COOS BAY — The third place game in the girls Class 3A state basketball tournament promised to be a dog fight. At least in name, as the Willamina Bulldogs did battle with the Nyssa Bulldogs.

In the end, however, it was the Bulldogs in orange and black that proved to be best in show as they pulled away to a 49-32 victory on Saturday morning at Marshfield High School.

The game was closer than the score made it appear, because Nyssa fought hard from whistle to whistle.

Nyssa’s Bulldogs struggled to find their shot in the first half, as Willamina’s defense prevented them from getting too many good looks at the basket. It wasn’t until Beatriz Martinez hit a layup with 3:18 left in the first half, two of her team-high 12, that the blue Bulldogs notched their first field goal of the game. By then they were trailing 18-9, and had lost one of their best players to injury when Justice Martinez hurt her arm.

Head coach Jeremy Chamberlain said that was too tough a blow to overcome.

“(Justize Martinez) is our energy,” he said. “When we lost her our intensity level dropped. She’s also one of the best defensive players in the state.”

Willamina kept penetrating and dishing to open players in the first half, with seniors Whitney Anderson (17 points) and Zoey Holsclaw (nine points) doing most of the damage on the offensive end.

On the other end of the floor, Willamina kept the lane bottled up and held Nyssa to just 15 percent shooting in the first half.

“We knew that Nyssa was a great team,” Willamina head coach Tom Anderson said. “They attack the basket, make shots, but defense was our catalyst in the first half.”

“We have a really strong post team,” Holsclaw added. “We had a lot more energy today, too.”

Nyssa showed some energy of its own in the second half, as they got 3-pointers from Beatriz Martinez and Karina Contreras, during a 15-4 run in the third quarter. That cut the lead to just three points.

In the fourth quarter, both teams started going to the foul line and free-throw shooting ended up making a difference. Willamina shot 77 percent from the line in the second half, while Nyssa struggled at 22 percent.

“(Willamina) deserves credit,” Chamberlain said. “They attacked where we were vulnerable, and they hit their free throws.”

Willamina, the team that vanquished Coquille and knocked-off St. Mary’s in overtime, was left dealing with mixed emotions after being awarded the third-place trophy. There was apparent sadness at seeing the seniors play their last game, but they were still pleased with the way they came back after losing to Vale on Friday.

“What we talked about was needing to bounce back,” Anderson said. “This was our championship.”