Young Lions pull away in big win over The Phoenix

MOSES LAKE — A young team in any sport must first find a way to compete, then win, and finally put away teams they are supposed to, in convincing fashion.

The Moses Lake Christian Academy Lady Lions came into Tuesday’s came against local rivals Columbia Basin Secondary School having mastered the first two and left their home gym 90 minutes later with a check mark — in pencil — by the third.

The Lady Lions beat the visiting Phoenix 58-8 in a literal game of five-on-five with no subs available to either team.

“I was pleased with how we picked it up in the second and third quarters but not how we started and finished the game.” Lady Lions coach Bryce McPartland said. “We are usually the underdog and we need to learn how to play from the so called ‘favored’ position. We don’t have that killer instinct at all but I think that comes from being young.”

Moses Lake Christian Academy (4-3) came out and took a 13-3 lead after the first quarter before ratcheting up the defensive pressure and watched as their offense cranked it up another notch to build a 34-5 lead at the intermission.

“They were pretty athletic girls and they were focused,” Columbia Secondary School coach Ashlee Holten said about the Lady Lions. “They played solid offense and defense and play well together. They executed very well.”

The Lady Lions ran the floor looking for transition baskets and open first-look shots to take advantage of their speed and court awareness.

“We looked at ways to push the ball and try to get easy scores which is what we need to learn to do,” McPartland said. “We were very sympathetic to the Secondary school’s position because we were in the same position at ACH in our first game (a 61-6 loss), We focused more on half-court offense in that fourth quarter and wanted to run it against their set defense so we slowed it down.”

Holten used the Lady Lions’ slower tempo to her team’s advantage.

“I feel that in the second half we were able to come down and be able to see a lot more of what we needed to fix because the game slowed down,” Holten said. “It forced us to slow down and get into an offense and our defense. The respect (McPartland) has for other teams really benefitted us in the second half.”

Despite the large lead the Academy held throughout most of the contest, their players continued to focus on running their systems on both sides of the ball and played individually with fundamental intensity.

 “I feel really good about our team’s attitude toward the game,” McPartland said. “We have a very cerebral group of girls who attack the game the way they are coached.”

Freshman Rachel Verhage scored 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and recorded seven steals while eighth-grader Susan Timofeyev had 16 points, 20 rebounds and five steals, and sophomore Abby Garrett ended up with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Holten said she hopes her squad’s numbers bump up a bit in the next few days.

“By next week we’ll have seven players with two girls ready to play,” Holten said. “We didn’t have players showing up to practice over Christmas break. I think as we get these girls coming in I think it will help us out a lot. We’re looking at them for being a breath of fresh air.”

Wilson Creek - game cancelled

THORP — Wilson Creek’s Lady Devils basketball game at Thorp was cancelled on Tuesday night due to the hosts not having enough players to start the game.

According to coach Dennis Treat, Wilson Creek arrived at the gym to learn Thorp only had four eligible players.

No decision was available on if or when the game would be rescheduled.