RENO - Sometimes it's more important how you finish than it is how you begin. For the Galena Grizzlies girls basketball team, it was both the beginning and the ending that counted.
The Lady Grizzlies used a fast start - 20 points in the first quarter - and a strong finish - 22 points in the fourth quarter - to survive an inspired performance by North Valleys and take a 60-48 victory Wednesday in the first round of the NIAA Northern 4A regional playoffs at The Cave at Galena High School.
The win propelled Galena (23-4) to a semifinal showdown with Carson (16-13), a 59-34 winner over McQueen, on Friday at Morse Burley Gym, beginning at 5 p.m.
"North Valleys played very well," said Galena coach Karen Friel. "(Panthers coach) Matt (Murphy) had a great game plan. We did just enough to win. He tried to take (Caitlin) Crofts and (Caitlin) Anderson out of the game and did. We had some open shots that we didn't hit."
Anderson had seven points (including three from the free-throw line) in the fourth quarter and led the Grizzlies with 15 points. Colleen Mullins, Langley Iverson and Amy Scott each had nine, while Crofts, who averaged 13 points a game during the regular season, was held to five.
"We were hoping to keep it close as long as possible and get some breaks at the end," said Murphy, who has guided North Valleys to its first two postseason appearances. "Galena's experience paid off at the end of the game. They didn't panic."
The Panthers had the lead early, but were forced to claw back repeatedly after a Scott basket put the Grizzlies ahead 7-6 early and began a 13-0 run, in which Kaitlin Porter scored all eight of her points in a 61-second span.
With two and sometimes three Galena players collapsing on North Valleys' 6-foot-4 center Anita Burdick, Andrea Quiruz scored 10 of her 16 points in the first quarter and kept the Panthers in the game.
Galena had its fast-break offense going and took a 20-12 lead into the second quarter and a Crofts bucket made it 22-12. But the Panthers defense clamped down, holding the Grizzlies scoreless for over six-and-a-half minutes.
Burdick and Emma Finlay combined for all of North Valleys' points in a 9-0 run in that period and narrowed the score to 22-21.
Colleen Kern scored on a layup with 45 seconds remaining in the half to end the drought and then dished off to a streaking Anderson for a 26-21 lead. But Mallorie Cecchi drained a 3-pointer with 10 seconds to go and North Valleys trailed only 26-24 at the break.
Burdick led all scorers with 20 points and added 17 rebounds for the Panthers.
"She's really big," Crofts said about Burdick with a laugh. "She scores every time. She's a great player. (The Panthers) took me out of the game. They guarded me really well and I couldn't get in the game. But I'm happy with all of our team. They stepped up and made shots."
So did Burdick, who drove to the basket against three defenders and forced a foul. After making one of her two free throws to draw North Valleys within a point at 30-29, she later pulled down two rebounds after Quiruz missed a free throw and gave the Panthers their last lead at 31-30 with a layup at 3:54 of the third quarter.
But Galena showed why it was the High Desert League's regular-season champion and the No. 1 seed, going on 8-0 run courtesy of a Crofts basket, an Anderson layup, an Anderson steal and layup, and a Kern layup to go up 38-31.
A Helena Inskeep basket at the buzzer brought the Panthers, the No. 4 Sierra League seed, to within 38-35, but that was as close as they would get.
Galena converted 14-of-19 free throws in the fourth quarter - a quarter in which it outscored the Panthers 22-13--to ice the game.
"Finally," Friel said of the free throws. "We were 2-of-10 before to that point. If we would've kept that up, that strategy for them (fouling and slowing down the game) would've worked."
Murphy credited Galena's defense for the win.
"They did a great job on Anita," Murphy said. "They did a good job of pressuring our guards."
With Carson now on the horizon, Friel said she expects a tough game Friday.
"We played Carson early in the year (a Galena victory), but (6-foot-2 center Nicole) Scott wasn't playing," Friel said. "They're playing very well, (but) we're ready."