The Spanish Springs girls basketball team had been suffering through a frustrating three-game losing skid, but those woes looked long gone Friday night. The Cougars jumped out to a double-digit lead less than six minutes into the game and were never really threatened en route to a 59-38 High Desert League road win at Hug.

Spanish Springs built a 17-3 lead following a Tiffany Lang layup with a minute remaining in the first quarter. A Hug bucket after an offensive rebound stopped the bleeding for the Hawks briefly but Spanish Springs’ Danielle Beebe dropped a three-point bomb with 38 seconds to go in the initial period, leaving the visiting Cougars with a 20-5 advantage.

“It was really important to get off to a good start on the defensive end of the floor more than the offensive end,” Spanish Springs coach Christine Eckles said. “The last few games we’ve gotten off to a good start offensively, but couldn’t stop anybody. I was impressed that we could play well on the defensive end.”

Hug traded buckets in the second quarter, but it could not close the gap. Spanish Springs won the second period 14-13 and took a 34-18 advantage into the locker room at the intermission.

The Cougars (15-10, 4-4 HDL) did not let up after the break. The SSHS crew scored the first six points of the second half, extending its edge to a game-high 22 points, 40-18.

The Spanish Springs lead was still 21, 44-23, when Lang canned a transition pull-up jumper in the lane at the 1:24 mark of the third quarter.

Hug’s lone spurt of the game, saw it outscore Spanish Springs 9-2 in a span that bridged the third and fourth periods. Chakala Carthen’s layup for Hug concluded the mini run and helped the Hawks trim the Cougars’ lead to 14, 46-32, with 4:56 remaining in the conference clash.

It was the first time Hug had been that close since midway through the second quarter. The Hawks did not get any closer. Spanish Springs ended the game with a 13-6 burst.

“Their never coming back can be attributed to us playing a consistent defensive game,” Eckles said. “We defended in the zone and made them take jump shots. But then we also rebounded pretty well out of the zone and kept them one (shot) and done.”

The Cougars shot 21-of-44 (47.7 percent) from the field compared to Hug’s 13-of-51 (25.5 percent) effort. In addition, Spanish Springs was 15-of-25 from the charity stripe while Hug was 11-of-21.

Spanish Springs, which beat Hug 53-47 three weeks ago at home, earned a sweep of the season series with Friday’s victory.

Courtney Darby led Spanish Springs with 16 points. She also pulled down nine rebounds. Lang added 15 points and Ari James chipped in 11 points and 11 rebounds to the winning Cougars’ cause.

It was just the fifth time in 25 games this winter that the Cougars have put three players into double figures in the scoring column. Spanish Springs is 5-0 in those games.

“You’re easy to guard if only one person on the floor can score. I thought we did a better job tonight of sharing the basketball and getting it to people where they could score easily,” Eckles said. “Plus you have the ability to score a lot of points when you’re not selfish and distribute the ball.”

Carthen, the Hawks’ leading scorer, was the lone Hug player to post double digits. She finished with 11 after being limited by foul trouble.

Spanish Springs is back in action Tuesday when it hosts HDL foe North Valleys at 5:15 p.m.