Chiefs drop district opener

Walla Walla 54, Moses Lake 37; ACH 68, Wellpinit 51; Moses Lake Christian Academy 33, Mansfield 19; East Valley 58, Ephrata 37; Wapato 39, Quincy 28

WALLA WALLA — Now things get a little tougher for the Moses Lake High School Chiefs’ girls basketball team.

A poor second half were enough to doom Moses Lake (10-11) to a 54-37 district playoff opening loss on Saturday night and force the Chiefs to have to win two games this week just to qualify for the Regional tournament.

Moses Lake hosts Eisenhower (9-12) in a consolation loser-out play-in semifinal Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.

Walla Walla (14-7) only led 22-18 after the first half despite Moses Lake’s poor play.

“We did not have a good first half offensively,” Moses Lake coach Matt Strophy said. “We had turnovers on our first four possessions and gave up a lot of offensive rebounds that gave them opportunities to keep the lead. We played poorly in the first half but were still down only four at halftime.”

Yet things didn’t improve in the second half as their poor shooting continued and Walla Walla found a way to pull away in front of the home crowd.

“Unfortunately it didn’t get any easier for us on offense,” Strophy said. “It was 50-50 of Walla Walla playing good defensively and us not having a good fluency. We also forgot how to run plays we’ve been running for eight years and that was frustrating.”

Moses Lake’s Jordan Loera led the Chiefs with 16 points while Tiffany Morris added 10 points.

“Walla Walla didn’t do anything we didn’t expect,” Strophy said. “We executed things the way we wanted to in the first half but then in the second half it was like we just forgot the game plan and their lead gets bigger and bigger as we go along.”

ACH 68, Wellpinit 51

DEER PARK — A 1B state bid is in the bag.

The third-ranked Almira/Coulee-Hartline Lady Warriors (19-3) took apart Wellpinit (9-13) Saturday in the semifinals of the District 7 Basketball Tournament at Deer Park High School.

ACH play fourth-ranked Columbia-Hunters (21-3) in the tournament final on Saturday but both teams are already assured a trip to Yakima regardless of the outcome.

“We go to state and with a top seed I believe,” ACH coach Ben Addink said. “It should be a tough game against Hunters and it will be fun to see where we stand against them.”

ACH built up a 37-26 lead by halftime and never looked back behind the 19 points and 12 rebounds of Nikki Osborne and the 13 points each from Madeline Isaak and Sarah Gloyn.

“We got good contributions from bench players and starters,” Addink said. “We got an early lead and just went from there.”

Moses Lake Christian Academy 33, Mansfield 19

MANSFIELD — A tough defensive struggle was just what the basketball doctor ordered for the Moses Lake Christian Academy Lady Lions on Friday night.

The young Academy squad relied on their defense to compensate for their inconsistent offense in defeated hosts Mansfield 33-19 to clinch third place in the 1B North Central Washington league and a district playoff opener against second-place Wilson Creek (11-6) today at noon at Wenatchee High School.

“We pulled it out and spoiled Senior Night in Mansfield,” Lady Lions coach Bryce McPartland said. “This was a brawl, where although we pulled fairly steadily away we never felt comfortable until the final buzzer.”

The Lady Lions (X) led 15-6 at halftime and pulled away methodically over the second half.

“We knew going in that this one was going to be rough,” McPartland said. “The first game at our place was a street fight and there was no reason to believe this would be anything less. We were able to overcome exceedingly poor free throw shooting going only 5 for 18 in the game. Fortunately, this game did not come down to free throws.”

Susan Timofeyev led the Academy with 17 points while Rachel Verhage added seven points, 13 rebounds and four steals.

“The girls played excellent defense all game long,” McPartland said. “Holding a team like Mansfield to six first-half points was phenomenal. Mansfield easily has the best collection of pure-athletes in the league.”

East Valley 58, Ephrata 37

YAKIMA — Ephrata’s Lady Tigers remain in fifth place in the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) despite a tough 58-37 loss at undefeated league leaders East Valley Friday night.

Kaylah Gonzales hit seven three-pointers for East Valley to keep Ephrata (10-8, 9-7) at bay.

The Tigers trailed 33-25 after three quarters before the host Red Devils broke away behind a big fourth quarter.

Abby Smith led Ephrata with 16 points, while Heidi Buchert led the Lady Tigers on the boards with eight rebounds.

Wapato 39, Quincy 28

QUINCY — Despite a 39-28 loss to Wapato on Saturday night, the Quincy Jacks have positioned themselves for a place in the upcoming CWAC district tournament.

Currently Quincy (8-10, 6-10) is in a tie with Othello for sixth and seventh place with the Lady Huskies holding the tiebreaker and a chance to host the opening playoff game between the two teams.

Against Wapato, Quincy jumped to an early 10-4 lead before their offense went stale and the visiting Wolves pulled away.

Quincy was led by Dayanna Lopez’s 11 points and nine rebounds while Marisol Lopez added 14 rebounds in the loss for the Lady Jacks.