JAY

Spruce Mountain’s offense went from anemic to frenetic in the third quarter of a girls’ Mountain Valley Conference high school basketball game Monday night.

The Phoenix’s halftime discussion with coach Zachary Keene seemed to do the trick as Spruce Mountain (9-7) erupted with 16 points and held the Lisbon Greyhounds (5-10) to three in the third quarter and slipped away with a 45-32 MVC victory at The Nest.

“For us, it was all about the energy,” Keene said. “That’s all we talked about at halftime — how to have a home game in this situation with only a couple of games left and not come up with energy that we needed was unacceptable.

“Just challenged them to come out with more energy — how the first four minutes were as important as any this season and they responded well.”

After both teams struggled to score points in a 17- 16 first half led by the Phoenix, Spruce Mountain came out firing in the third quarter. The wiry, agile and fast junior Calley Baker made a nuisance of herself on defense and scored the game-high 13 points while shooting 5-for-6 from the free-throw line.

Junior forward Haley Turcott scored 11 points and hit the team’s only 3- pointer and went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

“That’s what she does for us. She brings energy, and it’s not a coincidence she is at the right spot at the right time,” Keene said. “She was big for us tonight. She brought the energy up.

“(Turcotte) has grown a lot the past couple of weeks, becoming a scorer and now understanding what defenses are doing and taking advantage of it. It’s been good.”

Senior guard Morgan Dalton was right on target at the free-throw line, going 10-for-19 for her 10 points.

Due to the physical nature of game, the Phoenix made numerous and crucial appearances at the freethrow line, going 24-for-42.

“Lisbon is a very physical team,” Keene explained. “Whey you are physical, that kind of comes with it. It seems like we took advantage at the free-throw line.

“We kept our heads. It was tough win.”

In that fourth-quarter free-for-all, the Greyhounds wouldn’t let up as players tumbled to the ground and fouls issued. Sophomore guard Charlee Cox scored the team-high nine points for Lisbon.

“It was very messy,” Lisbon coach Julie Petrie said. “We did not get into any type of flow. We got in foul trouble early.

“We just never got in any kind of rhythm. It was frustrating. We just kind of went away from our plans, started to throw the ball away, so many turnovers and they capitalized on that.”

Kiley Merritt added seven points in the loss, while Giana Russo had five.

Lisbon hosts Mountain Valley on Wednesday at 7 p.m.