Chiefs' surprising state tourney run continues tonight

TACOMA — Their first two trips to state came over the 2007-08 and 2008-2009 seasons.

However for the Moses Lake High School Chiefs’ girls basketball team, this third and most recent collection of state-bound hoopsters may be coach Matt Strophy’s greatest accomplishment yet.

Moses Lake begins their bid for state hardware tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the Class 4A tournament’s first round against Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma.

Strophy first two squads were almost considered 4A state royalty. With future college players dotting the roster and a young talent of Jordan Loera added to the mix, the Chiefs finished strong back-to-back runs of finishing second (2008) and sixth (2009) to become one of the state’s elite programs.

Then came the personnel losses — Carly Noyes (Washington State University) and Chayla Hirz (Big Bend) to name a few — and this season many questions popped up regarding the newest edition of girls basketball at Moses Lake High School.

Loera now a heavily recruited junior would team up with Connell transfer, 6-foot-3 junior Kayla Bernsen, and returning seniors such as Tiffany Morris, Megan Sutherland, and Lacey Padilla, who may have had varsity experience but were now expected to step up as main contributors.

“I was concerned with our ability to score,” Strophy said. “Other than Jordan we lost all of our offensive weapons to where we had to find others to fill those roles and if we don’t it’s pretty easy to put two people on Jordan. Our key was to find girls who could score for us.”

After a slow 1-6 start against one of the tougher non-conference schedules around, the Chiefs were now ready for Big 9 Columbia Division league play and found a way to go 8-4 and finish third.

Still, their four losses came against the only other two winning programs in the Columbia — Wenatchee and Southridge.

“It was frustrating that we couldn’t get over the hump with the top teams in the division,” Strophy said. “We could beat the teams we should but we weren’t getting the job done against teams we would be competing with.”

So going into the District Tournament many expected the Chiefs may not even get out of the field even with five bids to Regional available.

Not so fast.

After an opening round loss to Walla Walla, Moses Lake (15-12) ran out to a win over Eisenhower, and consecutive victories over their first two opponents with winning records — Southridge and Richland — to advance to the Regional Tournament last week.

“I’m thinking we definitely have an opportunity here to do something special,” Strophy said. “Things were coming together at the right time.”

From there they once again started the tournament with a loss — to Lewis and Clark — but bombed Southridge and gained revenge over Walla Walla to up their post season record to 5-2, going 4-0 in elimination games, and qualify for a state berth many didn’t believe would be possible.

“It’s amazing especially because you feel it was going to be a season-long process,” Strophy said. “Then it was about being back-against-the-wall and we had to mature faster. We thought it would take the first 20 games for us to mature but it didn’t. It happened over those last seven games. Let’s play our best basketball at the end of the season and that’s what we are doing.”

This season-long journey now continues tonight against an athletic Bellarmine Prep squad which enters the contest coming off of a 72-67 Regional Final loss to unbeaten Auburn-Riverside on Friday night.

The Lions (18-7), Strophy said, employ a full-court man press and are “very up tempo” with a dribble attack predicated on opening up their offense for three-point shots.

“We must take care of the ball and have no unforced turnovers,” Strophy said. “We have to be patient and play under control by slowing the pace of the game to our liking. It’s important for us to execute our offenses and take shots within rhythm of the offense.”

It will also be vital for Moses Lake to get back on defense to avoid allowing the Lions to get out and run as they aim for easy transition baskets.

“We need to also block out, rebound, and communicate,” Strophy said.

The Chiefs will play either Marysville-Pilchuck (17-6) or Garfield (14-9) on Thursday. The losers of the Chiefs’ game and the Marysville-Pilchuck-Garfield contest would tip off in the consolation bracket at 9 a.m. while the winners would match up in the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m.

Regardless of what happens the party crashing Chiefs plan on sticking around long enough to make people regret not ever considering them for a presumed invitation from the get-go.

“The girls are excited to be going to state for the third year in a row, but they are not content just to be there either,” Strophy said. “We have a favorable quarter bracket, and if we play the way we are capable of playing, then we can make it to Saturday.  We have the experience of being there, and our routines will remain the same.  We want the girls to enjoy the experience, but we’re there for business.”

A look at the Bellarmine Prep Lions

Record: 18-7

Leading Scorers: Mechela Barnes (16.8 ppg), Sarah Hartwell (13 ppg), and Simone Potts (9.3 ppg).

Leading Rebounders: Potts (7.3 rpg), Barnes (7.1 rpg), and Jadea Brundridge (5.8 rpg).

Leading Assists:  Grace Beardemphi (3.6 apg).

Leading Steals: Barnes (2.7 spg) and Hartwell (2.6 spg).

Useful information: Won seven straight games before the loss to Riverside by an average margin of over 23-points per outing…Lost season opener to Moses Lake rivals Southridge 57-45. The Chiefs have won their last two encounters against Southridge heading into the tournament…Both the Chiefs and Lions were beaten by Gonzaga Prep out of Spokane…The Lions’ three-point shooting is subpar, hitting only 102 of 354 attempts this season.