Late run helps Chiefs girls blow Eastmont out of building
MOSES LAKE — Snap. In four minutes the Moses Lake High School girls basketball team went from a dogfight to a laugher and it happened so fast that their head coach Matt Strophy didn’t realize it almost an hour after the final buzzer.
“Did we really do that?” Strophy asked after the Chiefs went on a 17-0 run over the game’s last four minutes to put away visiting Eastmont 56-35 last night.
Both teams were involved in back-and-forth action in the first half and the Chiefs (3-6) trailed 22-21 at the half.
“We weren’t attacking enough,” Strophy said. “We had 14 points in the first quarter which is good but then we follow that up with seven in the second quarter and got a little stagnant. Our shots weren’t falling and I think a little bit of fatigue settles in when the adrenaline wears off.”
It was Moses Lake’s first game in 10 days.
Yet the third quarter showed a much more vibrant Chiefs’ attack as they outscored Eastmont 16-4 to lead 37-26 with eight minutes left.
“We went to the 2-3 match up zone that hasn’t worked for us in the past and we executed better than we have in a while,” Strophy said. We switched because we wanted our tallest player (Kayla Bernsen) to defend primarily down low and allow our smaller, faster kids a chance to get out on the perimeter.”
Still Eastmont wouldn’t go away just yet and back-to-back jumpers cut the Moses Lake lead to 39-35 with 4:04 remaining.
After a timeout, the Chiefs’ Jordan Loera nailed a three-pointer to bump the cushion back up to 42-35 and 210 seconds later Moses Lake had turned a competitive game into a rout.
“If you are down sometimes you have to force some things which Eastmont did,” Strophy said. “We also did a lot better job rebounding and it allowed us a better chance to get our transition offense going. We got some lay-ups and a lot of open secondary shots.”
The Chiefs were led by Lacey Padilla’s 15 points, Loera’s 12 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, and Tiffany Morris’ 10 points which include two pivotal three-pointers in the second half.
Moses Lake, and their two-game winning streak, plays tonight at home against Central Valley starting at 5 p.m.
“I’m feeling good about where our team is right now and where we still need to be,” Strophy said. “We still need to work on playing stronger with the ball since we commit a lot of turnovers still. But we are building confidence and that’s important.
ACH 77, Manson 20
WATERVILLE — Tonight may be the Almira/Coulee-Warriors’ first true girls basketball test of the season.
ACH coach Ben Addink expects the Waterville Tournament Final against Okanogan at 6 p.m. today to be a big test for his unbeaten Warriors who blitzed Manson 77-20 on Tuesday night in a semifinal victory.
“I am looking forward to tonight,” Addink said. “They should be a tough team and could put some pressure on us. Our girls are playing well so I’d like to see how we respond to it.”
ACH (8-0) recorded its eighth-straight double-digit victory as they jumped to a 26-7 lead after the first quarter and held a 49-11 lead at halftime.
Sarah Gloyn led the Warriors with 18 points while Miranda Porterfield contributed 14 points and eight rebounds and Madeline Isaak hit Manson for 14 points as well.