Lack of aggression leads to Moses Lake home loss

Central Valley 52, Moses Lake 37; Okanogan 71, ACH 54

MOSES LAKE — Riding a two-game winning streak the Moses Lake High School girls basketball team lost the aggressive edge attributed to it and fell 52-37 to visiting Central Valley last night.

Central Valley (5-3) shot 27 free throws to the Chiefs’ seven during the course of the game, scoring 18 more points from the charity stripe.

“They attacked on offense and I don’t think we did.” Moses Lake coach Matt Strophy said.  “Our defense allowed dribble penetration and we allowed some offensive rebound putbacks.”

Early on the two teams went back-and-forth with the squads ending the first quarter knotted up at 10 apiece.

Kayla Bernsen was an early focal point as Moses Lake (3-7) continually looked inside for the 6-foot-3 junior.

Bernsen ended with 11 points while fighting foul trouble.

At the half, Central Valley snuck ahead to a 24-20 lead that could have easily been a double-figure deficit as Moses Lake missed numerous point-blank shots.

“That’s because of the two to five footers that we did not cash in on,” Strophy said. “We were probably shy 10 points at halftime because of shots we didn’t put in within three feet. We also shot one free throw and that shows we weren’t being aggressive enough.”

Moses Lake managed to tie the game back up at 29-29 early in the third quarter before Central Valley went on a crucial 12-0 run as the Chiefs started collecting numerous fouls, putting some of their starters on the bench for long stretches.

Strophy debated using a timeout during the Central Valley run but decided to use the non-league game as a teaching opportunity.

“We had a couple of kids in foul trouble and we tried working on some rotation possibilities so our defensive intensity was lacking a little bit and that allowed Central Valley to be aggressive and get to the free throw line,” Strophy said. “Those other girls who substitute in need to learn how to deal with scenarios when some of our starters are not on the floor and still maintain the defensive rhythm and balance we had before they got on the floor.”

He also said his squad needs to use those stretches to fight back against another team’s momentum.

“That was an opportunity to learn to play through another teams’ runs and weather the storm,” Strophy said. “We did that at Wenatchee on three different occasions and didn’t use a time out. We need to learn to do that more often so we don’t use timeouts that can be served in crucial, strategical parts of the game.”

From that point on the two teams chipped away at each other but Moses Lake could not make up the deficit.

Jordan Loera led Moses Lake with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Tiffany Morris added nine points and three steals.

Morris received the game ball for her hustle according to Strophy.

“She has really stepped up her game lately,” Strophy said. “Tiffany was well deserving of the award even over the last couple of weeks.”

Okanogan 71, ACH 54

WATERVILLE — A stellar start to the season for the Almira/Coulee-Hartline girls basketball team came to a halt last night as they were defeated 71-54 in the final of the Waterville Basketball Tournament.

Okanagan is a 1A team and according to ACH coach Ben Addink won the game behind solid execution.

“They just came out and took it to us,” Addink said. “It was a good chance to see what areas we need to work on. They outcoached us big time. Our girls were not prepared to play that level of team and its my job to get them ready for the next one.”

ACH (8-1) fell behind 21-7 after the first quarter but managed to cut the gap to 35-25 at halftime and inched even closer with eight minutes left to go, 52-45.

But then Okanagan took control of the game and outscored the Warriors, of Class 1B, 19-9 in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.

Madeline Isaak led ACH with 19 points and Nikki Osborne scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Sarah Gloyn chipped in with 10 points for the Warriors.