Warden girls win championship

MOSES LAKE — The Warden girls basketball team pressed the Bridgeport Fillies all night as the Lady Cougars won their second MLCA Christmas Tournament championship in three years Tuesday night.

Cassandra Kisler led the Warden offense with 14 points as four Lady Cougars scored in double figures to lead Warden to the 65-47 victory at the Moses Lake Christian Academy.

Warden head coach Todd Kisler said he was proud to see his team earn the victory in the championship game.

“We got the win,” he said. “(That’s) the most important thing.”

The Lady Cougars trapped the Fillies and pressed them defensively to keep the Bridgeport offense guessing and off balance.

“We played hard and put some pressure on them to help us get the lead,” he said.

Although his team came away with the tournament championship, Kisler said his team needs to improve when they head into South Central Athletic Conference play in 2009.

“We need to cut down on the turnovers and shoot free throws better,” he said. “If we are going to beat the good teams in our league we need to make our free throws.”

The Lady Cougars took four days off over the Christmas break and Kisler said his team was a little sluggish during the tournament.

“Our legs were a little soft,” he said. “We’ll get them back into shape this week.”

The Lady Cougars were coming off of a less-than-ideal performance in 2007 and Kisler said his team wanted another championship.

“We got third last year,” he said. “We were a little hungry.”

Kisler and his team got their fill Tuesday night when the captured the tournament championship in front of a large home-like crowd.

“It’s nice to be able to play two away games 12 miles down the road,” he said. “Our fans get to travel and come support us. We are really appreciative of them.”

Kim McPartland finished the night with a double-double, tallying 11 point and 10 rebounds in the winning effort.