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SALEM TOWNSHIP — It was a back-and-forth, scrappy affair Wednesday night between Spruce Mountain and Mt. Abram, two of the top girls basketball teams in the Mountain Valley Conference.

Spruce Mountain, the No. 1 team in the Class C South Heal point standings, needed a second-half comeback against the No. 2 team in Class D South, and the Phoenix weren’t assured of victory until Maddie Grimaldi made to free throws with seven seconds remaining, sealing a 39-34 win. 

Spruce Mountain (13-1) put pressure on the Roadrunners (11-3) from the opening tip, with its full-court press forcing them to take a timeout not even two and a half minutes into the game. 

Natasha McDonald scored nine of the Phoenix’s 11 points in the first quarter, but Mt. Abram trailed only 11-10.

The Roadrunners then outscored Spruce Mountain 10-5 in the second quarter and held a 20-16 lead at halftime.

“I’m very happy with our girls’ effort to compete with a team like Spruce,” Mt. Abram coach Jason Wing said. “They’re top of Class C right now, and they’re one of the most talented teams there is. They’ve got weapons everywhere. You shut down one, someone else steps up. They all shoot good outside, they create lots of pressure outside, they’re athletic.”

The third quarter belonged to the Phoenix, though, as Spruce Mountain took control with a 15-3 run on its way to a season sweep of the Roadrunners. The Phoenix opened their season with a 47-34 victory in Jay.

“You know you’re coming up here for certainly a physical battle, an intense battle, and that’s kind of what we got,” Spruce Mountain coach Zach Keene said. “It was actually a lot of fun to be a part of.”

Roadrunners senior Abby McCarty hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the game, the second of which brought Mt. Abram within three points, 37-34.

Grimaldi, a junior who finished with a team-high 14 points, clinched the victory at the free-throw line. 

“(Grimaldi was) the (MVC) player of the year last year for a reason,” Keene said. “She’s as premier a player as there is, and we’ve almost become accustomed to her making plays that she makes for us.” 

Grimaldi has played in just a handful of games this season after returning from an ACL injury. Earlier this month in a win over Winslow, she put together a 21-point outing. 

“I was kind of just thinking I gotta make ’em,” Grimadli said. “I shoot free throws every day, so it’s just another free throw, another game.” 

Both teams have four games remaining in the regular season. Spruce Mountain is off until next Tuesday, when it visits Mountain Valley. Mt. Abram, which had a nine-game winning streak snapped Wednesday, is at Richmond on Friday.