Chiefs season, Loera's career, ends against Pups

SPOKANE - One day Moses Lake girls basketball head coach Matt Strophy will have a chance to look back at his program's three staight Class 4A state finals appearance in Tacoma and think it pretty neat.

But for now anyway, following his team's 65-47 loss at Gonzaga Prep in a Class 4A state regional play-in game in Spokane, one could only guess it much harder to think how special four in a row would have been.

"Of course it is disappointing because we wanted more and we believed we had the ability to get more," Strophy said. "But Gonzaga Prep is a pretty good team. We got beat by pretty good team and not some team that definitely had no business beating us."

What he must also come to grips with is the loss of five seniors including Jordan Loera, who's stellar career came to end on the Pups' home floor as the final buzzer sounded on the Chiefs' season.

Loera will begin her collegiate career next year at the University of Oregon.

"We lose Jordan, Kayla Bernsen, Magie Munoz, Tasha Gentry, and Felicia Sanders," Strophy said. "It would have been nice to have gotten these girls a state experience.

"Jordan is a program-changing type of player and when she came in as a freshman she got us over the hump and into the state tournament," Strophy added. "With some of the other good players she has played with over the years, she was one you could hang your hat on. She was reliable, a great leader, and someone that people want to follow. She gives 100 percent effort to everything she gets involved in. She is a hard worker and sets the tone. She is a good person to emulate."

Moses Lake (18-7) fell behind 17-11 after the first quarter in a game that would turn into a physical one as 45 total fouls were called.

"They could have called twice as many fouls in all respect," Strophy said. "They are a very physical team and our goal was to attack and create mismatches. We just had too many turnovers early." 

The host Pups then pumped the lead up to 32-20 at halftime as the Chiefs' offense continued to struggle.

"They are good defending the ball and moving when the ball is in the air," Strophy said. "Lots of our problems were due to us, but many of them were due to them too."

Hoping to make a dent after halftime, the Chiefs saw Prep score the first four points out of the locker room and Strophy called time out at 36-20.

"It's frustrating since we  were able to come out before during the season and make things happen when in the same position," Strophy said. "They stopped us from doing that and extended the lead. They also did it with their two best players out of the game. That is a credit to their depth. We just couldn't get the job tonight."

For the rest of the game the Chiefs couldn't make a dent in the deficit as the Pups would lead by 16 after the third quarter and by the final margin when all was said and done. The Pups outscored the Chiefs in every quarter.

Loera did everything she could to keep her stay as a Chief alive, scoring 24 points but after that the contributions were minimal. Moses Lake's Kyleigh Gamez finished with eight points and Sadie Nielsen added seven points.

Senior and Western Washington University-bound Bernsen was held to four points before fouling out.

"Gonzaga Prep is very good at hiding the poking and prodding and getting people to react," Strophy said. "Kayla's an emotional kid and she did a good time not reacting badly. But she would try to block the ball into the stands and they would call the foul. On offense they doubled her all night long. We had a difficult time incorporating her into the offense."

As an era comes to an end at Moses Lake, Strophy realizes how special the last four years, which include a state runner-up finish in 2009, were.

"Of course we can't complain about the season we had, we had a great season," Strophy said. "We were better than last season where we just peaked at the right time. With the way the post season played out it was just more difficult. There are some real quality teams on the east side of the state."