JAY — Down by double digits in the second quarter, there was only one thing the Spruce Mountain girls’ basketball team could do Saturday night.

“We just had to play better defense,” said freshman guard Nicole Hamblin. “Coach didn’t want us to give up on the defensive end.”

Even though an 11-point deficit was a deep hole, the Phoenix knew any rising it would do against Madison would come from a one-stop-at-a-time mentality.

So Spruce Mountain buckled down in the second half . By early in the fourth quarter, the Phoenix defense had sparked a rally that had produced a lead. Though the Bulldogs stayed closed, Spruce Mountain finished off the comeback for a 44-37 win.

“I thought we did a tremendous job defensively for a long stretch in that second half,” said Spruce Mountain coach Gavin Kane. “Not only did it allow us to score so many off our defense but also to erase that lead that Madison had.”

It was a huge victory for the Phoenix (11-1). Madison (10-2) is the top-ranked team in Western C, and the win boosted Spruce Mountain into third in Western B.

“Only seeing Madison once and Al (Veneziano) has a great team here, we knew this was a big opportunity for us to hopefully be able to keep ourselves in a top four spot,” said Kane. ” That’s a goal of ours, to not play a preliminary game. This was a big step toward that.”

Hamblin, Kathryn Ventrella and Alexi Deering each had 10. Samantha Richards added eight for the Phoenix. Kirsten Wood had 10 for the Bulldogs, which suffered their first loss Friday night. Samantha Bruce added eight.

Though the Bulldogs had moved the ball well and set up some quality shots inside and outside in the first half, the Phoenix took that away in the second. Madison shot 2-for-7 in the third and 3-for-14 in the fourth. The Bulldogs also had 10 turnovers in the second half and hit just one of seven free throws.

“Their defense forced a lot of that,” said Veneziano, the long-time Madison coach. “You miss a little bit and then you start to get a little nervous and things start going the other way.”

Deering, playing on an ankle she rolled during a Saturday morning walk-through, sparked things in the third. Down 27-17,  she scored on a rebound and cashed in a nice pass from Ventrella. Ventrella and Richards then scored back-to-back for eight straight points. After Wood hit a jumper for Madison, Richards put back a rebound to make it 29-27 after three.

“We just came out with better defense and better pressure and just poured it on,” said Hamblin.

A Kailee Newcomb free throw put the Phoenix within one to start a 9-2 run that put Spruce Mountain in the lead for good.

Ventrella scored off a Deering steal to put the Phoenix ahead. Then Hamblin scored off a steal and later added two free throws. After a Wood jumper, Hamblin scored on a baseline jumper for a 36-31. Hamblin had all 10 points in the fourth.

“I felt like I was better defensively and we made some things happen on the offensive end,” said Hamblin. “I had a lot of confidence. I didn’t worry about anything and just went out and tried to do my best.”

Madison struggled to rally. The Bulldogs couldn’t solve the defensive pressure and had just one field goal in the final four minutes.

“They put a lot of pressure on us and took the pressure too far out for us,” said Veneziano. “They contested everything, and we didn’t really react to it.”

Madison got within 36-34 on a Bruce offensive rebound, but Hamblin answered that with a hoop off a press breaker with 4:02 left. The Bulldogs got within three points twice in the final minutes, but the Phoenix didn’t allow them any closer. Free throws by Emily Keene, Deering and Richards padded the lead down the stretch.

“We had some great hustle plays,” said Kane. “At times we’d have three players on the floor for loose balls. Down the stretch, we did enough to be able to take care of the win.”

Both teams had played Friday night and fatigue showed during the game. Madison used a 10-2 run to end the first to build a 12-8 lead. Bruce and Cristie Vicneire each had four points during that run. In the second, two baskets by Lyndsay Weese and a 3 by Wood helped open up a 23-12 lead.

“We had to have more intensity because we felt down in the first half,” said Hamblin. “So we came back with a lot more intensity.”

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