Girls basketball take two games
McKenna Walker is fouled as she tries to lay the ball off the glass during the game against Wenatchee Friday.
MOSES LAKE - Two home wins for the Moses Lake girls high school basketball team over the weekend has the Chiefs atop the Columbia Basin Big Nine standings with an 11-1 record.
Moses Lake turned back Wenatchee by 6 points Friday, and then got past Eastmont by 4 points Saturday.
The wins give the Chiefs a two game lead over Davis with three games left in the regular season.
Moses Lake 49
Wenatchee 43
McKenna Walker scored 12 points, and Kaitlyn Stevens added 11 to lead the Chiefs to a win over the Panthers. The game got off to the slowest start in recent memory as both team posted just 4 points in the first quarter of action.
But Moses Lake caught fire in the second quarter and outscored Wenatchee 22-7 to take a 26-11 lead into the locker room at the break.
A 14-7 third quarter increased the Chiefs lead to 40-18 heading into the final eight minutes of play, but a 25-9 run by the Panthers put a scare into Moses Lake as Wenatchee came within 7 points of pulling out a come from behind win.
"Both teams struggled out of the gate ... It was not pretty basketball," coach Matt Strophy said. "We strung together solid second and third quarters that were fueled by McKenna Walker and Kaitlyn Stevens, and built a 22-point lead heading into the fourth, but struggled to maintain that lead as a couple of Wenatchee's role players stepped up and made a game of it."
Giving up a big lead in the fourth quarter did not make Strophy altogether happy, but nonetheless, he was pleased with the outcome.
"A win is a win, and I'll take it," he said. "But we need to get better at closing things out late in the game. We don't want to give anyone any confidence heading toward the district tournament."
Jessie Loera added 9 points, Sadie Nielsen had 5, Emily Olson and Selina Koon scored 4 each, and Avery Clark and Carina LeFave finished with 2 points each.
Moses Lake 54
Eastmont 51
The game against the Wildcats Saturday was eerily similar to the game the night before, save for the first quarter which produced at total of 31 points.
Moses Lake led 16-15, and went into the locker room up 28-25 at intermission. The Chief hung 19 points on the board in the third quarter to Eastmont's 7 to increase the lead to 47-32.
But the Wildcats turned the tide by identical buckets in the final eight minutes of action to close the Chiefs margin to 4 points.
"Other than neither team struggling in the first quarter, this was a very similar game to Wenatchee the previous night," Strophy said. "We played really well through three quarters and built a 15-point lead heading into the final quarter, but couldn't sustain it. Offensively, we struggled to finish late in the game, and Nikki Gilbert lit us up for 26. She scored 14 in the fourth quarter, including four 3-pointers. Once again we need to finish games strong, not rest on what we did to get there. We'll make some adjustments and come out ready next weekend to solidify our spot as the league champion."
Olson led the charge for Moses Lake, knocking down 15 points. Loera added 10, Walker and LeFave had 6 each, Stevens, Nielsen and Courtney Kunjara scored 3 each, and Clark, Koon, Hailee Bishop and Alysha Overland finished with 2 points each.
The Chiefs are back on the hardwood Friday when Moses Lake heads to Yakima for a showdown for league supremacy with the Davis Pirates.
If the Chiefs win they wrap up the league title. If not, it could open the door for Davis, but Moses Lake would have to lose out to fall out of first place.
"We still control our own destiny," Strophy said. "And that's a nice feeling to have this late in the season."