Passion, intensity pushes Chiefs to must win

MOSES LAKE — It was a performance rarely seen this season by the Moses Lake High School Chiefs girls basketball team.

Sure they had won 10 times previously and in sometimes convincing fashion.

But this? This was different.

After the Chiefs’ thorough 58-41 win over Eisenhower last night in a Big 9 District Loser Out Playoff Game, Moses Lake players and coaches knew this victory was special on to itself.

They took it personally.

“It was a sense of urgency, back against the wall mentality,” Moses Lake coach Matt Strophy said. “Our pre-game shoot around was the best we’ve had all season. We let them have the music on but they were much more focused and were hitting shots. I felt like we would win before shoot around but after that, they totally convinced me that Eisenhower would have to play their best game to have to beat us.”

Moses Lake (11-11) played strong on the defensive end all ball game, forcing three 30-second shot clock violations in the first half before heading into the locker room up 28-19.

Little did Eisenhower (9-12), who beat Moses Lake 53-50 in December, know that the worst for them was yet to come.

Behind a blistering, in-your-face, physical man-to-man defensive scheme by the Chiefs, Eisenhower were outscored 14-5 in the third quarter and Moses Lake was up 42-24 with eight minutes left and a win in their clutches.

“It was the defensive intensity and maturity of the girls that we didn’t have at the beginning of the season,” Strophy said. “On a scale of 10 I’d have to rate it a nine. I’d still like to see us communicate more but the intensity was different. In the second quarter Eisenhower missed more but in the third quarter the mentality change of halftime was that a nine-point lead was not good enough and we had killer instinct.”

They also appeared to take any little challenge Eisenhower concocted as a personal attack and the Chiefs would counter with a bigger shot, another forced turnover, or crash the boards for another last second rebound.

Jordan Loera led the Chiefs with 20 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and three blocked shots, while Kayla Bernsen added 10 points, nine rebounds, and five blocked shots.

Bernsen returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s loss to Walla Walla in the district opener for another commitment.

“It’s a huge deal since her presence in the game changes things dramatically,” Strophy said. “Because of her height for one it changes how a defense plays us. It also changes our defense since we know we have that presence in the middle if something goes wrong.”

Megan Sutherland chipped in with eight points and five assists for Moses Lake who will travel to Kennewick to play Southridge High School on Friday night.

A win would cement a trip to regionals for the Chiefs, while a loss would force a one-game playoff the next night to determine the fifth and final seed out of districts from the Big 9.

“The keys tonight were their confidence, intensity and they had fun,” Strophy said. “There is a huge difference when a team plays with passion. If we have that type of energy we can beat all of those teams like Wenatchee, Southridge, and even a Walla Walla.”