High School

 Galax jumped out to a huge first-quarter lead and opened Mountain Empire District play Friday with a 78-43 win over Narrows.

The Maroon Tide (8-1 overall, 1-0 district) never trailed after holding the Green Wave (5-5, 0-1) to eight first-quarter points.

Galax led 6-5 when it embarked on a 23-3 run over a stretch of nine minutes spanning the first and second quarters. Brock Cox drained a 3-pointer and Devonte McKinney hit a layup and free throw to ignite a run of 14 straight Maroon Tide points as Galax took a 23-8 lead into the second period.

 INDEPENDENCE –– Grayson County came within a whisker of snapping a 42-game losing streak but fell to Holston 39-37 in a nondistrict girls’ basketball game Wednesday.

Holston (4-5), which had ended its own string of 100-plus straight defeats earlier in the year, took a two-point lead on Faith Ritchie’s free throw with 18 seconds remaining.

Grayson County (0-7) had a chance to send the game into overtime but was off the mark at the buzzer.

 SPARTA, N.C. –– Kennedy Gambill nearly outscored Galax by herself, pouring in 39 points to lead Alleghany past the Maroon Tide 67-40 in the Alleghany Showcase tournament Wednesday.

Gambill, a junior guard, knocked down six 3-pointers and was 15-of-19 from the foul line as the Trojans improved to 6-3 on the year. Galax saw its record even at 4-4.

 HILLSVILLE –– Carroll County rallied from a six-point deficit into a three-point lead in the third quarter and held on to down Galax 56-48 in a nondistrict girls’ game Wednesday night.

An 11-point outburst by Taylor Bryant in the second quarter helped boost the Maroon Tide (4-3) to a 33-27 halftime lead, but the Cavaliers (3-3) limited Galax to five points on just eight field goal attempts in the third period to surge into the lead.