Bombs away! Chiefs beat Richland when it counts most
RICHLAND - It couldn't have come at a better time.
The Moses Lake Chiefs, three times beaten by the Richland Bombers were set to face off once again with their foil on Saturday night for a chance to either advance to a regional play-in game next week or buy group seating as spectators to watch.
With the Bombers having fell 72-35 the night before in the Big 9 District title game, all they had to do was make it four-in-a-row against Moses Lake and move on.
However, not able to get over their hangover from such a resounding beat down only 24 hours earlier it would be the Chiefs that would take advantage of their opponents' fresh misery to book passage for another day.
The Chiefs defeated the host Bombers 58-41 to advance to Tuesday's state regional round play in game against Gonzaga Prep at 6 p.m.
Maybe the Chiefs (18-6) will see the Bombers players in the stands, since despite winning the season series with Moses Lake, they will only be able to watch others do what they wish they could be doing.
"I couldn't be more proud of our girls and how hard they've worked, but we're not done yet," Chiefs head coach Matt Strophy said. "We enjoyed our victory against Richland in the one game that really counted, but now our focus shifts to Gonzaga Prep."
Moses Lake led 28-11 at halftime and never looked back despite the Bombers' best efforts.
Jordan Loera led the way for the Chiefs with 23 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. She scored 11 points in the third quarter to keep their hosts at bay.
From there Moses Lake got key contributions from Kayla Bernsen, Magie Munoz, Kyleigh Gamez, Tasha Gentry and Sadie Nielsen for evenly spread out key contributions.
On Friday, the Chiefs struggled out of the gate and were tied at 23-23 at halftime against Walla Walla.
But, Moses Lake exerted its power in the second half, outscoring the Blue Devils 34-7 in the game's last 16 minutes to roll to a 57-30 win the final loser out game of the tournament.
"We jumped on them early with some pressure defense to lead 14-5, but couldn't pull away," Strophy said. "They outplayed us in the second quarter with some offensive rebounds for second chance points. We helped off the wrong people and they made us pay for it early."
Strophy did not take kindly to their first half performance.
"We had a game plan going in, but it did not get executed in the first half," he said. "We might have been thinking ahead to Richland . After being tied at halftime, I yelled at them in the locker room and I'm not normally a yeller. We came out in the second half and played with a sense of urgency that we didn't have in the first half. Loera finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four steals, Bernsen added 12 points and eight rebounds, Magie Munoz contributed nine points and five rebounds, while Sadie Nielsen ended up with four points and 11 rebounds.