“Our offense was struggling partly because we were playing a little bit as individuals and not as a team,’’ Spanish Springs coach Christine Eckles said. “... and McQueen playing good defense.”
Spanish Springs (14-9, 3-3 High Desert League) got on top early, grabbing an 8-2 lead over McQueen three minutes into the first quarter. The Lancers followed with their own 8-2 run to tie the game at 10. A 3-point basket by McQueen's Jamie Spiersch gave the Lancers a 15-12 edge with 2:26 showing on the first quarter countdown. SSHS struck up its own run and scored the last six points of the quarter for an 18-15 advantage.
McQueen (3-3 HDL) battled it out with the Cougars through the second quarter and managed to take the lead late in the half. Spiersch hit a baseline runner to pull the Lancers within one, 22-21. The teams traded shot for shot until McQueen scored the last two baskets of the half to take a 29-28 lead into the break after a layup by Sara Plater.
“I'm very pleased with the effort my girls gave.” McQueen coach Meggan Cranmer said. “They came out with four strong quarters, which is what we've been asking them do.”
Tiffany Lang hit a quick shot off the glass to start off the second half and give Spanish Springs a 30-29 lead. Shortly thereafter, McQueen took a five-point lead on a 3-point basket by Katy Hufford. Lang dropped in a layup to knot the score at 36. The Lancers got six straight points to take a 42-36 lead and never gave it up. Carly Allinson hit a shot for McQueen with two seconds left in the third period and McQueen took a 44-40 lead into the final eight minutes.
The Cougars pulled within three, 52-49, with 47 seconds left in the game but were unable to pull out of the deficit. The squad was forced to foul for the last minute and half and the Lancers took 12 free throws in the final quarter. They made 11 of 20 in the game.
“You pretty much put them there and give them free shots,” Eckles said. “You just have to hope that they miss. You don't want to get in a game where you're hoping people miss shots. We didn't take care of business in the first 30 minutes of the game."
The Cougars had an off night shooting, only making good on one 3-pointer. They missed a trio of key 3-point shots in the final few minutes of the game.
Cranmer said a key to McQueen's success was her squad's unselfish play.
“We've been working on play as a team, something we've struggled with in the past,” she said. “Tonight, we put it all together. I felt like we played pretty good defense on them, frustrated them and took them out of their offense.”
Spanish Springs felt different about team work.
“We just didn't play good defense at all tonight,” Eckles said. “We let them do whatever they wanted. If you don't play defense, you don't win basketball games.
“We didn't know who we had. We got beat off dribble penetration. We just let them throw the ball wherever they wanted. We didn't rebound. In every aspect of the game we were poor. McQueen did a great job of being aggressive.”
Channing Fleischmann scored 15 for McQueen and Spiersch had 12.
Lang led Spanish Springs with 12 points while teammate Ari James finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Spanish Springs plays at Reno on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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