Moses Lake girls basketball has solid summer

MOSES LAKE — With a revolving door of players, Moses Lake girls basketball was able to improve its scoring from last summer and put together a solid record.

The Chiefs went to five different camps and finished 23-10 overall, closing with wins in 14 of their final 16 games.

“We return nine players from last year’s team and added Charity Talo, a transfer from Lincoln High School in Tacoma, but we are not last year’s team,” head coach Matt Strophy said. “We worked hard over the summer to establish our own identity, and not be identified by what we accomplished last year. We improved from last summer in every statistical category except turnovers, so we’ll have to make sure we take care of that as we head into next season.”

Moses Lake began its slate of games with Southridge’s Summer League, finishing 6-2 with losses to Columbia Basin Big Nine rival Sunnyside and Kamiakin. The Grizzlies edged with Chiefs by two points, 47-45.

Without guard Jamie Loera, Moses Lake struggled at the Gonzaga shootout with a 1-5 record. The Chiefs matched up with reigning Class 4A state champion Central Valley, losing 39-20.

“We played so much better against CV than the score indicated, but every time we made a mistake, they capitalized. We had some trouble scoring against the top teams, so that is something that we need to work on between now and the season,” Strophy said.

The Chiefs returned to form at the Gonzaga Team Camp. Wins over Kentridge and Lake Stevens highlighted a 7-1 record. Moses Lake’s lone loss came way of Folsom from California.

Moses Lake continued its momentum with a second place finish at the Yelm Tournament. The Chiefs finished 3-2 with their only losses coming against Bethel.

After a tough 43-26 defeat in its first game, Moses Lake met Bethel again in the tournament championship.

Jessica Olson’s 14 second-half points and a game-tying three-point by Maggie Strom helped Moses Lake rally from a 20-point deficit. Talo gave Moses Lake its first lead, splitting a pair of free throws.

However, Bethel went the length of the floor for a lay-up to escape with a 46-45 win.

“We finished second, but more importantly, some other players had to step up and help lead us to the championship game,” Strophy said. “I know that will pay off for us as we get into our season next winter.

Moses Lake closed its summer with a 6-0 record at its Eastern Team Camp, notching wins over Lewis and Clark and Post Falls.

Loera led the team with 12.9 points, 3.5 assists, 6 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game. Olson added 8.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game to go along with a team-high 39 blocks. Abby Rathbun averaged 8.4 points and 5 rebounds per game.

“I challenged the girls to keep working on their own game between now and November so that we can hit the ground running when the season starts,” Strophy said. “It’s up to them to work on their physical strength, ball-handling skills, free throw and game shooting. We’ll all be able to tell come November whether or not they took that challenge to heart.”