It wasn’t the way the Spartan girls basketball team wanted to finish their final run for the state Class 1A championship. The fire wasn’t there as Freeman beat Granger 56-35 on Saturday night at the SunDome.
On Wednesday, the team opened with a convincing 45-32 win over Vashon Island, then beat Lakeside 61-40, before dominating Connell in the semi-final match, 64-35.
Granger’s senior-laden team had a wealth of  tournament experience, playing at the state the past three years.  The team also finished second last year, losing in overtime to Seattle Christian.
During this year’s championship game, the Spartans lacked the fire that led to their previous days wins. The team’s field goals were not dropping and the team made an unusual number of turnovers.  The only Granger player double-digit was Sam Zapien with 11 points.  Ashlee Reddout picked up 12 rebounds.
In the semi-finals against Connell, it was a totally different story.  Granger was nine for 15 from three-pointer range.  Italia Mengarelli and Fantasia Reyes both made 4 three-pointers.  Mengarelli finished with 20 points, Reyes with 14 points, Reddout added 10 and Zapien had 10.
Against Lakeside, it was the Fantasia Reyes show, as she thrilled the spectators with some spectacular thee point shooting, making  five of six 3-point attempts. Zapien joined the 1,000-point club during the game,  scored 13 points and moving her to 1,004 points in career scoring.
In Granger’s opening game at state, Zapien scored 13 points, with Reddout  adding 10 points in the win over Vashon Island.