Lady Knights drop key fight for seeding

Girls basketball recaps

ROYAL CITY - A win on Monday evening would've been very helpful to the Royal Lady Knights' hopes of a better playoff seed.

But Royal didn't play its best at either end of the court and wound up on the short end of a 66-49 final against the visiting River View Panthers.

River View assumed control of the third position in the South Central Athletic Conference East Division race, meaning the Panthers would receive a first-round bye and move into the double-elimination portion of the district playoffs if they can stay there.

Royal (8-9 overall, 4-6 league) is a half-game back of River View for the coveted third spot with two games left, and even Knights head coach Maria Lefler felt fourth place was about all her girls could hope for.

"I think tonight we worked hard, but our passing wasn't what it should've been and they had a couple girls that didn't miss," Lefler said. "Our help defense was not what it should've been and they hit their shots."

Royal's Dani Callahan and Kelcy Jansen sparked an early rally that put Royal in front 9-3 and 11-9 after one quarter. The Knights also did a nice job of slowing down River View's offense with a tenacious full-court press.

But the Panthers' long-range attack caught fire in the second period. Lexi Hess, who buried four 3-pointers en route to 17 points, nailed one from behind the arc to give River View a 29-18 lead right before halftime. Callahan answered at the other end with a trey of her own, but Panther freshman Hattie Johnson nailed yet another just before the horn as River View took its biggest lead - 11 points - into the half.

It was more of the same in the second half, as the Panthers dominated the offensive boards and continued to hit from outside. Alex Crowder led River View with 18 points, negating the 10 points of Callahan and the 16-point, 10-rebound effort of Tawnee Gonzales.

Royal faces a crucial contest tonight against Warden, a 6 p.m. start on the Knights' home court. The Cougars are looking to sew up the division's final playoff spot and figure to be hungry for a win as well.

"We're going to have to play really well to beat (Warden), because they're a little bit different team from River View," Lefler said. "We'll give it our best shot."

Saturday

Moses Lake 77, Davis 40

MOSES LAKE - The Chiefs ripped off a huge second-quarter run against the Pirates, winning their ninth Columbia Basin League outing in 10 tries.

Moses Lake (15-4 overall, 9-1 league) used a 22-9 spurt in the second period to take a 41-21 lead. Carly Noyes had 24 points and nine rebounds to lead the Chiefs. Jordan Loera scored 12 points and dished out four assists, while Vanessa Brischle came off the bench to add 11 points. Ciarra Thorgerson paced Davis with 14 points.

Moses Lake travels to Richland on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., then closes the regular season at home on Thursday by battling the Pasco Bulldogs for the league title.

Othello 76, Quincy 64

OTHELLO - The Lady Huskies didn't have much luck defending Quincy's Tashia Zamarron, but Othello's offensive stars also had big nights in a Central Washington Athletic Conference contest.

Despite a career-high 31-point outburst from Zamarron, the Lady Jackrabbits' star senior, Othello won its 13th straight game as four players scored in double figures. Courtney Kirkwood led the way with 19 points, Allison Walker had 17, Justine Villarreal had 14 and Kylee Mollotte added 10.

Dayanna Lopez added 15 points for Quincy (5-11 overall, 5-9 CWAC), which is two games ahead of Grandview for the conference's No. 7 seed to districts. The Jacks are at Grandview on Friday at 6 p.m.

Othello (15-2, 12-2) got some help over the weekend from East Valley, which knocked off Ellensburg to create a tie for the CWAC's top spot. The Huskies will try to stretch their win streak to 14 on Friday with a 6 p.m. tip at Prosser.

Royal 56, Wahluke 35

MATTAWA - The Lady Knights evened their overall mark with a blowout win over the host Warriors in SCAC East Division action.

Royal went on big runs during the second and third quarters to lead 44-27 with eight minutes left. Kelcy Jansen led the Knights with 19 points, five assists and four steals. Tawnee Gonzales had 10 points, 11 rebounds, eight steals and five assists. Leslie Brown added nine points and eight boards.

Linda Hernandez was Wahluke's only double-figure scorer with 12 points.

