What a difference a half makes. Stansbury girls went into halftime against Bountiful tied 23-23 and thanks to a strong second half, left the court with a 13-point victory.

Marissa Robbins was the catalyst in the third quarter Tuesday night as she scored 11 of her game-high 23 points in the period and helped propel the Stallions to a 53-40 victory in Bountiful.

Loretta Beaty was the only other Stallion to finish in double figures with 12 points. Erika Alvey scored all six of her points in the final quarter in the victory.

Robbins got Stansbury off to a fast start by scoring the first five points of the game to give the Stallions an early lead. After a 3-pointer by Brittani Stewart with 5:15 remaining in the first, the Stallions took a 9-2 lead.

Bountiful managed to battle back with the help of Chelsea Walton and her seven points in the quarter. Walton nailed a layup with 2.4 seconds left in the period to cut the Stansbury lead to 13-11 after one.

The Braves continued their scoring in the second quarter as a 3-pointer by Heather Stucki helped cap a 7-3 run for Bountiful and gave them a 18-16 lead with 5:34 left in the first half.

Both teams created runs in the final minutes of the first half with Stansbury running off six straight points after a jump shot by Beaty for a 22-18 lead. Bountiful countered by scoring five of the next six points, which was capped off by a bucket in the paint by Walton to deadlock the game at 23-23 at halftime.

Stansbury came out a different team in the second half and shut down the Bountiful offense and put the Braves away with offensive moves of their own. Robbins did the same in the third and scored the first four points and a jump shot by Beaty capped a 6-1 run to open the second half with a 29-24 lead.

The Stallion lead exploded to 10 points after a 9-2 run behind five points from Robbins. The lead stayed at 10 at the end of the third after a fast-break layup by Robbins gave the Stallions a 40-30 lead heading into the final quarter.

Robbins got all 23 of her points in the first three quarters and that is where her teammates picked up the slack. Beaty scored six straight points for Stansbury in an 8-2 run that gave the Stallions a 48-32 lead. A 16-point lead with 5:12 remaining was too much for Bountiful to handle.

The Braves did cut the Stansbury lead to single digits after a layup by Samantha Tooley to make the score 48-40 but Stansbury sank their free throws to lock up the victory.

Heading into the homestretch of Region 6 play, Stansbury now sits with a 6-4 record with only two games to play. The Stallions will host region leader Woods Cross Friday at 5:15 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com