Tribune photo by John Byrne - Spanish Springs junior forward Lyndsey Anderson (with ball) works in the post against a Damonte Ranch defender.
Spanish Springs ran out to a 16-2 lead by the end of the first quarter and was never really threatened the rest of the way.
Cougars junior KK Lang buried a baseline jumper from just inside the the 3-point line and forged the SSHS girls in to 21-2 lead at the 6:42 mark of the second period.
“Whenever you can get off to a fast start like that it helps you to play loose and confident and then it really puts your opponent on its heels,” Cougars coach Christine Eckles said. “I would have liked us to play better than we did after the first 10 minutes. We need better intensity for all 32 minutes, but we’ll take the win and get back to work Monday in practice.”
Damonte Ranch stopped the bleeding a bit through the remainder of the quarter. The Mustangs outscored the Cougars 10-8 into the break and the scoreboard read 29-12 at the intermission.
The score was 32-16 three minutes into the third, but six straight Cougars points allowed them to capture a 38-16 lead, their largest to that point.
Damonte responded with a 10-0 burst and got as close as 14, 38-24, just seconds into the final period. Spanish Springs proceeded to score 12 of the next 13 points. Lang capped that spurt as well, dropping in a layup in transition. That left the scoreboard to read 50-25, which proved to be the widest margin in the Northern 4A crossover league game.
Lyndsey Anderson and Riley Holladay each scored 11 points to pace a balanced Cougars offensive attack. Ten of 11 players on the roster found the scoring column.
Damonte hurt its cause by committing 25 turnovers, many of them in the first half as Spanish Springs raced away with momentum. The SSHS club won the rebounding battle as well 34-27.
Spanish Springs improved to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in conference clashes. The Cougars return to the court Friday when they host Hug at 6 p.m.
“Next week is Finals Week so we’ll get an extended stretch of practice without any games,” Eckles said. “We need that right now to refocus on some things that need to be more important.”
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