World Photo by Lou Sennick Krista Kilmer performs “Reflection” on Thursday at the Bay Area Teen Idol contest.

COOS BAY — In a Disney movie, things would have turned out differently for Krista Kilmer at the Bay Area Teen Idol contest.

After struggling with pitch and confidence in last year’s competition, she showed consistent improvement in both areas during the early weeks of this year’s contest. That improvement continued Thursday, when Kilmer gave her best performance in two years in the contest.

And then she was eliminated.

It was Disney week for the contest, but there were no fairy tale endings for Kilmer or Tammi Burrell, who also was eliminated.

About 250 people attended Thursday’s round at the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay.

It was the choice of a tough song that did Kilmer in. She performed “Reflection,” a Christina Aguilera song from the Disney movie “Mulan” — a song with more range than most contestants could handle.

“She has such courage,” event coordinator Stephanie Kilmer said of her daughter. “I told her, ‘That song is either gonna make you or break you.’”

That song was a stumbling block also for Mercedese Mannon. After finishing just outside the top three earlier this year, Mannon forgot the words in the last half of “Reflection,” barely escaping elimination.

Burrell wasn’t so lucky with “Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid,” another song performed by more than one contestant. She also encountered pitch problems — as did several other contestants, moreso than in earlier weeks.

With so many singers struggling on their individual performances, the highlight of the night was the group performance of “We Are the World.”

At the top of the standings, there was little surprise. Alyssa Birrer was back in first place for the third time in four weeks, after falling out of the top three for the first time in two years last week. She performed “God Help the Outcasts” from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

Star Moralez was second with “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from “The Little Mermaid,” and Destyni Fuller was third with “Beauty and the Beast.”

The breakout performance of the week was by Alisha Molloy, who brought energy to “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” from “Hercules” despite being the third contestant of the night to choose that song.

Still, there was no argument over the results, giving organizers a much needed break after controversies concerning the top scorers in the last two weeks. The contest had received complaints from parents about scoring, but those issues appear to have died down, said contest spokesman Gary Brink.

“It would be easy to blow things out of proportion,” Brink said. “We’re trying to keep this positive, and it is one of the most positive things for teenagers in our community.”

Birrer also was glad to see the focus shift elsewhere.

“It’s great,” she said of placing first. “But it shouldn’t be about that.”

Judges were Kim Handsaker, Mike Campbell and Barbara Bates. Also Thursday, Mariah Rogers was named the winner of the people’s choice vote from July 24.