Moses Lake's state trip starts with loss

TACOMA — They started off slow, got hot, but then cooled off for too long and that spelled doom for the Moses Lake Chiefs’ girls basketball team last night at the Tacoma Dome.

A 12-3 third quarter run by the Bellarmine Prep Lions was enough to dig too deep of a hole for the Chiefs who fell 65-55 in the first round of the Class 4A state basketball tournament, sending them into the consolation round.

Moses Lake (15-13) must now win their next two games to be able to play for a team trophy on Saturday.

The Chiefs play Marysville-Pilchuck, 69-59 losers to Garfield, at 2 p.m. today.

If Moses Lake were to win that game they would play the winner of Newport-Puyallup tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.

Against the Lions (19-7), the Chiefs couldn’t overcome a number of turnovers and the physical inside game of Bellarmine Prep as the game slipped away in the second half.

At the start of the ballgame the Lions showed glimpses of what would come later jumping out to a 14-3 lead behind a fullcourt press and physical play.

A Jordan Loera jumper for the Chiefs cut the deficit to 14-5 at the  beginning of the second quarter and would spark a quick 12-0 spurt to start the game’s second eight minutes as Moses Lake took the lead 15-14.

Tiffany Morris scored five points in the run, including a three-pointer which gave Moses Lake the lead.

But the Lions would answer with two interior shots to take the lead back to 18-15 and would lead 28-24 at the intermission.

Morris scored nine points in the first half while Loera chipped in with seven of her own.

In the second half both teams came out struggling offensively, exchanging two points each and the Lions led 30-26 a little over two minutes into the third quarter.

Then came the big run.

Bellarmine Prep would end the quarter outscoring the Chiefs 15-7, including the 12-2 run that would give them a 42-29 lead and Moses Lake would enter the final quarter down 45-33.

During the 17-point quarter, the Lions scored eight points from the foul line and scored on three layups, before hitting their first three-pointer of the half.

Bellarmine Prep would build its lead up to 51-33 on four free throws and would scored a majority of their points on the charity stripe, keeping Moses Lake from mounting any form of comeback.

A Lacey Padilla lay-up with 2:29 left in the game cut the Moses Lake deficit to 57-49, but Bellarmine would continually work the ball inside to get to the line or score more close-range shots to keep the Chiefs at bay.

Loera led the Chiefs with 17 points while Morris finished with nine points, Padilla and Megan Sutherland each scored seven points.

Today’s game can be heard on KSBN 1470 AM starting at 2 p.m.