Bulldog girls see season come to end with loss

MOSCOW — The Bulldog girls trimmed a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to three, but ultimately ran out of gas, falling 37-31 to Moscow in the 4A Region 1 championship Thursday night at the Bear Den.

The No. 2 seed Bulldogs (14-10) showed great improvement this year, and despite missing out on state, it marked the best season in years for the program under first-year head coach Bill Bender.

“It was a game we simply weren’t experienced enough to handle and patient enough to take advantage of our opportunity,” said Bender after the loss.

Hailey Olin led the Bulldogs in scoring, and her second 3-pointer of the second half helped cut Moscow’s lead to 32-29 with just over a minute left, but the Bears would make their free throws down the stretch to ice it.

Home court advantage ultimately proved huge for the No. 1 seed Bears (8-11), who earned the tie-breaking edge by just six points in league play despite both teams going 3-1 in 4A North action.

The two teams were extremely even, with the past four contests between the two going down to the wire.

Complete results were unavailable at press time.