Tears of sadness, tears of joy

Moses Lake girls cap first state appearance with second-place finish

TACOMA - When the final buzzer sounded late on Saturday night, smiles and hugs were passed around the Moses Lake Chiefs' sideline.

A few moments later, the tears started to come. Tears of realization that an amazing season had come to an end. Tears of happiness for competing on the state's biggest stage. Tears of sadness because of a 42-37 loss to three-time state champion Lewis and Clark.

Moses Lake surprised a few people at the 4A state basketball tournament, but not the people who've watched them all season. A tremendous four-day run at the Tacoma Dome that included wins over state powers Jackson, Kentwood and Pasco wasn't diminished by a five-point loss to the 29-0 Tigers.

"I'm proud of us - we played a great game," said junior Carly Noyes, a first-team all-tournament selection. "It's hard that we lost, but LC's a great team."

"There shouldn't be any sadness in our eyes because we have had a great season," Chiefs head coach Matt Strophy said. "The sadness at the end, the tears at the end, were because we have five seniors graduating from our program."

Two of those seniors - forward Ann Noyes and guard Lorin Montgomery - were starters and played prominent roles all year long. Neither were a factor against LC, however, as the Tigers' vaunted defense forced 23 turnovers and kept Moses Lake's offense at bay most of the night.

A night after shooting 56 percent in a win over rival Pasco, the Chiefs (24-6) managed a 39 percent clip against LC. The Tigers forced 23 turnovers, grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, and their full-court pressure disrupted the Chiefs' offense like no one has all year.

"They've got a defense that's really hard - I don't care how many good players you have," Strophy said. "There's not a whole lot of adjustments you can make - they're just that good."

Moses Lake recovered from an early 7-0 deficit and tied the game at halftime on Jordan's Loera 30-foot heave at the horn. That sent the Chiefs' fans into hysteria, and the emotion carried over into second half.

Carly Noyes' basket trimmed the Tigers' lead to 36-35 with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter, and after forcing a shot clock violation, the Chiefs got the ball back with 90 seconds left and a three-point deficit.

Moses Lake tried to set up a game-tying attempt for Loera, the team's best outside shooter, but LC's Brittany Kennedy wound up with a steal. Two offensive rebounds and two free throws later, the Tigers had accomplished what no other 4A girls' program has ever done - win three titles in a row.

The Chiefs held Kennedy, an all-tournament first team pick and one of the state's best, to just six points on 3 of 14 shooting, the Tigers were only 15 of 63 (24 percent) as a team. But teammate Jeneva Anderson stepped up with 13 points, and 6-foot-1 forward Sarah Kliewer stunned the Chiefs with a pair of first-half 3-pointers en route to nine points and eight boards.

Carly Noyes had a game-high 16 points and 14 rebounds, Kelly Sutherland scored 10 and Loera added nine on two treys. However, the Tigers bottled up the distribution and scoring skills of Ann Noyes, who wound up with two points and four turnovers in her final high school game.

"They took Ann away with ball pressure," Strophy said. "That was really tough on us, because she couldn't get that pass into Carly."

Sutherland's baseline runner gave the Chiefs their only lead of the night - 21-19 - early in the third before LC scored eight straight and never trailed again. Anderson's putback and 3-point play finished the spurt.

The game marked the end for the Noyes sisters' run together, and Carly had tears streaming down her face as she talked about what that meant.

"I don't even know what it's going to be like (next year)," she said. "I've been playing with her since, like, fourth grade and we're best friends."

Loera, who averaged 12.5 points in four games to earn a second-team all-tournament spot, was smiling as she recapped a freshman campaign for the ages.

"It's been amazing because we've come together as a team," she said. "We made it this far and we're excited to come back here again next year."

Moses Lake 50, Pasco 45

The fourth meeting of the season between the Columbia Basin League's two best teams played out according to the plan - a grind-it-out affair decided by a few details.

The Chiefs again struggled to break pressure and turned it over 23 times, but their efficient play in half-court sets was the deciding factor. Moses Lake had 31 fewer field goal attempts than the Bulldogs, but hit 56 percent from the floor and 83 percent at the foul line (20 of 24).

Strophy suggested afterwards that he might've preferred facing Ballard, which lost to Pasco in Thursday's quarterfinals.

"That's that unknown factor where they don't know a whole lot about us, we don't know a whole lot about them, and we just let the girls play it out," he said. "Pasco knows how to stop us.

"We know each other so well, it makes for an interesting and exciting ball game, that's for sure."

Moses Lake had won two of the three previous meetings, but never led by more than seven in this one. And the Bulldogs' bench was delirious after freshman Hayley Hodgins drained two free throws and tied the score with 2:36 remaining.

The Chiefs didn't panic, with the Noyes sisters connecting on six straight foul shots to restore a six-point margin. Carly had 25 points, hitting 8 of 10 from the floor and 9 of 10 at the line, to go along with seven rebounds. Ann scored 16 points and grabbed seven more boards.

"They work so hard and they deserve all the things that they get," Strophy said of the sisters. "Ann's mid-range jumper is the best that I've seen, especially out of a post player. She can really step out and draw that defender away, and then look inside to her sister."

Pasco's Danielle Walter had 23 points, while Hodgins added 12. The Bulldogs had 15 offensive rebounds, but shot only 16 of 58 (28 percent) for the game.

Foul trouble forced Ann Noyes and Montgomery to the bench for long stretches, but reserves stepped in and played well, the coach said.

"It's no secret we're not the deepest team in the world," Strophy said. "Vanessa (Brischle) and Alexis Ballinger did a nice job of coming in and holding down the fort."