SUTHERLIN – One of the Sutherlin basketball teams won first place in the Bill Spelgatti Invitational Basketball Tournament on Saturday and one had to settle for second place.

But not the one you’d think.

The Sutherlin girls had their string of 85 straight wins against Oregon teams snapped when they lost a thrilling heart-stopper 45-44 to Salem Academy Saturday night in Sutherlin.

The Lady Bulldogs led until near the end of the third quarter, when they fell behind 32-31. They had the lead with 10 seconds to go when 6’1” junior Sydney Brown, who had 14 points for the game, hit a shot from near the free-throw line. The Bulldogs were not able to get a shot off before time ran out. The 3A Crusaders were led by Aimee Smith with 17.

It was Sutherlin’s first loss to an Oregon team since the state 4A tournament in 2013 when they lost to La Grande in the semifinals. It was also their first loss on their home court since 2011.

Taylor Stricklin led Sutherlin with 19 points, including a three-pointer and 8-for-11 from the free-throw line. Eliza Sorenson chipped in 12 and Harlee Baker had 11.

The Bulldogs drop to 2-1 for the season.

Meanwhile, the Sutherlin boys, with new head coach Willis New, continue to surprise.

They were taking on the Parramatta Wildcats, a traveling summer team from Australia for the boys championship. Early on it looked like a blowout was coming, when the Bulldogs fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, but in the second quarter they got the offense going and were only behind by seven at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs outscored the Wildcats 15-6 to take a 32-30 lead, thanks in part to a 10 point quarter by 6’2″ freshman Mason Gill, who had 20 for the game to lead all scorers.

Sutherlin pulled away at the end thanks to some good free-throw shooting. They were 11-15 in the fourth period alone.

The Bulldogs were 18-25 from the line for the game and the Wildcats shot only 10 times and made six.

Marshal Warmouth added 11 points and Bowen Briggs put in nine including a pair of threes.

The Bulldogs are 3-0 and get right back into action on Tuesday night when they host the Douglas Trojans in a non-league contest for both boys and girls.

In the other games at the Spelgatti Invitational, the Douglas boys won third with a 43-42 thriller over North Douglas. The Salem Academy boys took fourth place with a 50-38 victory over South Umpqua. Glide beat Lakeview 61-58 for fifth.

On the girls side, Douglas also won the third place trophy with 55-31 win over Lakeview. North Douglas topped South Umpqua with a 40-25 win over the Lancers for fourth place.

The Glide girls rolled by Woodburn for the fifth place game.