Noyes takes over, Chiefs closer to state

MOSES LAKE - When the chips are down, there's no one in the state Matt Strophy wants to have the ball more than Carly Noyes.

The Moses Lake junior, who just earned her second straight Columbia Basin League Most Valuable Player award, torched the Central Valley Bears for 28 points in Tuesday's regional playoff opener, helping the Chiefs break loose in the fourth quarter for a 55-40 victory.

The win gives the top-seeded Chiefs (19-4 overall) three days of rest before Friday's 5:30 p.m. winner-to-state game at Kennewick's Toyota Center. The opponent? None other than the rival Pasco Bulldogs, 35-31 upset winners over Shadle Park on Tuesday.

Noyes was nearly unstoppable down the stretch, when Moses Lake needed her the most. The Bears had scored a pair of buckets late in the third quarter to knot the score at 32-32, but the Chiefs used an 18-2 run to gain control.

Noyes converted time after time in the paint. Her layup off a feed from Jordan Loera, followed by a 3-point play, gave the Chiefs a 44-34 edge with 4 minutes, 23 seconds to play. Loera capped the huge surge with a steal and breakaway layup, making the lead 50-34 at the 3:20 mark.

The Chiefs outscored the Bears 23-8 in the final period, and Strophy felt his team's ball movement was the difference.

"We started being a little more aggressive and pounding the ball inside," the coach said. "It's not like we weren't getting the ball inside earlier, but we weren't working the ball around the perimeter to stretch out their defense.

"That's a huge thing when people are trying to double-team Carly," Strophy added. "It's just a matter of making the ball move and create that one-on-one situation..and she capitalized big-time."

Central Valley's zone defense frustrated the Chiefs for much of the night, but Moses Lake's tactics changed late in the game and success followed.

"In the fourth quarter we played the way we should've all game long," Strophy said. "We were pushing the ball up the floor, we were attacking their zone. Our defense did a better job of communicating and rotating and then blocking out."

Both teams showed some nerves early on. The Bears turned the ball over on their first five possessions, but the Chiefs didn't score until Ann Noyes cleaned up a rebound at the 3:46 mark of the first quarter. Moses Lake led 11-10 after eight minutes when Kelly Sutherland tossed in a reverse layup off an inbounds play with a second left.

Carly Noyes had four blocked shots in the second period alone as the Chiefs held Central Valley to five points. Loera's back-door bucket and 3-point play in the final five seconds put the Chiefs ahead 22-16 at halftime.

The Bears controlled the third quarter. Moses Lake scored the first five points to take its biggest lead - 27-16 - to that point, but Central Valley scored eight straight en route to a 16-10 advantage in the third.

"Our defense wasn't in synch and offensively in the first three quarters we just weren't aggressive," Strophy said. "It was a little frustrating in that respect, and our defense suffered a little bit in that third quarter, allowing them to go on a run."

Only five Chiefs entered the scoring column, with Sutherland netting 10. Loera and Ann Noyes had seven apiece, with Lorin Montgomery nailing a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter for the team's only other points.

Brittany Catron paced the Bears with 14 points, and Justine Bowman added 12.

Friday's matchup with Pasco is good and bad for Moses Lake because of the same factor - familiarity.

"They have a knowledge of us and we have a knowledge of them," Strophy said. "It should be real interesting. We've got a nice road. We're playing a team to go to the state tournament that we know we can beat."

The Chiefs swept the season series from the Bulldogs, and Strophy believes the third meeting will come down to defense.

"Just like tonight, it starts on our defensive end," he said. "We can't allow them to get comfortable when they're on offense.

"We're going to have to kick it into gear right from the get-go, not allow them to get penetration."