Moses Lake girls fourth in Snohomish

SNOHOMISH - The Chiefs opened their summer basketball schedule in fine fashion as they placed fourth out of 24 teams that participated in tournament play at Snohomish High School over the weekend. Moses Lake beat Mt. Vernon 59-20 in game one, got by Jackson 36-35 in overtime in game two, then defeated Marysville 41-37 in a quarterfinal match up. All three games took place on Saturday. The Chiefs lost to Woodinville 40-34 in a semifinal game Sunday morning, then wrapped up tournament play with a 58-44 loss to Blanchet for third and fourth place.

"For an opening weekend and only four practices before playing our first game, I am really proud of how the girls played," coach Matt Strophy said. "Due to graduation on Saturday, we were missing some of our returning players, but some of the younger girls stepped up and helped us. Even with our success this weekend, we were able to identify some areas of concern (controlling the tempo and turnovers), and our plan is to work on them before we head to our summer league games on Thursday at Kamiakin High School, and the Gonzaga Shootout Tournament Friday-Sunday."

McKenna Walker led the scoring for the Chiefs at the two-day tournament with 57 points. Emily Olson scored 51, and Jessie Loera finished with 46.

Twenty-four JV teams also took part in the competition at Snohomish.

"Our JV team struggled throughout the weekend, winning one and losing three," Strophy said. "Their schedule was very tough as they were playing experienced JV teams. Only one of our nine players have high school experience."

Making up the Chiefs squad were Mikayla Chavez, Atta Dieng, Elly Johnson, Cassidy Mackey, Jessica Olson, Taylor Stevens, Maggie Strom, Brianna Webb, and Kayla Byers.