Moses Lake Lady Chiefs bury Ike in second half

MOSES LAKE — After getting off to a slow start against Eisenhower, Moses Lake outscored the Cadets 22-1 in the third quarter as they kept their unbeaten record intact with a 63-28 victory in Tuesday's Columbia Basin League contest.

Leading 31-19 at halftime, the Lady Chiefs opened the second-half scoring quickly when Carly Noyes converted from inside at the 7:33 mark to extend the Lady Chiefs' lead. Noyes, who scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the first half, played sparingly in the game's final 16 minutes as Moses Lake pulled away from Ike.

The Lady Chiefs followed Noyes' early bucket with a defensive stop. Marielle McKean then drove down the court, finished with a layup and, after converting the ensuing free throw, pushed the Moses Lake lead to 36-19 with 6:59 in the third.

Stop after stop on defense, combined with contributions on offense from every player on the floor, allowed the Lady Chiefs to continue their brisk scoring pace for the remainder of the quarter.

If Moses Lake's 22-1 third quarter wasn't enough, Lorin Montgomery and Vanessa Brischle opened the fourth with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Lady Chiefs a 59-20 lead with 6:15 to play. With the game in hand, Moses Lake then emptied its bench for the remaining six minutes of the fourth quarter.

While Moses Lake was able to score at will during the second half, points were much harder to come by in the opening stages of the game. After the first eight minutes of play, the Lady Chiefs held a slim 10-6 lead.

Both teams had trouble handling the ball in the first quarter, with the Lady Chiefs committing seven turnovers in the period. Most of those miscues came during transition, giving Eisenhower fast-break opportunities that resulted in easy baskets.

"We played too much in a hurry," said Moses Lake coach Matt Strophy. "We want to be quicker than the other team, but we don't want to hurry."

When Moses Lake was able to get into their offense, they had trouble finishing on good looks at the basket.

"It would have been nice to take that Saran Wrap off that rim and have those points," remarked Strophy about the inexplicable first-quarter misses.

The Lady Chiefs began to find their shooting touch in the second quarter, and by the third quarter the offense was running at full throttle.

One area Moses Lake was misfiring on was shooting from the free throw line. The Lady Chiefs were just 9-21 for the game from the line, well below their goal of making 70 percent of their foul shots.

"That's been a thorn in our side all season long," said Strophy. "Right now, luck is on our side, where we can win without shooting well (from the line)."

"We already shoot over 100 free throws a day," the Moses Lake coach added. "At this point the girls and the coaches are at a loss for that."

The Lady Chiefs hope to shoot better from the line in their next home game this Saturday against Richland. The contest, a matchup of two CBL playoff contenders, will likely go a long way in determining post-season seedings for both teams.

Moses Lake won the first meeting 47-45 on Jan. 6.