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Young Grizzlies crush Phoenix Ashland High junior Alie Voskes attempts to shoot past Phoenix High's Maggie Carrillo at Phoenix High on Tuesday. (PHOTO BY: LARRY STAUTH JR) Wednesday Dec 7, 2016 at 2:00 AM Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings @Joe_Zavala99 PHOENIX — Young and athletic, the Ashland High girls basketball team showed glimpses on Tuesday that the program may be headed towards a resurgence. Freshman wing Mikayla Titus scored 12 points and junior Mya Elder-Hammond added six points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Grizzlies used a second-quarter burst to take control and held on for a 49-37 nonconference win over the Phoenix Pirates at Phoenix High School. The win was Ashland's first since Feb. 2 of last season, a span of seven games counting Friday’s season-opening loss to North Medford, and its first win away from Mountain Avenue Gym since last December. “I thought we played pretty well,” Ashland coach Antione Perry said. “At the end there it showed that we have young freshmen because they’re throwing up shots that we don’t need to. But you know what, we’re very athletic, we play hard and we thought the North Medford game was good for us because they’re a good team and we felt we played pretty well considering how young we are. I’m pretty excited for this team.” Boasting a roster that’s almost certainly one of the least experienced in the state — no seniors, two juniors and the rest underclassmen, including six freshmen — the Grizzlies will attempt to learn on the job this season, and gave their fans a few reasons to be optimistic Tuesday. Up three late in the second quarter, a jumper by Titus sparked a quick 7-2 spurt by the Grizzlies to end the first half, giving them a 28-20 halftime lead. Ashland outscored the Pirates 16-7 in the second, including seven points by junior guard Alie Voskes. Ashland quickly opened up a double-digit lead early in the second half and pushed it to 41-27 on Titus’ 3-pointer with 2:25 to go in the third. Freshman post Malia Rodriguez added five of her 10 points in the third, as the Grizzlies entered the final quarter up 10. The Grizzlies repeatedly burned Phoenix’s pressure defense, something Perry believes this year’s team is equipped to handle. “This year, we have inexperience,” he said, “but we have athletic people who have played basketball and they can all handle the ball, so it really helps us beat the press this year. We’re not scared of the press this year. We’re like, ‘Press us so we can run.’ We’ve got so many girls that play soccer and they can run up and down the court all day. So we encourage now getting pressed. The girls, they don’t know any better so right now that’s really good.” Phoenix cut the deficit to eight in the fourth but the Grizzlies’ defense held the Pirates to six points in the fourth to clinch the win. The Pirates (1-1), who beat Eagle Point last week, were led by senior guard Keylene Ritter’s 15 points. No other Phoenix player scored more than six. For Ashland, Olivia Mellon and Rodriguez added four rebounds apiece, and Titus had four steals. Perry said Elder-Hammond has emerged as the team’s floor leader. “By far,” he said. “She’s our most experienced player and she’s so long as a guard, too. Most people don’t know how to cover her. And defensively, she can just get her hands on everything and the girls really seem to play calm when she’s on the floor. She leads them and they all listen, so it’s nice to have her on the floor.” ASHLAND (49) — Mellon 5, Voskes 7, Titus 12, Rich 2, Orosio-Walls 2, Munson 3, Elder-Hammond 6, Summers 2, Rodriguez 10. Totals: 18 10-16 49. PHOENIX (37) — Carrillo 5, Burns 2, Ritter 15, Rodriguez 1, Lopez 6, Marroquin 3, Lozano 2, Kentner 3. Totals: 13 10-27 37. Ashland 12 16 13 8 — 49 Phoenix 13 7 11 6 — 37 3-point goals — Ashland 3 (Mellon 1, Voskes 1, Titus 1), Phoenix 1 (Ritter 1). Boys Basketball At Phoenix, Phoenix went toe-to-toe with Ashland for as long as it could in nonconference boys basketball Tuesday before the Grizzlies pulled away for a 65-47 victory. Peyton Fuller, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, made eight 3-pointers and scored 25 points as Ashland improved to 1-1. The Grizzlies led by two at halftime and by seven entering the fourth quarter. “Ashland’s size and strength ultimately wore us out,” said first-year Phoenix coach Troy McNichols. “The physicality of the game just overtook us. They got a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks.” Then there was Fuller, who seemingly couldn’t miss. “They just found a way to get him open, and he was extremely hot. Let’s just put it that way,” said McNichols. McKane Ellis added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Ashland, which outscored Phoenix 23-12 in the fourth. James Turnbull tallied 12 points and Thomas Skaff and Ethan Hutsell 10 each for the Pirates (0-2). ASHLAND (65): Swanson 9, Atteberry 6, Hansen 8, Fuller 25, Jones 2, Ellis 10, Pippa 5. Totals: 26 4-17 65. PHOENIX (47): Perez 1, Skaff 10, Watts 4, Sabino 2, Hutsell 10, Turnbull 12, Lozano-Reyes 5, Botermans 0. Totals: 16 9-16 47. Ashland;21;6;15;23;—;65 Phoenix;16;9;10;12;—;47 3-point goals — Ashland 9 (Swanson 1, Fuller 8), Phoenix 6 (Skaff 2, Watts 1, Turnbull 3). JV score — Ashland 45, Phoenix 40. — Tim Trower contributed to this report.