Chiefs end summer basketball 25-14

KENNEWICK - Moses Lake girls basketball wrapped up its annual summer schedule, finishing with a 25-14 record in the month of June.

The Chiefs finished 5-1 in the Kamiakin Summer League and lost in the championship game of the Liberty Lake Tournament to Hermiston, 57-34.

"I think overall it was a successful summer," head coach Matt Strophy said. "I'm pleased with our summer because we maximized our time that we gave ourselves, basically the month of June ... We crammed in 39 games and a handful of practices and teachable sessions and things like that."

Throughout the summer, the Chiefs didn't have a consistent lineup as some junior and seniors missed games due to other commitments.

However, Strophy did have a core group of sophomores that diligently attended every game and practice: Elly Johnson, Jessica Olson, Alexya Sandmann, Taylor Stevens and Maggie Strom.

Freshmen Jamie Loera, Abby Rathbun and Morgan Yamane also saw time with the first team.

"It's frustrating because we don't have everybody there, but it's nice because other kids get a chance to step into roles that might not be their's," he said. "When we're missing some seniors girls some sophomore girls got an opportunity ... But they have to keep that in perspective because if those seniors and juniors are turning out they still have to compete come November."

Loera has impressed early on and scored 19 points in back-to-back games against Shadle Park and Hermiston.

"Obviously having Jamie Loera in that lineup with her sister and McKenna Walker has been a real interesting dynamic for us," Strophy said. "Trying to find another post to go along with Avery Clark who's a two-year starter ... Trying to find that fifth starter has been real interesting."

Rathbun had her best game against Pasco, scoring 12 points and pulling down seven rebounds.

However, the incongruity of the Chiefs roster caused for some up-and-down performances against teams.

After beating Pasco by 21 earlier in the summer, Moses Lake dropped a 34-31 contest to the Bulldogs in its fifth game of the Kamiakin Summer League.

"We can beat Colton five time, six time defending state champs one time and less than a week later with different kids lose and lose handily," Strophy said. "And beat Pasco at the beginning of the summer handily and lose by three because we have different kids."

With most organized team activities done until the fall, Strophy implored his players to work on their skills and strength throughout the summer.

Another deep run in the state tournament will take a fundamentally soun and well conditioned team.

"After our very last game all three teams gathered around and we talked about if this is your last day of summer basketball and you don't do anything until maybe October open gyms or November when practice starts all of this time and all of this money and all of this energy and effort was wasted," Strophy said.

Moses Lake's first team saw 16 girls over the summer while the other two teams had 20 other girls. Strophy said he expects around 60 girls to turn out for basketball in the fall.