Chiefs win third in last four contests
Alan Dale/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Soap Lake's Beatriz Blanco (22) takes it to the hoop in Friday's loss to Bridgeport.
Moses Lake 51, Pasco 34; Quincy 42, Othello 38; East Valley 43, Ephrata 26; Soap Lake 45, Waterville 23; Columbia 61, Royal 34; River View 53, Warden 33; ACH 51, Wilbur-Creston 12; Mansfield 56, Columbia Basin Secondary 15; Sprague-Harrington 68, Wilson Creek 38
PASCO — Winter brings snow and enough of the white stuff on a mountain with just the right push can create an avalanche.
The basketball equivalent of such an analogy may be the Moses Lake High School Chiefs girls basketball team.
After their 51-34 win at Pasco Friday night it may have been the right nudge which helped them turn in arguably their best performance to date.
And they might not be done quite yet.
“We’ve kind of restructured our practice to instead of breaking down too many things in not much time, we reversed it,” Chiefs coach Matt Strophy said. “We had seven practices since the last game where we focused on one thing at a time. We want to beat things into their heads a little more and taper down our playbook while running something more basic and looking for our options out of that.”
Moses Lake (4-7, 2-1 in Big Nine Columbia) led 10-7 after the first quarter and 22-12 at halftime behind a strong defensive effort which was parlayed into a consistent offensive attack.
“For the most part we did a better job at recognizing what was open,” Strophy said. “They ran things more confidently since we had beaten them over the head in practice the day before so they were more comfortable with it.”
Jordan Loera and Kayla Bernsen led the offense with 14 points each and helped keep Pasco (5-4, 2-2) at bay all night.
“It was a solid win more than it was convincing,” Strophy said. “We just played a consistent game. It felt like we were a little better each quarter and it ended up being a 17-point win. It was very nice to see.”
Quincy 42, Othello 38
QUINCY — Nip and tuck all the way, the Quincy Lady Jacks finally held on for a 42-38 Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) victory against the Othello Huskies on Saturday night.
But the win didn’t come easy as Othello broke out to a 14-2 lead after the first quarter.
“We were playing pretty well and Christine Kirkwood came out on fire,” Othello coach Laurie Stickel said. “But in the second quarter we got into foul trouble and had too many turnovers.”
It was there Quincy took advantage of Othello’s rough patch to get back in the game and take a 21-18 lead at halftime.
“Our girls kind of turned it up a notch in the second quarter,” Quincy coach Cully Donovan said. “We ended up getting stops and held them to one-and-done. They have some really athletic kids and we did our best to key on those kids.”
Kirkwood led all scorers with 18 points while Tiffany Martinez chipped in with 15 points and seven rebounds for Othello.
Kirkwood also had seven rebounds for Othello (1-5, 1-5)
Quincy (5-3, 3-3) was led by Dyanna Lopez’s 15 points and Taylor Kunkel’s 13 points.
The Lady Jacks surpassed last year’s win total —four — with 12 games left on the schedule.
“The girls are feeling good about getting some wins,” Donovan said. “They’ve all been close. I think our largest margin of victory is five points and those are games we would have lost last year. They believe in each other and are finding ways to win late.”
Both teams came off losses on Friday with Quincy losing 57-39 at home against East Valley and Othello dropping a 62-59 home decision to Wapato.
Kylee Mollotte (25 points) and Martinez (20 points) led Othello against Wapato, while Quincy’s Lopez led the Lady Jacks with nine against East Valley.
East Valley 43, Ephrata 26
EPHRATA — The Lady Tigers of Ephrata managed only a split of their home games this weekend, dropping a 43-26 decision to CWAC big girls East Valley on Saturday night.
East Valley (7-1, 6-0) built up a 30-11 lead and held on for the win.
Ephrata (4-4, 3-3) were led by Maddie Lotz’s eight points and Mallory Lotz’s six points
On Friday, Ephrata battled back and forth with Grandview before pulling away for a 65-52 win.
Mallory Lotz hit for a season-high 20 points and Ephrata stymied Grandview’s (2-6, 1-5) offense in the fourth quarter, holding them to eight points to pull away for the win.
