Moses Lake girls return from Walla Walla

WALLA WALLA -The Chiefs continue to perform well in summer league basketball as the team won three games at the Walla Walla tournament last weekend to improve its record to 9-7.

Moses Lake beat Kamiakin and LaGrande on Friday, lost to Walla Walla in game three Saturday morning, defeated Hermiston Saturday afternoon, then lost to Chiawana in the fifth game of the tournament.

"It was another solid weekend for the Chiefs.  We beat the teams we should've, and competed with the teams during our losses," coach Matt Strophy said. "The girls are continuing to improve and believe they can compete with anyone they run up against. They know there is work to be done, and they are willing to put in their time over the summer to get where they want to be."

Moses Lake 36

Kamiakin 30

 Emily Olson pumped in 11 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out two assists to help lead the Chiefs to victory over the Braves.

Kaitlyn Stevens added seven points and four boards, Jessie Loera contributed six points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Carina LeFave knocked down six points, and Avery Clark had a game high 13 rebounds in the winning effort.

"This was a great win against a quality opponent to start off the tournament," Strophy said. "We were down by five at halftime but the girls kicked our offense into gear in the second half, outscoring them 28-17. I was really proud of our defense throughout the game, especially our rebounding efforts. Avery Clark was a beast on the boards."

The game could've been a blowout, but the Chiefs struggled at the charity stripe hitting just three of 16 free throws.

Moses Lake 29

LaGrande 11

The Chiefs made it two in a row with an 18 point win over LaGrande. Loera led the offensive attack for Moses Lake with nine points. LeFave added six points and Kaitlyn Stevens finished with three points and nine rebounds.

"This was a decent win against a young team from a small Oregon school," Strophy said. "But it gave us an opportunity to work on some things as a team, which is nice. However, it did show us we have quite a bit of work to do to get where we want to be.  We don't just want to be better than our opponents, we want to be a good team that plays consistently well no matter who the opponent is."

Walla Walla 42

Moses Lake 30

Moses Lake suffered its first loss of the tournament against the host Blue Devils. The game was close in the first half of action as the score was knotted up 19-19 at intermission. But Walla Walla was able to make the needed adjustments in the second half of play to pull out a 12 point win. Lorea and Olson dropped in nine points each for the Chiefs.

"The girls played a solid first half against a team that should compete for pre-season top 10 rankings," Strophy said. "They have a 6'3" post that is a three-year varsity player who altered a number of our shots.  I liked how offensively aggressive we were, but we have to find a way to score without going right at their shot blocker."

Strophy said the team struggled with Walla Walla's flex offense in the second half and that was the difference in the ball game. 

"They executed it well and took shots when we made mistakes," he said. "Walla Walla was playing aggressive and we fouled to put them on the free throw line where they finished us off. So, we'll spend more of our off-season working on our lateral quickness to limit our opponent's ability to dribble penetrate."

Moses Lake 57

Hermiston 13

The Chiefs got back on the winning track with a blowout victory over Hermiston. Madison Tudor was the leading scorer for Moses Lake with nine points. Alysha Overland added eight points and five rebounds. Olson finished with seven points

"We ended up playing Hermiston's JV team as the varsity squad was in a tournament in Portland. But a win is a win," Strophy said. "They had some decent players, but they were definitely not a varsity level team."

Chiawana 32

Moses Lake 29

Moses Lake came oh so close to pulling out its fourth win in the five-game tournament, but ended up dropping the game by three points.

Loera led the Chiefs charge once again with five points and three rebounds. Tudor added five points, and Olson finished with four points and five boards in the losing effort.

"This was a fun game for the girls to be a part of," Strophy said. "We had the lead early, but our free throw shooting (2-of-8) in the first half kept us from keeping the lead at the half."

Chiawana led 16-15 at intermission. Moses Lake held the Riverhawks to just two field goals in the first 16 minutes of action, with both coming in the last four minutes of the half.

"Unfortunately, we put them at the free throw line too many time during the game (14 of their 32 points came from the charity stripe)," Strophy said. "But on the flip side, only nine of our points came from the line, where we shot a dismal 9-for-19. That's where the game was won and lost."

The Chiefs are back on the hardwood when the team heads east to attend the Gonzaga team camp June 23-26.

Moses Lake returns home for a week of practice before hitting the road once again to take part in the Liberty Lake Tournament July 5-7.