Moses Lake girls beat both Grizzlies, Cadets

MOSES LAKE - Transfer student McKenna Walker is proving to be a valuable addition to the Chiefs girls' basketball team this season as she is beginning to take over the role of scoring leader for Moses Lake, knocking down double-figures in her last four games.

On Friday, she led the way with 20 points in a win on the road against Sunnyside, then put 19 on the board at home in a victory over Eisenhower Saturday.

Moses Lake 56

Sunnyside 45

Moses Lake got out to a15-9 score at the end of the first quarter and looked to be in control of the game, but the Grizzlies closed the gap to 25-22 at the half.

A 13-10 third quarter increased the Chiefs lead to 38-32, but Sunnyside refused to go away. Moses Lake got a bit more breathing room when the team outscored the Grizzlies 18-13 in the final eight minutes to pull out an 11-point win.

"We jumped out early with our pressure defense and forced the Grizzlies into making mistakes that we were able to capitalize on to build a 12-4 lead," coach Matt Strophy said. "But you have to credit Sunnyside for making adjustments to our pressure to make the game even for the rest of the way. We led throughout the contest, but we were never able to break the game open."

Walker finished with 20 points, Kaitlyn Stevens added 10, Emily Olson had 7, Carina LeFave, 6, Jessie Lorea scored 5, Avery Clark had 4, and Selina Koon and Sadie Nielsen finished with 2 each. 

Kaitlyn scored 8 of her 10 points in the first half, while McKenna had 16 of her 20 in the second half," Strophy said. "But the difference in the game was at the free throw line where we went 12-of-15 in the fourth quarter, and 18-for -23 in the game. That focus solidified the win for us on the road."

Moses Lake 78

Eisenhower 51

The game against the Cadets Saturday was a bit closer in the first quarter than most thought it would be as Moses Lake held a slim 20-15 lead. But a 21-9 run by the Chiefs in the second quarter blew the contest open as Moses Lake took a 41-24 lead into the locker room at the half. Eisenhower played much better in the second 16 minutes of the game hanging 27 second half points on the Chiefs. But Moses Lake knocked down 37 of its own to cruise to the lopsided win.

Olson was high scorre for the Chiefs with 21 points. Walker added 19, Stevens and Clark had 9 each, Nielsen and LeFave scored 5 each, Hailee Bishop and Alysha Overland hit for two buckets each, and Courtney Kunjara finished with 2 points to round out the scoring for Moses Lake. 

"Most teams would be happy with a 27 point victory ... and we are ... but we showed some definite weaknesses in our defense against a team we held to 32 points in our first meeting," Strophy said. "Offensively, we played well. Our free throw shooting wasn't great, but we did enough good things to beat a much improved Eisenhower team. Give coach Chris Cook and the Cadets some credit for coming out and fighting the entire game long. Nothing came easy for us. But having both Emily and McKenna scoring like that in the same game is pretty impressive too."

The wins over Sunnyside and Eisenhower runs the Chiefs record to 9-1 in Big Nine league play, and 12-3 overall, and gives Moses Lake a two-game lead over Davis with five games left in the regular season.

The Chiefs are back in action with two home games this weekend. Moses Lake hosts Wenatchee Friday at 5:45 p.m., and then takes on Eastmont Saturday at 5:45 p.m.