A memorable basketball season came to an unfortunate close for the Bellevue Christian Vikings girls basketball team just one game shy of the Class 1A state tournament.

The Kings Knights earned a 34-30 win against the Vikings in a winner-to-state, loser-out regional playoff contest on Feb. 27at Bellevue College. The Vikings finished the 2015-16 season with an overall record of 20-3. Kings bolted out to an early 10-2 lead but the Vikings kept the game close in the final three quarters of play. Bellevue Christian head coach Mark DeJonge believes his team’s season can’t be defined by the loss to Kings.

“I’m really proud of our girls and the effort they put forth. Going against the defending state champions was a tough draw but it was kind of the way that it was. We gave them everything they could handle I think,” DeJonge said. “There were a couple of calls, a few misses and few bounces of the ball and it could have gone differently. It was tough to come up on the wrong end (loss) of that one though.”

DeJonge said his squad battled hard against a seasoned Kings squad. Kings won the Class 1A state title during the 2014-15 season.

“They are just a great group of girls. They never quit,” DeJonge said of his team. “They did everything that we asked of themas coaches. We will never forget that we were still league champions and we were still district champions. There is a lot of things to be proud of. We had a great year.”