Moses Lake dismantles Southridge on both sides of the ball in 52-20 win

MOSES LAKE — The Lady Chiefs have their coaches on the run.

Responding to a challenge by head coach Matt Strophy, the Lady Chiefs upped their offensive output, forcing the coaching staff to run sprints at their next practice.

Strophy said he motivated the girls to score 60 points, take 55 shots, or shoot 40 percent from the field and 70 percent from the line against Southridge Tuesday night.

"If we can do one of those three things and win, all the coaches will run a set of lines under 31 seconds," he said. "I might as well suck it up and say the coaches are running."

After the Lady Chiefs' performance, Strophy and company may need to run laps. Moses Lake shot well over 40 percent from the field and were perfect from the line en route to a 52-20 win.

The Lady Chiefs had more points in the first half (26) than Southridge had the entire game — it was that close. Moses Lake jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, beating the Suns in every facet of the game.

Sophomore forward Marielle Mckean led all scorers with 11 points and was a dominant force inside, earning the game ball.

Moses Lake held Southridge to eight first-half points, thanks to improved rotation in their 2-3 zone.

"We were working on our rotation because Kennewick exploited some things against our match-up zone defense," Strophy said. "When (the Suns) were able to get the ball inside, I asked our girls to double-team that. When we did, we got the turnover.

"Our defense worked hard. We communicated a little better, we rotate a lot better. And that was the key."

The Suns' only available shots were from the outside and seemed unwilling to shoot it. When they did, they were unable to connect.

"It makes it easier when they hesitate and don't want to take the perimeter shot," Strophy said.

Moses Lake, however, was solid from the perimeter, hitting mid-range jumpers consistently all night. Guards Bailey Millican and Brianne Roylance hit two three-pointers each, opening up the key for Mckean, Sarah Kast and Carrie Sawyer.

"I've never seen them shoot from the perimeter like that," Strophy said. "If we can play like that, we can beat anybody."

With the win, Moses Lake improves to 3-3 in league and 3-3 overall. The Lady Chiefs don't play again until Jan. 7 against Eisenhower at home.

Point totals — Ma. Mckean, 11, Sawyer, 9, Kast 8, Millican 6, Roylance 6, Noyes 6, Mc. Mckean 4, Bergeson 2.