By Anastasia Stepankowsky

Thursday night was the last chance for both West Seattle and Bainbridge to continue their seasons and clinch the last Metro Conference spot in the district tournament. West Seattle avenged an earlier 3-point loss to Bainbridge, earning a 67-62 win at Garfield High School on Thursday night.

West Seattle has struggled all season to come from behind to pull out a win. Wednesday night the Wildcats allowed Lakeside to score 15 points before scoring at all. But with their backs to the wall Thursday, they played briskly from start to finish.

“Yesterday we played like we still had a tomorrow ahead of us. We didn’t play with that urgency. Clearly we were a different team out there playing that underdog style that we have to play. I think we were fighting out there like we normally do— like we need to do if we want to win basketball games,” West Seattle head coach Keffrey Fazio said.

Bainbridge jumped to a brief early lead, but Nate Pryor’s three-pointer for West Seattle knotted the score 8-8. It remained close until West Seattle jumped ahead and ended the quarter up by five points 20-15.

The Wildcats only relinquished the lead once — near the half — but took a 32-30 lead going into the locker room

The Wildcats controlled most of the second half, aided by several 3-pointers by Andre Moore and Chaaka Trahan. Pryor netted eight free throws and ended the night with 28 points.

West Seattle led by 11 with 90 seconds to go. A too- little, too-late surge led by Trent Schulte and Blake Swanson couldn’t overcome the gap for Bainbridge.

The Wildcats are advancing to districts holding the ninth spot in the Metro Conference.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to get to districts. We got there. Now we need to set some new goals. Basically we’re going to have to go on the road and beat a team we’re not supposed to beat. That’s kind of what we’ve been doing all year, so hopefully we can get it done,” Fazio said.

District match-ups are TBA.