Abby Smith and Kelsey Yenney both scored 10 points to aid Ephrata in the win.
Soap Lake 45, Waterville 23
SOAP LAKE — It was time for a breakthrough and the Soap Lake Eagles got it.
On Saturday, the host Eagles chalked up their first win of the season beating Waterville 45-23.
Soap Lake (1-5, 1-2) broke out to a 12-4 lead after the first quarter and methodically pulled away from their guests to register the win.
“The difference was that the girls are starting to play together a little bit and our defense keyed our offense,” Soap Lake coach Bill Sarver said. “I was absolutely ecstatic. The girls absolutely needed a win. They practiced hard and played hard and did what they knew they could do all season and it paid off for them.”
Yelena Turchick led Soap Lake with 11 points, while Brittany Ellsworth scored nine points and Samantha Marthini added eight points.
Soap Lake also committed a season-low nine turnovers.
The previous night Soap Lake dropped a 64-37 home decision to Bridgeport.
Ellsworth scored 14 points in a losing effort, while Beatriz Blanco added 10 points for the Eagles.
Columbia 61, Royal 34
ROYAL — The Royal Lady Knights took one on the chin Saturday night as they were beaten 61-34 by Columbia.
Leslie Brown led Royal with 16 points as the Lady Knights (1-8, 0-3) fell behind 20-10 after the first quarter and never recovered.
River View 53, Warden 33
RIVER VIEW — A tough second quarter was enough to keep the Warden Lady Cougars at bay in their 53-33 loss at River View on Saturday.
Warden (1-11, 0-4) trailed 9-7 after the first quarter but were outscored 18-4 over the next eight minutes as the hosts built an insurmountable 27-11 halftime lead.
Warden was led by Kacey Kiser’s eight points.
ACH 51, Wilbur-Creston 12
WILBUR — Following a holiday tournament final loss to 1A Okanagan the 1B Almira/Coulee-Hartline girls basketball team seems to have gotten its groove back.
Behind 35 forced turnovers and 10 of their 11 players contributing on the score sheet, the Lady Warriors cruised to a 51-12 win at Wilbur-Creston on Saturday.
ACH (11-1, 3-0 in 1B Bi County play) also won on Friday at Davenport, 54-42, behind the play of Nikki Osborne who scored 13 points and snared 11 rebounds.
Sarah Gloyn led in scoring with 16 points.
Coach Ben Addink said that it was gut-check time for his Lady Warriors who saw a 26-10 halftime lead evaporate down to a 32-31 margin.
“We were then down by four at the start of the fourth quarter,” Addink said. ““I was proud of the girls with their ability to persevere and turn around and hit big free throws down the stretch.”
The key to holding off Davenport was the play of Carly Martin who quieted Miranda Mielke who led all scorers with 21 points and almost single-handedly handed ACH its second loss of the year.
“Carly Martin completely shut her down in the fourth and got in her grill,” Addink said. “The entire team played good defense to lead the comeback.”
Mansfield 56, Columbia Basin Secondary 15
MANSFIELD — The Phoenix of Columbia Basin Secondary School are still searching for their first win of the season after a 56-15 loss to Mansfield on Friday night.
Crystal Lloyd led Columbia Basin Secondary (0-5) with 11 points.
“We played the best game of the season so far tonight,” Phoenix coach Ashlee Holten said. “We out rebounded and out hustled the Kernals. I’m so proud and impressed by our players’ heart and courage to finish the game as strong as they did.”
Sprague-Harrington 68, Wilson Creek 38
SPRAGUE — Wilson Creek’s Lady Devils fell 68-38 at Sprague-Harrington on Saturday night.
Ksenja Fredere led Wilson Creek with 13 points and Brenna Stevens chipped in with 12 points.
“We were sloppy,” Wilson Creek coach Dennis Treat said. “We were trailing 23-2 before we got going.”
Wilson Creek were harassed into 25 steals by the hosts.
On Friday, the Devils defeated Easton 57-45.
Holly Wilson led in scoring with 21 points while Ksenja Fredere added 13 points 10 steals assists, eight rebounds, and eight assists.
Clarissa Hanson led Wilson Creek with 13 rebounds.
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