SALEM — Mountain Valley ran off 16 straight points in the third quarter, igniting a 60-23 win over Mt. Abram on Monday night in a Mountain Valley Conference girls’ basketball game.

The win pushed Mountain Valley (8-1) into the top spot in Class B South, less than two Heal points ahead of Lincoln Academy, which travels to Medomak Valley on Tuesday.

The Falcons went to a ball-hawking, halfcourt trap to break away from the pesky Roadrunners (2-8), who continued to battle throughout the game.

“That’s a young Mt. Abram team. They played with a lot of heart and kept coming at us,” Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey said. “When we increased our defensive intensity, in the third quarter, it created more turnovers and fast breaks for us.”

Mt. Abram’s Marya Beedy (team-high 10 points) opened the game draining a jumper from the left baseline to give the Roadrunners a 2-0 lead.

Mountain Valley countered with a 12-0 run with five different Falcons scoring. Before the game was over, 11 different Mountain Valley players hit the scoring column, showing the team’s overall offensive balance.

Emily Billings and Karen Flaherty hit back to back three-pointers, Liza White and Ashley Russell knocked down foul line jumpers and Sydney Petrie topped off the run converting a pair of free throws.

Trailing 12-2, the Roadrunners finished out the first quarter on a 6-1 run, cutting the Falcons’ lead to 13-8 on a Beedy layup with 14 seconds left.

“Our girls really kept trying,” Mt. Abram coach Larry Donald said. “We just couldn’t get it past that half court press in the third quarter.”

Summer Ross scored on a fast break layup for the Roadrunners to open the second period, narrowing the lead to 13-10 before White and her teammates went on a 13-2 streak to take a 26-13 halftime lead.

Russell notched a game-high 12 points for the Falcons, White added 10 and Billings nine for the balanced Mountain Valley attack.

“Every night we take the floor, we try to measure what we are doing against ourselves,” Casey said. “We continue to push each other and get better each game.”

Russell’s ability to run the court off the trap, saw her score nine points in the critical third quarter, starting with a driving layup for a 28-13 lead just 25 seconds into the quarter.

When the dust settled, following Petrie’s 15-foot jumper, the Falcons owned a 46-15 lead heading into the final quarter.