The Bellingham girls' basketball team defeated Squalicum 56-39 in a non-conference game on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at Squalicum High School.

"It was a pretty competitive game," Squalicum coach Mark Wright said in a phone interview. "Bellingham's athleticism wore us down in the second and third quarter. Sometimes our team hits walls offensively where we can not put it in and Bellingham was a big part of that tonight."

Bellingham (5-2) was led by Alyssa Porter, who scored 21 points.

"Alyssa was a big part of that," Wright said. "We were trying ... to stop Alyssa and we would be out of position to rebound. They crushed us rebounding tonight and that was a big difference."

The Storm (0-5) was led by Lauren Eckert, who scored 14 points, and Meghan Lowry, who scored 13 points and had 10 rebounds and five assists.

Squalicum will play at Burlington-Edison on Friday, Dec. 14, while Bellingham hosts Lynden.

BELLINGHAM 56, SQUALICUM 39

Bellingham 9 21 12 14 - 56

Squalicum 11 11 6 11 - 39

Bellingham: Carleen Syth 0, Jenn Paul 7, Ashley Spink 6, Michaela Knutson 2, Monica Ziels 0, Alicia Romero 5, Olivia Halverson 6, Catrina Mahoney 2, Joelle Zamora 7, Alyssa Porter 21. Team totals: 19-61 17-25 56.

Squalicum: Kayla Chang 0, Meghan Lowry 13, Sarah Hulbert 0, Lauren Eckert 14, Jessica Greene 3, Kamea Pino 1, Bailey Molnar 0, Sydney Arndorfer 2, Sam Starr 0, Hannah Lewis 0, Janna Poradun 6. Team totals: 14-57 6-13 39.

3-ptg: Bellingham 1 (Zamora), Squalicum 5 (Eckert 3). Rebounds: Bellingham 55 (Romero 13), Squalicum 37 (Lowry 10). Assists: Bellingham 7 (Halverson 2), Squalicum 11 (Lowry 5). Fouls: Bellingham 15 (none), Squalicum 20 (none). Turnovers: Bellingham 22, Squalicum 19.