Moses Lake blows away Blue Devils

Chiefs 7-0 in league after 20-point defeat of Walla Walla

MOSES LAKE - For the first eight minutes on Friday night, the Walla Walla Blue Devils looked to be equal or superior to the Moses Lake Chiefs.

For the final 24 minutes, there was no question who the better team was.

Moses Lake kick-started itself with a 14-0 run in the second quarter and overwhelmed the visiting Blue Devils 58-38 in a showdown for first place in the Columbia Basin League 4A standings.

The Chiefs (12-3 overall, 7-0 CBL) were ice-cold in the first quarter, managing just one field goal and trailing 11-5. But they quickly rectified their problems to take a 23-19 lead into the break, then put the Blue Devils away by closing on a 14-1 spurt.

Moses Lake head coach Matt Strophy credited the turn-around to a renewed focus on properly running the team's flex offense.

"We rely a lot of times, on teams that we're comfortable against, not running any offense," Strophy explained. "We can work the ball around, find an open shots and that works. But against Pasco and Walla Walla, that doesn't work so easily."

The Chiefs began using a "flex cut" toward the basket and kept star forward Carly Noyes inside rather than moving her outside occasionally. The result? More open looks for other players - in particular, senior guard Lorin Montgomery.

Montgomery led the Chiefs with 18 points, scoring on 3-pointers or lay-ups that came as a direct result of Walla Walla's defensive strategy.

"Lorin Montgomery's defender would sag over - she starts cutting back door, hangs out and has 3," Strophy said, noting that Richland and Pasco were also burned by not respecting Montgomery. "You have to guard her. If you don't guard her, she will figure something out."

Freshman point guard Jordan Loera also helped get the Chiefs going, burying back-to-back treys early in the second period to put Moses Lake in front 13-11. The Chiefs led by as many as eight in the first half, but Walla Walla's Jennifer Keyes trimmed the margin to four at half by nailing four of her game-high six 3-pointers.

While Keyes went on to finish with a game-high 21 points, the Chiefs' defense was largely in control. The Blue Devils shot only 10 for 54 (18.5 percent), committed 15 turnovers and lost all sense of rhythm in the fourth quarter.

"It was huge that we kept Melissa Eastman, their inside threat, to two points," Strophy noted. "That's really solid defense by Ann (Noyes) and Carly (Noyes) to be able to do that."

Both offenses dominated the third quarter, with Moses Lake holding a 44-37 edge entering the fourth. The Chiefs haven't always had strong finishes this season, but scored 14 of the final 15 points in this game.

"One point allowed in the fourth quarter? You've got to be kidding me," Strophy said. "That's just plain and simple outworking them.

"They were forcing up some shots because they needed to get back into the game, but that's just solid defense and that's just the mindset that we come out and we've got to take care of business."

Carly Noyes, who scored 14 points on 8 of 10 from the free-throw line, had a putback and a pair of free throws to stretch the margin to 53-38. Noyes also had seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

Kelly Sutherland, the Chiefs' fourth double-figure scorer with 11 points, had a 3-point play with under 2 minutes left to make it a 20-point lead. Sutherland added six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Loera had 13 points and three steals in 31 minutes, hitting 5 of 9 field goal tries. The Chiefs were 7 of 11 (63.6 percent) from 3-point land.

One area of concern for the Chiefs in Tuesday's rematch at Walla Walla (7:30 p.m.) is rebounding. The Blue Devils had more offensive boards than the Chiefs had defensive boards - 24 to 21 - and grabbed 42 total rebounds to Moses Lake's 35.

Moses Lake also wants to do a better job of defending Keyes.

"We always have to know where she's at, whether we're man (defense), whether we're zone," Strophy said. "I think almost every time we had a mental lapse on our defense, they found her and she knocked it down."