Galena holds off Spanish Springs

The Galena boys basketball team struggled somewhat, but improved to 8-0 in the High Desert League with a 51-38 win over Spanish Springs on Tuesday.

Spanish Springs jumped out to a 16-13 lead after one quarter, but the Grizzlies gradually took control of the game after that. Galena outscored the Cougars 11-4 in the second quarter to take a 24-20 halftime lead.

"They gave us a battle," Galena assistant coach Matt Kromberg said. "I do want to give credit to Spanish Springs. Any win's a good win.."

Kromberg said Galena did a better job on the boards in the second half. "We rebounded well in the second half after we told them we thought that we weren't getting to the boards in the first half. They responded when we asked them to do certain things."

Luke Babbitt scored 20 points and Brice Crook and Tristan Hill each added nine points for Galena.

NORTH VALLEYS 82, DOUGLAS 76

North Valleys outscored Douglas 26-18 in the fourth quarter to further scramble the Sierra League standings. North Valleys and Douglas are now tied for fourth in league at 5-5, one game behind third place South Tahoe, which is 6-4. Douglas has a key showdown with the Vikings at home on Friday.

Archie Kovich and Bryan Coursey combined to hit eight three-pointers on their way to scoring a combined 49 points to lead the Panthers. Keith Olson scored 26 points, Jeff Nady had 13 points and Jordan Hadlock added 11 points for Douglas.

"We're a little disappointed in our perimeter defense," Douglas coach Rob Streeter said. "It's probably one of our most disappointing effort nights we've had in a while."

GALENA GIRLS 66, SPANISH SPRINGS 32

Kaitlin Porter hit five three-pointers to score all 15 of her points and Langley Iverson added 12 points as Galena stayed unbeaten in league.

The Grizzlies jumped out to a 20-6 lead after one quarter and led 36-12 at halftime. "We played hard," Galena coach Karen Friel said. "We did play well."