The No. 1 seed Bainbridge Spartans fell to the No. 3 seed Port Angeles Roughriders 44-36 in the District 3 2A girls basketball championship game Feb. 22 at Mount Tahoma High School.

The Spartans entered the matchup securing a 33-20 win against the North Kitsap Vikings in the semifinals, which earned them a state bid. The Roughriders came into the game coming off a 48-44 win against the Eatonville Cruisers.

The game was tight from the get-go, with PA taking the eventual halftime lead at 18-17.

The third quarter kicked off with immediate scores from both squads. Spartan Anna Rowe successfully put in a layup to take the lead, but Roughrider Sariah Doherty was able to score a mid-range jumper after getting fouled, allowing PA to jump out to a 24-19 lead.

Spartan Bella Ramirez drew a foul with ten seconds remaining in the third, giving Bainbridge the opportunity to cut into the Roughriders’ lead, but only made one of her two free throws.

The score at the end of the third was 31-26, Port Angeles.

The Spartans got out to a fast start in the fourth quarter, largely in part to Ramirez scoring back-to-back buckets, forcing the Roughriders to call a timeout with about five minutes remaining in the game.

PA was able to jump out to its largest lead of the game at eight after a Teanna Clark layup. Ramirez was able to put in a put-back layup to cut into the lead, but the Spartans could not escape foul trouble.

With less than a minute left in the game, the Spartans began intentionally fouling to preserve time. However, they couldn’t get their shots to fall in the end.

In its previous semifinal game Feb. 20 against North Kitsap, Bainbridge secured a trip to state for the first time since 2008 in a grind-it-out, low-scoring affair.

“That’s a goal for me as a coach [going to state],” Bainbridge coach Zach Burnham said. “I finally got my sophomores that I had when I first started [and] they’re seniors now.”

Neither team was able to score for the first five minutes of the opening quarter.

Ramirez finally was able to put in a layup, with three minutes remaining in the period. NK committed many turnovers in the first, limiting its ability to score until Viking forward Andrea Zetty made a three-pointer late in the first.

The beginning of the second emerged with the same amount of defensive prowess, with both teams struggling to score.

Bainbridge was only able to double its point total from the first with eight in the second. NK continued to struggle offensively due to Bainbridge’s defensive strategy of full-court pressing, only mustering four points in the second.

The Spartans led at halftime 12-7.

As strong as the Bainbridge defense was, NK’s also was tough.

“We held them to four points in one quarter,” Viking coach Karla DeVries said. “No one’s done that, so it was a milestone for us.”

Both offenses began to find their way in the third quarter, as Spartan Hannah Bounketh made a mid-range shot to push Bainbridge’s lead to seven. But the Vikings began to find themselves in foul trouble with their aggressive defensive strategy with Teegan DeVries committing a shooting foul on Ramirez, sending her to the free-throw line with 2:30 remaining in the quarter.

Ramirez continued to put in points for the Spartans, making a driving layup with 1:41 remaining and pushing the Spartan lead to nine. NK responded with consecutive scores in the last minute of the third, tallying their highest-scoring quarter of the game at 10.

The turnover bug began to bite the Spartans at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Bainbridge also found itself getting into foul trouble, accruing five fouls by the halfway mark in the fourth. But NK was unable to capitalize.

“We haven’t been under pressure in a while,” Burnham said. “But like my [assistant] coach says, pressure makes diamonds.”

Other Kitsap scores

In other 2A girls action, No. 9 seed Kingston was eliminated by No. 4 seed Fife 51-37 Feb. 20.

NK was eliminated in a loser-out game against North Mason Feb. 22 41-39.

Abby Marrero of NK looks to make a play with Sierra Berry of Bainbridge guarding her in a 33-20 loss to the Spartans Feb. 20 at Foss High School.