Moses Lake girls fall in OT, Tigers dominate home court

MOSES LAKE — So close and yet so far.

Moses Lake had a road win at Big 9 Columbia favorites Wenatchee in its hands on Friday night.

But they couldn’t hold on tight enough.

A late Panthers run brought Wenatchee back from a late seven-point deficit, forced overtime, and gave the hosts a 51-49 win over the Chiefs.

Moses Lake (1-6, 0-1) lost their sixth straight game after leading for a majority of the evening.

“We had lead and got into foul trouble,” Moses Lake coach Matt Strophy said. “Our posts had to sit and Wenatchee took advantage of it by taking the ball inside. We survived their runs in the second and third quarter but couldn’t stop the bleeding in the fourth.”

The Chiefs were also hurt by missing four of five free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.

Jordan Loera led Moses Lake with 19 points, 12 rebounds and five steals, while Kayla Bernsen ended up with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Moses Lake led 25-19 at halftime and 37-30 going into he fourth quarter.

“I’m okay with the loss because we’re only 0-1 and Wenatchee is the favorite to win the league,” Strophy said. “I know they are a quality team and to have had the opportunity to pull out the win. I’m proud of the girls. I think we’re on the right track.”

Ephrata 67, Selah 27

EPHRATA — As the tables turned Ephrata learned they definitely have a spot with the guests of honor.

After almost coming back from a huge deficit last week against Ellensburg, the Lady Tigers jumped all over Selah on Friday night, leading 20-2 after the first quarter.

The only difference was, Ephrata, with the exception of one second quarter hiccup didn’t let their visitors up from the deck long enough to make things interesting, as they bombed Selah 67-27.

Selah got the game down to 28-15 midway through the second quarter before the Lady Tigers bumped the margin back up to 36-17 at halftime.

“Last year in a game we had a big lead at halftime and we lost it,” Ephrata’s Kelsey Yenney said. “So right before we came out we said it wasn’t going to happen again. It was nice to see us play with that intensity.”

The intensity the Tigers showed led them on a 16-4 third quarter tear that put the game out of reach.

Yenney sparked Ephrata’s win with a 14-point first half, including four-three pointers.

On the evening, 11 players got into the ballgame for the Tigers (2-2, 1-1) and all of them scored.

“I was happy to see the girls go pedal to the medal and take away any chance Selah had to come back after halftime,” Ephrata coach Aaron Ross said.

Selah was held to 15 percent shooting from the field and outrebounded 58-35 by the Tigers.

Othello 64, Toppenish 58

OTHELLO — After a tough home loss to an elite Prosser team last weekend, Othello made sure they took care of business on their own court Friday night.

In a nip-and-tuck battle, the Huskies slowing pulled away from visiting Toppenish 64-58 to break into the win column this season.

Othello (1-1, 1-1) led 30-29 at halftime and slowly eeked away outscoring Toppenish (1-3, 0-2) by three and two points over the final two quarters.

Leading the Huskies attack were Kylee Mollotte who pumped in 25 points and gathered in 14 rebounds, Tiffany Martinez’s 16 points and Joanna Quezada with 11 points.

Christine Kirkwood quarterbacked the offense and registered 10 assists to go along with her eight points.

Connell 63, Royal 30

ROYAL — Getting offensive input from one player isn’t working for the Royal Lady Knights who dropped their second straight contest with a 63-30 home loss to SCAC rivals Connell Friday night.

Royal hung around behind the play of Leslie Brown, who finished the night with 22 points, and trailed Connell 20-9 after the first quarter.

But a 17-0 second quarter performance by Connell (3-0, 2-0) put Royal far enough behind to cruise to the win.

Prosser 66, Quincy 37

QUINCY — After a hot 3-0 start to their season the Quincy Jacks were taken to task by visiting CWAC powers Prosser 66-37 on Friday.

Prosser jumped out to an 8-2 lead after the game’s first eight minutes and eventually built their cushion to 12 at halftime and to 48-27 after three quarters.

“We were expecting a better game since Prosser is a really good squad,” Quincy coach Cully Donovan said. “We just need to come back from this and to do that we need to take care of the basketball and rebound better.”

Marisol Lopez led the Jacks with 10 points and Amanda Misasi had seven points.

“You play a good team like this and it lets you know where you are at,” Donovan said. “Now we know what we need to do and we will get there.”

ACH 72, Odessa 14

COULEE CITY — And the beat goes on.

Almira/Coulee-Hartline improved to 6-0 on the season with an impressive 72-14 win over visiting Odessa on Friday evening.

The Lady Warriors completed their sixth consecutive double-figure win by jumping out to a 16-2 lead at the end of the first quarter which they eventually built up to 36-2.

Kodi Noggles led the Lady Warriors with 13 points while Allison Fox pitched in with 11 points.

Nikki Osborne chippin in with 10 points and collected eight rebounds.