LA GRANDE — Occasionally a basketball game lives up to its pre-game billing.

Such was the case Monday night, Feb. 24, in a raucous gym at La Grande High School, where the Tigers and the Baker Bulldogs renewed their rivalry with the Greater Oregon League girls title on the line.

Baker led most of the way, but the Tigers rallied in the second half and then held off a Bulldog rally to win 48-45 and claim the season series, two games to one.

Baker brought about 50 students on a rooter bus, and the Bulldog crowd vied with the La Grande fans for decibel supremacy throughout, particularly in the second half when neither team led by more than six points and the teams swapped the lead three times.

Both teams had already clinched a berth in the Class 4A playoffs. But the winner Monday guaranteed a home game in the first round on March 7.

Baker led 36-35 entering the fourth quarter after closing the quarter with a 9-4 run to overcome La Grande’s 31-27 lead.

La Grande scored the first six points of the final period, four on free throws by Emree Hutchins, and the Tigers led by as many as six, at 43-37.

But the Bulldogs rallied, mainly from the free throw line. Ashlyn Dalton’s two free throws with 1:08 left cut the Tiger lead to 45-42.

After making just 11 of 31 free throws in a win over Pendleton in a league playoff game Feb. 20, Baker was much better at La Grande, making 20 of 31 from the line. Baker had a six-point advantage there, as the Tigers were 14 of 21.

After Dalton’s free throws, La Grande’s Peyton Daggett hit the game’s biggest shot, a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 44 seconds left after the Tigers missed an inside shot but corralled an offensive rebound.

Gwen Rasmussen scored inside with 30 seconds left to get Baker within 48-44, and Molly Rasmussen stole the ball, was fouled and made one of two free throws with 19.8 seconds left. She rebounded her own miss but the Bulldogs couldn’t convert.

Baker was forced to foul to stop the clock. La Grande’s Rowan Evans missed two free throws with 10 seconds left, and Baker rebounded and called timeout with eight seconds left.

A desperation 3-pointer was off the mark and La Grande held on.

“There was a lot of energy in the gym tonight,” Baker coach Jason Ramos said. “Two pretty evenly matched teams. I was really proud of how hard the girls played. It got pretty physical at times. We showed a lot of grit.”

Ramos said a key sequence came at the start of the second half. With Baker ahead 27-19 after leading the entire first half, La Grande started with consecutive 3-pointers, by Evans and Olivia Pennington, to get within 27-25 with 5:40 left in the third quarter. Evans scored inside and Carlee Strand made one of two free throws with five minutes left to give the Tigers their first lead, 28-27.

“Those two 3’s they hit early kind of swayed the momentum,” Ramos said. “From there it was back and forth.”

Monday’s game was the rubber match in the season series between the longtime rivals.

In the match up at Baker on Jan. 24, the Bulldogs rallied for a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but La Grande won 60-55.

In the rematch on Feb. 7 at La Grande, Baker never trailed, scoring nine of the first 10 points, leading 30-24 at halftime and extending the lead to as many as 18 points early in the fourth quarter.

But the Tigers rallied to get within a single point before freshman Molly Rasmussen made two free throws in the final five seconds for the final margin.

Both teams were 5-1 in the GOL regular season. La Grande won the tiebreaker by virtue of a two-point advantage in total points in the two regular season games.

Baker advanced to Monday’s championship game by routing Pendleton 62-41 in a league playoff game Feb. 20 at BHS.

La Grande is 18-4 overall and ranked fifth in the state.

Baker is 16-9 and ranked eighth.

Baker will need to win a playoff game to advance to the state tournament March 13-15 at Forest Grove High School. Baker’s opponent, and destination, will be determined after the four play-in games, which have not been scheduled.

First quarter

Baker came out with the confidence of a team that had won on the Tigers’ home court earlier this month. The Bulldogs used their height advantage to score all their points in the paint or from the free throw line, where Baker made all six of its shots.

Baker led by as much as 10 at 16-6 on Kathryn Gentry’s rebound basket, but La Grande ended the quarter with an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 18-14.

Baker had several offensive rebounds that led to second- or third-chance baskets. The Bulldogs also forced three turnovers with their fullcourt press.

Second quarter

This was dramatically different from the first eight minutes, as both teams struggled offensively.

For the first five minutes, Baker had the only two baskets, Dalton’s layin on an assist from Molly Rasmussen, and Jayden Whitford’s 12-foot jumper that gave Baker a 22-16 lead.

Baker’s man-to-man defense thwarted La Grande for much of Baker’s 56-53 win at La Grande on Feb. 7, and the Bulldogs used that defense exclusively again in the first half.

Dalton hit a shot from just inside the 3-point line and followed with a pair of free throws to boost Baker’s lead to 26-16 with 2:20 left in the half.

La Grande scored three straight points. Gentry was fouled after grabbing yet another offensive rebound and a foul was called with 0.1 of a second left. She made one of two free throws and Baker led 27-19 at the break.

Dalton led Baker with eight points. Gentry had seven.

La Grande starting guard Kayle Collman left the game with a mouth injury early in the first quarter and did not return.

Third quarter

La Grande shrugged off its first-half struggles and started the second half with a flurry of points. 

Evans and Pennington both made 3-pointers, and Strand’s free throw with five minutes left gave the Tigers their first lead, 28-27. La Grande extended the lead to 31-27 on Pennington’s conventional three-point play.

But then Gracie Spike took over.

Spike scored five straight points, including a 3-pointer, to regain the lead for Baker at 32-31. Gentry added a free throw, and after a tie at 33, Dalton made two free throws to give Baker a 35-33 lead.

The Bulldogs led 36-35 after three quarters.

Fourth quarter

La Grande started fast again, scoring the first six points to take its biggest lead, 41-36. Hutchins made six straight free throws (the first two to end the third quarter) to lead the run.

La Grande extended the lead to 43-37 on Hutchins’ inside basket, but Lily Logsdon and Dalton each made a free throw to cut it to 43-39 with 2:51 left, leading to the dramatic conclusion.

Dalton led Baker with 14 points. Gentry had eight points and Gwen Rasmussen seven.

Hutchins led La Grande with 14 points, including eight of 10 free throws. Daggett and Evans had 10 points each.

BAKER (45)

Gentry 2 4-6 8, Logsdon 0 4-6 4, Schwartz 0 0-0 0, Spike 2 0-0 5, Dalton 2 10-13 14, Whitford 1 0-0 2, Myer 0 0-0 0, G. Rasmussen 3 1-4 7, M. Rasmussen 2 1-2 5. Totals 12 20-31 45.

LA GRANDE (48)

Orosco 0 0-0 0, Collman 0 0-0 0, Hutchins 3 8-10 14, Strand 1 2-4 4, McIlmoil 2 0-0 4, Daggett 3 2-2 10, Evans 4 1-4 10, Pennington 2 1-1 6. Totals 15 14-21 48.

Baker        18 9  9  9  — 45

La Grande 14 5 16 13 — 48