GARDINER — Spruce Mountain’s road woes continued on Thursday, as the Phoenix are still looking for their first win away from home. Their opponent in their latest road defeat was no slouch, however, as the Phoenix faced 5-1 Gardiner in a KVAC girls’ basketball clash. The Tigers kept their strong start going, as they finished off Spruce Mountain for a 48-39 victory.

Gardiner’s continued hot start was helped by getting off to a solid start in Thursday’s contest. Neither team could find the bottom of the hoop early, combining to go 0 for 8 in the opening moments, before Spruce Mountain’s Rylee Moore drained a long 2-pointer out of a timeout just over two minutes in.

The Tigers (6-1) got their first points as Leslie Stevens responded with a 3, which started a 10-2 run to end the first quarter for Gardiner.

The lead continued to grow in the second quarter, as Mary Toman completed a 3-point play on the opening possession. Leah Weymouth nailed a 3 less than two minutes into the period to put the Tigers up 19-8.

The Phoenix (2-4) drew closer at halftime, trailing just 21-13. Yet better accuracy could have meant a different game.

“I think in the first half we had our shots. I think we counted 14 shots that we missed in the paint,” Phoenix head coach Chris Bessey said. “We did force some shots. But that’s a credit to Gardiner.”

“I loved our defensive intensity,” Gardiner head coach Mike Gray said.

Gray said his team looked to slow down Spruce Mountain junior guard Alex Bessey, then let other players do the damage. Bessey was held scoreless in the first quarter, then scored five points in the second.

Then Gray’s game plan hit a snag in the third quarter. Bessey poured in eight of her game-high 20 points in the period, willing the Phoenix to within one point at 27-26 with 3:30 left.

“She’s tough because she’s taller than a lot of guards,” Gray said of Bessey. “She can hit the shot outside and drive to the inside.”

Bessey the coach pointed to a better job of getting out in transition that helped propel his team to the brink of a comeback.

“They’re a very good half-court defensive team,” Bessey said. “We were getting out and running.”

A 3-pointer by Haley Turcotte (nine points) brought the Phoenix within one, but Stevens made one the other way to answer. Gray soon after called a timeout, and Lauren Chadwick scored four straight points to make it 34-26.

“I thought we responded really well when they cut it to one,” Gray said. “We had better possessions offensively and defensively.”

The lead was at five points to start the fourth quarter, but the Phoenix never got any closer again. Logan Granholm had a pair of second-chance baskets early in the fourth and made 3 of 4 free throws in the final minutes when Spruce Mountain was forced to foul. Granholm finished with 11 points, as did Weymouth, while Chadwick poured in a team-high 13.

“We’ve got a number of different weapons,” Gray said. “Our entire starting five has gone for double figures in one game or another.”

Bessey and Turcotte combined for 29 of the 39 points for Spruce Mountain, which was without Hanna St. Pierre. The Phoenix are still without a road win, and will look to change that when they travel to 6-1 Gray-New Gloucester on Saturday.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com