Tahoma just couldn’t seem to hang onto a big lead.

Not being able to hang onto the lead stung Tahoma as it lost to Todd Beamer 66-63 in overtime in a South Puget Sound League playoff game Saturday at Auburn High.

In the first half Tahoma raced out to a 16-5 lead, including an 8-0 run in the first quarter, but by halftime the lead was just two points.

Tahoma coach Keith Wasberg said after the game Beamer’s point guard, Shyla Akins, was resilient and found a way to lead the Titans to the victory. Akins finished the game with 20 points.

“We allowed their three best players to score at will,” Wasberg said. “Defensively we weren’t quick enough to stop their rebounding.”

At the start of the fourth quarter the Bears led the Titans 51-39 but with 4:19 left Meghan Graf cut it to 51-48 making one of two free throws after senior Katie Buskey picked up her fourth foul.

Beamer took its first lead of the game on a Megan Huff bucket to go up 52-51 with 2:53 left in the game.

Senior Brittani Miller tied it up with 1:57 left when she drained both free throws.

Then Kymber Morrison stepped up for Tahoma and drilled a three pointer to put the Bears up 56-54 with less than a minute to play.

But the wild ending wasn’t done there as Huff put it in again for the Titans, tying the game at 56-56 with 33 seconds left to play, then neither Tahoma or Beamer could score in the final seconds of regulation sending the game into overtime.

Meanwhile Buskey, the Bears’ offensive engine, sat on the bench having picked up her fifth foul with 3:07 left in the game.

Morrison stepped up again in overtime, draining another three with 1:49 left, but Beamer answered with a bucket by Graf 21 seconds later to cut it to 61-60.

Graf hit another with under a minute to put Beamer up 62-61 and Tahoma couldn’t put the ball in the basket on its next possession.

Tahoma put Akins on the line with 19.8 seconds left and she made both, stretching the lead to 64-61, but Savanna Haverfield took a pass from Jordan Eberhardt under the bucket and put it in to cut the lead to one point.

Makayla Sullivan ended up on the line for Beamer with 7.7 left and missed both shots leaving an opening for Tahoma.

With 1.7 seconds left Akins was back at the line and put them both away pushing the Titans lead over the Bears to 66-63.

Those free throws sealed the victory for Beamer as Tahoma was not able to get the ball in the bucket on its final possession.

“They rattled us more than we rattled them, as evidenced by us having 25 turnovers to their 21, and getting outrebounded 47-33, including 26 offensive rebounds for Beamer,” Wasberg said.

Morrison finished with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from the perimeter, while Buskey and Eberhardt collected 16 points apiece for Tahoma. Freshman Cheyenne Haverfield put together a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Huff had 18 and Graf tallied 16 for Beamer.

Tahoma will be the eighth seed out of the SPSL to the West Central District tournament and will take on top-ranked Federal Way, which lost to Auburn Riverside in the SPSL title game Friday night, picking up the second seed out of the league.

“Playing at Federal Way will be an exciting challenge,” Wasberg said. “To beat anyone, we have to have a combination of players keeping their heads in the game, and other players stepping up to challenges instead of letting teams do what they want. We will have to prepare for pressure and work on finishing layups. And protect our glass.”

Tahoma travels to Federal Way for a 7 p.m. match up Tuesday.