spartans had given up 12 straight points as a ten-point lead turned into a two-point deficit in just over four minutes. They’d committed several turnovers in that span, and another seemed imminent as an errant pass sailed backward over the center line.
During a break in the incessant late November rain, newly appointed baseball coach Jayson Gore surveyed the puddled infield from the shelter of the third base dugout.
“All I want to do is coach baseball,” he said, visions of Spartans circling the bases filling his mind.
This year’s switch to the Metro League has at least two benefits for the gymnastics team. No more long bus rides to Port Angeles. And no more snubs at the Metro League Tournament awards ceremony.
The first is obvious. The second requires a bit of explanation.
There can be little doubt that the girls’ basketball team won’t have another 15-1 league season as it moves from the Olympic League to Metro.
For one thing, Metro is unquestionably the toughest 3A league in the state. Four Metro teams went to state last year, and all four placed in the top eight.
New boys basketball coach Scott Orness knows what’s ahead for his team.
“Metro is possibly the toughest league in the state in basketball,” he said. “But I see it as an opportunity, not something to dread.
“With the quality of the players coming back and our senior leadership, I can see great things for this team.”
Count wrestling coach Steve Hohl among the fans of the Spartans’ shift to the Metro League this year.
“We should do very well this year,” he said. “Even in our bad years we beat Nathan Hale, and even with three starters missing we beat O’Dea last year.”
Those two schools plus Ballard and Blanchet are the traditional Metro powers.
This year’s Spartan boys’ swim team doesn’t have a lot of senior leadership. In fact, the team doesn’t have a lot of seniors.
As of last Friday, there was a total of one: Nick Rodda.
“He’s a great leader and has phenomenal experience in swimming,” said coach Lynn Wells, returning for her second year after guiding the Spartans to an 11th place finish at the state meet. “But he wants some company.”
BI Swim Club coach Jane Swanson and a group of her athletes watched a 9-year-old girl, competing in her first-ever race out in the nether reaches of lane six, win a 50-yard race in just over 30 seconds. That’s an outstanding time even for an experienced swimmer at that age.
“Who is that girl?” Swanson asked.
Nine years later, the swim coaches at several dozen major universities know exactly who “that girl” is.
About four minutes into Saturday’s first-round playoff football game at Yakima’s West Valley, Gary Duffner swept around left end for a one-yard gain to the Ram 42.
That turned out to be the closest that Bainbridge came to scoring.
