A dominating second half was the difference, as Galena High School's girls earned a 50-34 win over visiting Elko in a Northern 4A Division I girls' basketball game on Saturday evening.
The Grizzlies (19-3) outscored the Indians 25-12 in the second half as they improved to 3-0 in division play.
Whitney Williams paced the Galena offensive attack with 20 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Kellie Burton added 10 points, and Janelle Mack had six.
Williams was even more valuable on the defensive end, containing Elko's Krystal Thacker. Galena coach Karen Friel said Thacker's 15 points were deceptively high.
"That seems like a lot, but Whitney did a good job defending her," she said. "Annie Baxter did a good job on their point guard too, keeping them out of their flow on offense."
Elko's offensive problems were evident in the box score, as only four players were able to put points on the board. Amanda Basanez was the next-highest scorer with 10, and Annette Martinez had four.
Galena jumped out to a 13-6 lead by the end of the first quarter, and a short Elko run before halftime was not enough to take the lead into the locker room.
"We played better at times today, and Elko always plays hard," Friel said. "We really stepped it up in the third quarter."
Galena started out division play with three straight at home, and now it enters a critical stretch by playing five of its next six on the road. The first comes next Friday, when it travels to Sparks for a 5:15 p.m. game.
"Sparks will be a tough game," Friel said. "They match up with us pretty well, and we'll have to play a full-court game against them. Teams have been coming at us."
