Hoops: who’s next?

The Sea-King District AAA tournament opens next week at various locations. If the Spartan girls win tomorrow to finish fourth in Metro, they will open district at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, at Ingraham High School. If Bainbridge loses tomorrow, they will play 3 p.m. Tuesday at Mercer Island High School. Opponents are yet to be determined for either case.

For the boys, Bainbridge will open district play at 4:45 p.m., Tuesday, at Ingraham High School against either O’Dea or Seattle Prep – a prospect that doesn’t faze Guterson. “Both teams are very good,” he said. “But I’m confident we can play with either team.”

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The season continues for both the boys and girls Spartan basketball teams as each team clinched district tournament berths through Metro League tourney play this past week.

The Spartan girls cinched their spot Wednesday night with a 63-60 victory at Chief Sealth in the second round of the Metro League tournament.

The win, coupled with Tuesday’s tourney opener victory over Ingraham, puts the Spartans back on the court today for a 9 a.m. showdown with Bishop Blanchet at Seattle Pacific University for fourth- and fifth-place bragging rights in Metro.

Tuesday night, Bainbridge outpowered the Lady Rams inside and pulled away for the 59-34 win at Paski Gymnasium. The Spartan foursome of Alice Russell, Morgan Zajonc, Allie Picha and Haley Wiggins combined for 52 points, each scoring in double figures in the loser-out contest.

While the two teams remained close in the early going, nine first-quarter points by Zajonc, including a trey near the end of the period, started the Spartans on their way, 15-4.

The second quarter was more of the same from the Spartans, with Russell dialing in on two straight long-range three-pointers and Wiggins hitting a couple of buckets. The rattled Lady Rams took a desperate timeout, faced with a 25-9 deficit. The break worked for the visitors as Ingraham outscored Bainbridge 12-4 to narrow the blue-and-gold lead to 29-21.

The final four points of the half for Bainbridge, however, epitomized the Spartan hustle as Picha cashed in on a drive and Wiggins scored at the buzzer on a nifty shovel pass from Zajonc.

The Spartan lead jumped to 51-26 at the end of the third quarter, and the final period saw only eight points scored by each team.

Russell led Bainbridge with 18 points. Zajonc added 13, Picha 11, Wiggins 10, Angela Keller 5, and Tiana Gallagher 2.

At Chief Sealth Wednesday evening, Bainbridge avenged two earlier losses to the Seahawks (one regular season, one Cascade Holiday Tournament), with a 63-60 victory on the Sealth home court.

“We really wanted to win this game and they weren’t expecting anything out of us,” Russell said.

Building off the offensive show Tuesday, Bainbridge erupted for 22 first-quarter points to just 12 for the Seahawks. The two teams played relatively even for the next two quarters. The Spartans, however, were able to hold Sealth standout MeMe Lewis-Roberts to just five point, and hang on for the three-point win in the end.

“We were more patient on offense,” said Russell, who led Bainbridge with 23 points, followed by Picha 16, Wiggins 12, Zajonc 10 and Keller 2.

Payback

The Spartan boys had their backs against the wall Thursday night and turned out a 41-39 victory over Bishop Blanchet – a team that defeated Bainbridge twice during the regular season.

Spartan senior Henry Guterson led Bainbridge with 21 points in the game played at the neutral Nathan Hale court.

After Blanchet held a slim 12-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, Bainbridge took advantage of ice-cold Blanchet shooting in the second quarter to outscore their foes 13-1 in the period for a 23-13 halftime lead.

According to Guterson, having a couple of games experience against Blanchet proved advantageous.

“We figured out their zone a little more,” he said, describing the extended zone defense employed by the Braves. “We were patient and you have to be patient against a team like that.”

Bainbridge coach Scott Orness agreed with Guterson’s portrayal of the contest.

“Our guys have come so far, recognizing defenses, making good decisions,” Orness said. The coach added that there was some Spartan motivation from a quote by a Blanchet player after the second regular-season Spartan loss.

Blanchet’s Brian Langhans was quoted in a Seattle newspaper after the Jan. 24 game saying, “We had to show them how we do it on the mainland.”

“Henry remembered that,” Orness said.

Guterson credited a tough Bainbridge defense – pushing Blanchet into shooting from outside the arc – for holding the Braves to a single point in the second quarter.

“We made them do what they didn’t want to do,” the coach agreed.

In the second half, however, it was a case of hold on for dear life as Bainbridge survived a final Blanchet run at the end to walk away with the victory and the final Metro seed into the district tournament.

Along with Guterson, James Toepel had 10 points, Spencer Evans 4, Mark Korsak 3, and Joe Picha 3.

The Spartan boys’ opened the tournament Tuesday night at home with a convincing 64-38 win over West Seattle in the loser-out game.

Taking their cue from their female classmates in the first game of the double bill the Spartans burst out to a 20-6 first quarter lead.

West Seattle managed to narrow the margin to 11 points at 29-18 at the end of the half on clutch shooting by Pat Lee, Andrew Wilzen and Obinna Okolie. The second half, however, and particularly the fourth quarter, belonged to the home boys.

The Bainbridge lead even reached 30 points after Dan Canfield drilled a trey with about a minute to play.

Seniors Guterson and Evans led Bainbridge with 20 and 18 points; Picha had 7, Schuyler Boone 3, Canfield 3, Korsak 3 and Kevin Hebner 2.

Wednesday night, Bainbridge lost 66-42 to a fired-up team at Ingraham, pushing the Spartans into Thursday night’s battle for the final district berth.

The Rams held a 27-24 lead at the half, but it was the third quarter that proved to be the Spartans’ undoing.

The hosts outhooped Bainbridge 23-8 in the stanza, and coasted to the victory.

In defeat, Guterson scored 13, Evans 10, Boone 7, Toepel 5, Ross Maloney 2, Picha 2, Zac Townsend 2 and Hebner 1.