Chiefs go bananas with splits

Moses Lake 55, Sunnyside 40; Wilson Creek 41, Moses Lake Christian Academy 38; Prosser 60, Othello 41; Quincy 55, Selah 47; Manson 45, Soap Lake 28; Kiona-Benton 41, Warden 21; Connell 60, Royal 26; ACH 57, Valley Christian 25; Wapato 58, Ephrata 44

SUNNYSIDE — At least they know they have what it takes to bounce back from a tough loss.

Still, the Moses Lake High School Chiefs girls’ basketball team would prefer having beat Sunnyside 55-40 following an important win the previous night against Wenatchee.

Instead they used the win Saturday night to lick their wounds following a tough 58-50 loss to the Panthers 24-hours earlier.

“It was nice to bounce back especially since everybody got a significant amount of minutes,” Moses Lake coach Matt Strophy said. “Everyone got around six to eight minutes and it was nice to see everyone contribute to us getting over a frustrating loss to Wenatchee.”

Sunnyside stood little chance against a Chiefs squad scorned and fell behind 18-10 at the end of the first quarter and 34-21 at halftime as Moses Lake (7-9, 5-3 in Big 9 Columbia Basin Division play) took control.

Jordan Loera led the Moses Lake attack with 22 points.

“Jordan took over at the beginning and our defensive intensity picked up,” Strophy said. “We used some different traps and presses to get our excitement going. To get off a tough loss is to come out with some intensity. It got up our focus a little quicker than if we would have played half-court defense.”

Tiffany Morris contributed eight points for Moses Lake which saw nine different players get into the scorebook.

The player contribution to the scorebook was disparate from the night before which saw Loera score 32 of her team’s points.

“That was the frustrating thing we dealt with against Wenatchee having no one else put the ball in the hole,” Strophy said. “It was a little bit more spread against Sunnyside but we need to still find more consistency. One game the guards play well our posts don’t, then the posts play well and our guards don’t. We have enough talent to beat Southridge and Wenatchee but we’re missing that consistency of inside, outside, offense, defense.”

Moses Lake blew an early 12-4 lead against Wenatchee as the Panthers’ defense seemed to make a majority of the Chiefs hesitant to shoot.

Wenatchee’s Dani Hallberg didn’t as she poured in 23 points to help her team slowly pull away and keep the Panthers in contention for the Columbia Basin Big 9 Title.

“She’s nice and smooth and not flashy and really consistent,” Strophy said of Hallberg. “There were a couple times she got some open looks but the rest of the time Tiffany Morris was right there. It was solid offense beating solid defense.”

Wilson Creek 41, Moses Lake Christian Academy 38

MOSES LAKE — A road well travelled could end up with a sequel in Wilson Creek according to Moses Lake Christian Academy Lady Lions girls basketball coach Bryce McPartland.

His six-girl squad held victory in their hands against the visiting Lady Devils from Wilson Creek before falling 41-38 in a tough 1B North Central Washington league game on Friday night.

“On the one-hand it was a tough loss since it was our first loss at home,” McPartland said. “But what we’ve shown is that we should be in the mix come district tournament time. The road to state for us goes through Wilson Creek and we should have one more competitive game with them this season. Everything is still possible for us.”

Wilson Creek (8-4, 8-1) completed the regular season sweep of the Lady Lions’ when Ksenja Fredere hit a jumper with a four seconds left to break a 38-38 deadlock. Fredere was fouled on the shot and Wilson Creek rebounded her missed free throw to ice the win.

Moments earlier the Lady Lions (8-4, 4-3) missed a chance to take the lead themselves but an open layup attempt rattled out.

“It was a great high school basketball game,” Wilson Creek coach Dennis Treat said. “Both teams fought hard. We were the fortunate team at the end of the game. Bryce does an excellent job with his girls. We know that we have to play our best when we match up with Moses Lake Christian.”

Melissa Verhage led the Lady Lions with 22 points and nine rebounds.

“Melissa really showed up to play tonight,” McPartland said. “She has really stepped up her game these last three games. She’s played phenomenally well.”

Fredere led Wilson Creek with 21 points, 12 steals, and six rebounds while Holly Wilson chipped in with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five steals.

“The difference in this game is that we got very little production from our post players who seemed intimidated at times of their size,” McPartland said. “They beat us to every loose ball opportunity, they beat us on the boards.”

Prosser 60, Othello 41

PROSSER — Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) toughies Prosser showed their prowess in a 60-41 win over Othello on Saturday.

Prosser led 16-7 after the first quarter and gradually built the lead behind the tandem of Tayshia Hunt and Tamara Jones which combined for 30 points.

Christine Kirkwood had 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for Othello (4-7, 3-7) while Tiffany Martinez chipped in with 14 points.

The loss followed up a 64-44 win over Selah the previous evening for Othello.