Prosser 69, Ephrata 38

EPHRATA - The Lady Tigers got off to a rough start and fell to the hot-shooting Mustangs in a CWAC contest at Marty O'Brien Court.

Prosser freshman Tamara Jones went off for a game-high 27 points as Prosser (12-4 overall, 9-4 league) jumped to a 39-16 halftime lead.

Greer Monson led Ephrata (1-15, 1-13) with 13 points, while Rachelle Couture scored seven and Abby Smith and BreAnne Duff added six apiece.

Ephrata travels to Wapato on Friday for a 6 p.m. start.

Liberty Bell 45, Soap Lake 37

SOAP LAKE - The seventh-ranked Mountain Lions showed who was queen of the hill in North Central 2B League play, taking an early 13-4 lead they never relinquished.

Soap Lake (11-7 overall, 7-3 league) can still clinch the league's No. 2 seed to districts if it can win Friday at Waterville (6 p.m.) and Saturday at home against Manson (6 p.m.).

The Eagles got an outstanding outing from Michelle Marthini, who collected 12 points and 18 rebounds. Ariel Wernex had eight points and five assists, while Tanya Babak added eight points and seven boards.

Liberty Bell (17-2, 11-0) got 17 points from Korrie Bourn 17 points - 14 of them in the first half. Kylie Paluck added 11 points and Shelby Scott scored 10.

Entiat 69, Moses Lake Christian 39

ENTIAT - The Tigers, one of the 1B rank's top-five teams, smothered the visiting Lions with a 20-0 first-quarter spurt en route to a North Central League victory.

Moses Lake Christian (8-8 overall, 4-4 league) got 13 points from Jessica Jachetta, but she was the Lions' only double-digit scorer. Meanwhile, Entiat (16-2, 7-1) earned a 34-19 rebounding advantage and got a 29-point explosion from Shawnee Ledbetter. Jamie Wilson added 18 points for the Tigers.

The Lions travel to Wilson Creek on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Friday

Moses Lake 53, Eisenhower 34

YAKIMA - The Cadets were blown out by the Chiefs in an earlier CBL meeting, but took a 21-20 halftime lead in the rematch.

However, Moses Lake responded well by going on a 33-13 run in the second half and held the Cadets to two points in the third period. Carly Noyes paced the Chiefs with 13 points, while Kelly Sutherland scored 12 and Jordan Loera added 11. The Cadets' leading scorer, Brittany Gaut, had only nine points.

Warden 62, Wahluke 43

WAHLUKE - The Lady Cougars kept their playoff hopes very much alive with a sound defeat of the Warriors in SCAC East Division play.

Kelsey Garner led Warden with 17 points. Cassandra Kisler recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Emma Bisnett had 11 points, Kim McPartland added six points and 11 boards, and Kaitlyn Yamane chipped in seven boards, four assists and five steals.

The Cougars (5-13 overall, 3-7 league) are one game back of Royal for the league's fifth and final playoff spot heading into tonight's 6 p.m. showdown.

Moses Lake Christian 79, Easton/Thorp 22

MOSES LAKE - The Lady Lions ran the visiting Jaguars ragged in a North Central 1B League blowout.

Esther Timofeyev hit 14 of her 20 field-goal attempts en route to a game-high 28 points. The junior added 25 rebounds and three steals.

Jessica Jachetta also had a huge outing with 21 points - including five 3-pointers - five assists, four boards and three steals. Lynnsee Moberg added 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting to go along with 11 boards, 10 steals and seven assists.

Bridgeport 49, Soap Lake 48, 2 OT

SOAP LAKE - The Lady Eagles suffered a disappointing loss to the visiting Fillies, who outscored them 14-6 in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

The loss spoiled a spectacular game for Soap Lake's Michelle Marthini, who scored 18 points and grabbed a school-record 29 rebounds. Ariel Wernex had 14 points and five assists, while Tanya Babak added 10 points for the Eagles.

But Bridgeport (13-5 overall, 7-4 league) got 16 points from Kayla Craig, 15 from Rachel Bisque and 10 from Alejandra Bustos to pull off the victory.