No. 2 Moses Lake thumps Eastmont, moves to 19-0

MOSES LAKE — For the rest of the Columbia Basin Big Nine this season, the only thing worse than playing Moses Lake the first time has been playing Moses Lake the second time.

The Chiefs are 5-0 on the second trip through the CBBN and have allowed on average 27.4 points per game. That’s almost a full eight points lower than the 35.3 average the Chiefs posted through the first six league games.

And against Eastmont on Tuesday, that defense was on full display. Moses Lake raced to a 19-0 lead, allowed six points in the first half and won 53-26.

“We talked about it at halftime; we had given up six points,” head coach Matt Strophy said. “The first three points we gave up are on their pick and rolls where we didn’t execute our defense correctly. So both times we had not major mistakes, but we had mistakes to our philosophy, they scored both times.”

From the opening tip, Moses Lake blitzed Eastmont with an 19-0 run to start the game. Eastmont called its first timeout after Jamie Loera buried a three-pointer from the left wing.

The timeout did little to shake the Chiefs’ rhythm as Loera came back to hit another three-pointer, making the lead 12-0.

The Wildcats got on the board with 1:18 left in the first quarter after a made free throw.

Loera had the hot hand, racking up 11 points in the first eight minutes.

Moses Lake’s offense sputtered in the second quarter, scoring just 10 points. However, the lead still grew as Eastmont could only score three.

“We didn’t play with a ton of energy and I think that was even more apparent in the second half, that we just lacked some energy,” Strophy said. “Whether Tuesday night, or just the score in the game or whatever the situation was, we need to make sure that we get ourselves dialed back in to focus for Friday night’s game and as we head to the district tournament. So we have to have energy for four full quarters.

Despite Jessie Loera picking up her third foul early in the third quarter, Moses Lake executed another 12-0 run and led 46-8. After switching to a zone defense, Eastmont made a pair of three-pointers to draw within 32 points.

Jessie and Jamie Loera combined for 24 points. Jessica Olson added nine.

The second-ranked Chiefs are off to what Strophy believes to be the best start in school history at 19-0. Moses Lake has one game left in the regular season, against West Valley on Friday.

“I know we don’t want it to stop there,” Strophy said. “We want to finish that off on Friday night against West Valley at home to go 20-0. That wasn’t necessarily one of our goals, but now that’s it’s sitting in front of us I know that the girls are thinking about it and that’s something that they’d like to accomplish and the coaches would as well.”

MLCA finishes league play 10-0

WILSON CREEK — Moses Lake Christian Academy girls basketball wrapped up its regular season with a 55-10 win at Wilson Creek.

After struggles in December with injuries, MLCA has won eight games in a row and finished 10-0 in the Central Washington 1B league.

Monday, MLCA routed Thorp-Easton 70-17.

Anna Yarbro scored 30 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Lions.

MLCA opens district tournament play Feb. 17 at home.