Bear Lake 36, Malad 28

MALAD - The Bear Lake girls' basketball team topped 2A Malad 36-28 on Thursday for its first victory of the season.

Heather Wallentine led the 3A Bears with 13 points, and Trichell Schwab added nine more. Hilary Hendricks, Bear Lake's only returning varsity player, scored five points.

"We're young, and we've got some talent," Bear Lake coach Jim Mattson said. "They just need to learn to play with each other."

Malad hung with Bear Lake, trailing only by three at half. But the Bears pulled away from there and led 30-23 entering the fourth quarter.

"We gave them a couple extra baskets in the third quarter," said Malad coach Bob Sorensen.

Sophomore Laci Lavaka scored 14 to lead the Dragons, who dropped to 0-2 on the year. They will host 3A Marsh Valley on Saturday.

The Bears, now 1-2, will visit 2A West Side on Tuesday.

Sugar-Salem 54, Snake River 28

MORELAND - The Snake River girls' basketball team dug itself into a deep halftime hole and lost 54-28 to visiting Sugar-Salem on Thursday in Moreland.

"In the first half, my girls were just in shock," said Snake River coach Steven Morton. "Chalk it up to their defense. They took us out of what we wanted to do."

Snake River fell behind 25-8 at halftime but managed to crawl within 10 points midway through the fourth quarter. But with about four minutes left, sophomore Eden Van Orden fouled out, and at that point the team ran out of energy, Morton said.

Morton said the 3A Panthers lost the turnover exchange by only three, but theirs turnovers were in the middle of the floor, and the 3A Diggers turned more of them into baskets.

Erica Christensen led the Panthers with eight points.

Now 1-1, Snake River hosts 2A Soda Springs on Tuesday.

Soda Springs 59, American Falls 27

AMERICAN FALLS - Soda Springs played dominant defense to stifle American Falls on Thursday, holding the 3A school to nine first-half points in a 59-27 win at American Falls.

The Cardinals took a 26-9 lead into their locker room at halftime and steadily increased their lead from there.

"We put some good defensive pressure on them," Soda Springs coach Wade Schvaneveldt said. "Our defensive effort was big for us tonight."

Rachel Bowman led the Cardinals with 11 points, and Soda Springs had another three players who scored at least eight points.

"It was an all-around team effort," Schvaneveldt said. "We had balanced scoring from everybody."

Soda Springs (3-0) next travels to face Snake River on Tuesday.

Shelley 46, Marsh Valley 39

SHELLEY - Marsh Valley got off to a slow start and couldn't recover in a 46-39 loss at Shelley on Thursday.

The Eagles trailed 27-18 at halftime. They outscored the Russets 21-19 in the second half, but it wasn't enough to overcome the early deficit.

"They just moved on us and were a little bit quicker than us," Marsh Valley coach Kyle McQuivey said. "We were still trying to wake up a little bit."

Abby Williams led Marsh Valley with 14 points. McQuivey also praised Molly Skinner and Courtney Dunn for loosening up Shelley's defense in the second half with their drives to the basket. They combined for 13 points.

Marsh Valley (1-2) next travels to play Malad on Saturday.