JAY — Spruce Mountain pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Cony 47-38 after a neck-and-neck battle between the two girls basketball teams Wednesday.

“I think we just really decided to lock in and do whatever it took to win,” junior guard Avery Bessey said.

The Phoenix were coming off a difficult 60-49 loss to Lake Region on Tuesday night, and coach Zach Keene said they bounced back nicely.

“We had a tough night defensively last night and definitely came here with the focus on making sure we get back to what we are, and that’s a hard-nosed defensive basketball team,” Spruce Mountain coach Zach Keene said. “Against a really good, dangerous Cony team, they all focused on doing that and it played out the way it did, so it was really good to see.”

The Rams took a 30-29 lead into the final period, but an early 3-pointer by Jaydn Pingree put the Phoenix up by two points.

Bessey added another 3 with 6:55 remaining to increase Spruce Mountain’s lead to five. It was one of two 3-pointers Bessey made in the final quarter.

“I think that mentality, just like knowing it was a good team, we had to come out strong and stay together,” Bessey said. “Once I saw my first 3 go in, and the student section went crazy, the adrenaline just kicked in, and I was like, oh, yeah, I got to hit another one.”

Abby Morrill and Cassie Lacroix scored baskets for Cony to quickly cut the deficit to one, but Pingree made another 3 and Aubrey Kachnovich scored on putback to push Spruce’s lead to 40-34 with just under five minutes remaining.

“I was just locked in, I was really focused on what we need to do get a stop on defense and put down the shots,” Kachnovich said. “I was just really focused. I think I was just really confident myself and my teammates, and we passed the ball very well. When we pass the ball very well, we score.”

After Cony’s Morgan Fichthorn score to decrease Phoenix’s lead to four points with 3:40 left, but Bessey answered with her second 3-pointer of the fourth made it 43-36.

Bessey said Spruce Mountain had “really good ball movement and pace,” which was “huge, especially coming home late (Tuesday) and the snowstorm.”

Pingree made two free throws to make it 45-36 with two minutes left. Maci Freeman scored Cony’s last points of the night, with a basket made with less than two minutes to go, then Jazmine Pingree passed to Bessey, who capped Spruce Mountain’s scoring.

Bessey led the Phoenix with 11 points, including eight in the fourth. Jaydn Pingree, Kachnovich and Maddie Grimaldi contributed 10 points apiece.

Keene said Spruce’s fourth-quarter success was due to its depth.

the fourth quarter offensive success for Spruce came from their depth, after he played five bench players. He said he is trying to play as many players as possible in an effort to wear down the other team.

“We executed a couple of things well, we hit a couple of open shots, which certainly helps, but I think it was just a matter of wearing them down and of playing style,” Keene said.

The Class B Phoenix outscored the Class A Rams 18-8 in the final quarter.

“Fourth quarter, we just fell apart, didn’t take care of the basketball, making terrible passes,” Cony coach John Dennett said. “Poor decisions on the offensive side, no spacing, and they couldn’t get over the refs either. I kept trying to tell them you can only control what you control. Tough night all around.”

The game started with each team scoreless on its first five possessions of the first quarter. Then Spruce Mountain went on a seven-point scoring run that was kickstarted by Bessey’s free throw with 6:13 left in the quarter.

Kachnovich scored the next two baskets to give the Phoenix a 5-0 lead with 3:13 left.

“She’s everything you dream about as a coach to coach her as a player,” Keene said about Kachnovich. “As a person, she’s the whole package. She leads, whatever it takes, doesn’t matter what’s going on, she does the right thing all the time.

“She’s one of the best players in the region, and one of the best guards in the state, as far as I’m concerned. She should be getting that type of attention.”

Jaydn Pingree’s basket finished the Phoenix’s run with 2:45 remaining.

Cassie Lacroix scored Cony’s first points after Cunningham grabbed a rebound, took the ball down the court and passed to Lacroix for a 3-pointer.

Spruce’s Maddie Grimaldi and Cony’s Cale Barajas scored back-to-back buckets in the last 50 seconds of the first quarter, after which the Phoenix led 11-7.

“I think they have a lot of good players, and eventually, they’re going to make shots where they missed a couple shots early that were open,” Keene said of Cony. “But we talked about a team like that, a good team like that, they’re going to go on runs. They’re going to make some shots and we just have to make sure we respond the right way. We certainly did.”

The second quarter scoring was kicked off by Lacroix’s second 3-poitner a minute and a half in. Grimaldi scored a bucket soon after for the Phoenix, starting a chain-reaction style of play between the teams that ensued for the remainder of the game.

Morrill led Cony with four points in the second quarter and Grimaldi had four for Spruce, which led 17-15 at halftime.

The Phoenix and the Rams continued to battle back and forth and swap the lead in the third quarter.

Morrill scored five points in the third, and Lacroix and Barajas scored four each as Cony outscored Spruce Mountain 15-12 to take a 30-29 lead into the final period.

Larcoix finished with a game-high 12 points, and Morrill had 11 for the Rams. Barajas and Morgan Fichthorn added six each.

Jazmine Pingree also scored six for Spruce Mountain.

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