Looking to bounce back from Friday’s loss to West Ranch, the Valencia girls basketball team took out their frustrations on Golden Valley.

Resting three of their normal starters due to lingering injuries, the Vikings only allowed five points in the first half and received 20 total points from Lauren Spargo in a 68-16 rout of a young Grizzlies team on Tuesday at Golden Valley High School.

“We just tried to keep them in front of us and make sure we did the little things like block out and run our sets,” said Valencia head coach Jerry Mike.

Behind Spargo’s 14 first-half points, Valencia (10-10, 2-1) sprinted out to a 38-5 halftime lead, broken up by Golden Valley junior center Gloria Nuno’s 3-pointer and two free throws from junior guard Samantha Headlee.

Despite the growing deficit, the Grizzlies (0-19, 0-3) refused to let up and played with the same level of intensity the entire game.

“That’s what we’ve been working on all season long,” said Golden Valley head coach Marq Hawkins. “No matter what the score is, keep fighting and good stuff is going to happen for us. Then if nothing else, people are going to leave knowing you didn’t give up. And that’s what we are trying to instill.”

But shots just wouldn’t fall through two quarters.

Then Grizzlies sophomore guard Teresa Ohaya found a rhythm.

In the third quarter, Ohaya, motivated by a conversation at halftime with Hawkins, scored all 11 of her team’s points, including two 3-pointers, and three free throws.

“He told me to keep my head up and don’t look at the scoreboard because it doesn’t always reflect the way we play,” she said.

Her sentiments were a microcosm of the team philosophy that appeared to hold true for all the Grizzlies.
Spargo noticed.

“Some teams, they have (bad) attitudes, but there was none of that,” said Spargo, crediting Golden Valley’s continued pressure throughout the game.

Going into the fourth quarter up 58-16, the Vikings tightened back up on defense and held the Grizzlies scoreless.

Faith Anumba finished the game with 14 points, while teammate Brittany Jackson had nine points, Kalia Summerlin had eight and Jaqulyne Gibson and Madison Lanc each scored six.