Something had to give in a battle between the Puyallup Vikings and Beamer Titans, both undefeated as they went into Thursday night’s matchup in Federal Way.

Beamer freshman Nia Alexander scored a game-high 21 points and guard Quinessa Caylao-Do added 14 with an assortment of jumpers and drives as the Titans (11-0) pulled away for a 61-49 victory in South Puget Sound League play.

“They were undefeated, and we were undefeated,” Titans head coach Corey Alexander said of Puyallup. “We have a young team. We were just ready to play tonight.”

Beamer utilized a full-court pressure defense and bolted out to a 34-29 lead at halftime. The Titans extended their lead to 12 early in the third quarter before Puyallup unleashed a furious rally.

Vikings forward Addie Picha scored four consecutive field goals, including a 3-pointer from 26 feet, to cut the deficit to 41-39 with 3:56 left in the third period.

But Puyallup never regained the lead.

Despite Picha’s team-high 15 points, the Vikings were outscored 20-10 in the final 11 minutes.

Post Megan Huff chipped in 10 points for Beamer.

“We really preach moving the basketball,” Alexander said. “Everybody can score. We play as a team, and we win as a team.

“We knew Puyallup was a very sound team,” he added. “We just played Beamer basketball and let the cards fell where they may.”

Picha said losing was a bitter pill to swallow.

“It wasn’t our best game,” she said. “We don’t want to do this again. I hate losing, and our team hates losing.

“We wanted to be undefeated this year. For the winning streak to come to stop and have us be 10-1 instead of 11-0, it is just hard.”

Yet Picha is confident her team will get back on track.

“We wanted to come out with this win, but things like this happen,” she said. “We’re going to come out our next game and play tough. We’ll come back from this.”

Sports Editor Shaun Scott can be reached at 253-552-7002 or by email at shaun.scott@puyallupherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @herald_shaun.