The Lady Huskies took an 18-10 lead in the first eight minutes before Selah made a push to cut the gap to 28-23.

Othello reasserted itself in the third quarter to build the lead to 44-29 and they rolled from there.

Martinez had 24 points to lead Othello while Kirkwood finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, six blocked shots, and five assists.

Kylee Mollotte chipped in with seven points and seven rebounds for Othello.

Quincy 55, Selah 47

QUINCY — A three-game losing streak came to a timely end for the Quincy Lady Jacks as they put away visiting Selah 55-47 on Saturday night.

Taylor Kunkel led Quincy (6-6, 4-6) with 16 points, 10 of those coming during the middle quarters while her squad blitzed Selah (2-10, 0-10) to a 31-14 tune.

Dayanna Lopez had 10 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists for Quincy who trailed 17-7 after the first quarter but bounced back to lead 23-21 at halftime.

Class 2A’s sixth-ranked Ellensburg team came to Quincy the previous evening smarting from a Thursday loss at Ephrata and took out their angst in a 55-45 win over the Lady Jacks.

Ellensburg (9-2, 8-2) jumped to a 19-5 lead after the first quarter and held on as Quincy made a second quarter run to make it a 29-24 deficit at halftime.

But Quincy was outscored 13-5 in the third quarter and couldn’t get over the hump.

Deseree Durfee and Lopez each had 12 points to lead Quincy.

Manson 45, Soap Lake 28

MANSON — Soap Lake’s struggles continued this weekend as they dropped a 45-28 decision at Manson on Saturday and a 68-29 contest at Entiat the previous evening.

Against Entiat, Soap Lake (1-9, 1-6) fell behind 24-4 after the first quarter and trailed 37-8 at halftime against their hosts.

“Entiat’s press completely took Soap Lake out of their game,” Soap Lake coach Bill Sarver said. “We didn’t figure it out until the fourth quarter and so we are going to have to work on getting better at handling the press.”

Entiat used a zone defense to keep Soap Lake, led by Samantha Marthini’s nine points, in check.

Mandy Southard had 27 points to lead Entiat.

No other statistics were available from Soap Lake’s game against Manson.

Kiona-Benton 41, Warden 21

BENTON CITY— A 41-21 loss at Kiona-Benton Saturday night put a damper on the Warden Lady Cougars’ shot at a sweep of their weekend schedule.

Following up a 43-33 win at Wahluke the previous evening, Warden (2-13, 1-6 South Central Athletic Conference East play) struggled offensively early, trailing 9-4 at halftime, but staying within striking range at halftime, down 17-12.

However Ki-Be (9-6, 4-3) went on a 13-3 run in the third quarter to pull away for the win.

Kacey Kisler led Warden with eight points while Cierra Torp’s 17 points led the hosts.

Against Wahluke, Warden used a 12-4 third quarter performance to pull away in what was a 20-19 game at halftime.

Kisler led the Lady Cougars with 14 points and 17 rebounds while Emma Bisnett added 14 points and 16 rebounds against Wahluke (0-14, 0-7).

Connell 60, Royal 26

CONNELL — Royal’s Lady Knights basketball team entered the weekend with hopes of qualifying for district playoff competition.

Following a 60-26 loss to Connell on Saturday and a narrow 64-57 loss to Kiona Benton on Friday, they now face an uphill challenge to keep that goal a reality.

Against Connell, the Lady Knights got hit hard early trailing 16-4 after the first quarter and 30-7 at halftime.

Leslie Brown led Royal with 11 points and six rebounds and Maggie Leal pitched in with six points and eight rebounds.

The previous evening, Royal led 34-31 at halftime, but a 15-9 Ki-Be third quarter advantage turned momentum and the visitors pulled away from the host Lady Knights (3-11, 2-5).

Leal and Brown each scored 19 points as they combined for 21 rebounds in the SCAC East battle.

ACH 57, Valley Christian 25

COULEE CITY — It was 13-3 after eight minutes, and 23-9 by halftime as the Almira/Coulee-Hartline Lady Warriors used the quick start to secure a 57-25 win Friday night against Valley Christian.

ACH (14-2) received 22 points from Madeline Isaak while Sarah Gloyn provided 18 points in the win.

Wapato 58, Ephrata 44

WAPATO — Momentum from a program-boosting win the night before was slowed up a bit for the Ephrata Lady Tigers’ in their 58-44 loss at Wapato Friday night.

Only 24 hours earlier Ephrata wrapped up a 49-47 win over Class 2A’s No. 6 team Ellensburg, but succumbed to a 19-4 third quarter that put the host Wolves (9-3, 7-3) in control after they led 33-26 at halftime.

Ephrata (6-6, 5-5) was led by Kelsey Yenney’s 12 points and Mallory Lotz who put in nine points.