Going into Friday night’s home game against Seattle Prep, the Spartan girls figured on a wire-to-wire battle with the defending AAA state runners-up. What they didn’t anticipate was a 66-39 thrashing of the visiting Panthers.
After the first couple minutes of play, the game was living up to its billing, and the Prepsters had a 7-2 lead with a three-point bomb by junior guard Rachel Snyder.
The next time down the court for Bainbridge could have proved a warning for the Seattle Prep girls. Spartan senior Haley Wiggins launched a three-point attempt that bounced off the rim, but hustled to follow her own shot and score on an uncontested layup. For the Panthers, it was just the beginning of the end.
Over the next seven minutes of play, Bainbridge outhustled, outdefended and, most importantly, outscored the Prep girls. By the time Panther Che Oh finally broke the thick ice forming over the Prep hoop with a pair of free throws, the clock showed 6:31 left in the half and Bainbridge holding a 20-9 lead.
Spartan sophomore guard Allie Picha led the Spartans into the halftime locker room with 12 points as Bainbridge held a commanding 36-15 lead at the break. Also coming up big for Bainbridge on the offensive end in the first half were Morgan Zajonc with 7 and Wiggins with 6.
Defensively, the entire Spartan team smothered the Panthers with their signature matching zone defense – brought to the team by varsity assistant Terry Lande.
“Our kids were chomping at the bit (Thursday) night,” Bainbridge coach Penny Gienger said. Bainbridge’s game at Eastside Catholic on Wednesday was postponed due to the snow, so the Spartan coach had the girls scrimmage against the Bainbridge freshman boys team.
The pace slowed a bit for the Spartan offense in the third quarter as Prep outscored Bainbridge 16-12. Ten of the Bainbridge points in the quarter were tallied by Zajonc as Prep could not contain the senior Spartan guard.
Zajonc’s dominance continued in the final period as she rallied Bainbridge with 9 more points as the Sparts outhooped the Panthers 18-8 and cruised to the final buzzer for the victory
Zajonc’s 26 points led all scorers, Picha added 16, Wiggins 8, Alice Russell 5, Kari Pierce 4, Jocelyn Moody 3, Kaitlin Bailey 2 and Toren Johnson 2.
Boys fall to Prep
The Spartan boys must have felt they had entered some redwood forest nightmare Friday night as they took on Seattle Prep. The Panthers boasted a full roster of altitude numbers from 6-5 to 6-9, and the Spartans were hurting in the size department, with 6-7 senior starter Schuyler Boone nursing an ankle sprain.
“We were definitely missing Schuyler with his 14 points a game, double-digits rebounding,” Bainbridge coach Scott Orness said.
And though the Spartans lost the war against Prep, 65-51, Bainbridge could take pride in winning key battles in the contest.
Panther senior guard Michael Knight was handcuffed all night by Spartan sophomore John Bruns, held to just one field goal and 4 points overall. Leslie earned some strong accolades from Orness as well, playing tough “D” against Miami of Ohio-bound guard Chad Troyer.
In the paint, Theo Miller held his own against size and experience.
“Miller and Bruns are not playing like sophomores,” Orness said. “The guys stuck to the game plan really well. Overall, our guys have improved a lot.”
Prep held a 13-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, and pulled out to a 10-point margin, 33-23, at the halftime break.
After the intermission, Bainbridge – make that Mark Korsak – scored seven straight to cut the Panther lead to three at 33-30. While Prep held a 42-34 lead at the beginning of the final quarter, the Spartan hustle kept the Panthers rattled and the Bainbridge boys refused to let go.
It took an amazing three-point shooting display by Prep’s Connor Donnelly in the final quarter – canning three straight treys – to hold the Spartans out of reach.
Korsak led Bainbridge with 17 points, Bruns had 9, Leslie 8, Miller 8, Dan Canfield 5, and Zac Townsend 4.
