The Bonney Lake High girls basketball team wrapped up a third-place finish in the South Puget Sound League 3A standings and were perhaps already looking toward subdistrict hoop action at Lakes High.

That proved unfortunate because, having already punched their ticket for the playoffs, Bonney Lake lacked a certain spark in its final two regular-season meetings.

The Panthers squeaked out a 50-47 home cliffhanger over Peninsula Feb. 1, then Friday was upset by a taller and more enthusiastic EHS crew 47-42.

“There are no excuses for the loss to Enumclaw,” Panther boss Thomas Ostrander said. “Our girls obviously didn’t come to play and Enumclaw did some great things defensively to just plain beat us….end of story.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do this week in preparation for the subdistricts. We won’t be taking any team for granted, I can assure you of that.”

The thin margin of victory over Peninsula should of served as a wake up call for Bonney Lake’s girls, but edging out the league’s worst contingent with a three-point nail biter did not fill the bill.

Despite having the SPSL 3A’s top scorer in Carli Elwin, who accounted for 22 points in the Peninsula encounter, the Panthers got out to an anemic start against Enumclaw. Bonney Lake scored a dozen points in the first 16 minutes of play and fell behind EHS 25-12.

The Panthers snapped out of it in the third period, outscoring Enumclaw 16-4, but then relapsed in the fourth quarter as EHS rallied to rack up 18 points and the win.

After getting a first round bye at Lakes, Bonney Lake will play either Decatur, Enumclaw or Bremerton Friday evening. Enumclaw and Decatur had a playoff game Tuesday to see who would claim the No. 4 seed.