Monster third quarter helps Chiefs pull away from Braves

MOSES LAKE — Jamie Loera dove to the right corner, received a pass and sunk a three-pointer mere seconds into the third quarter.

It was an unassuming start to a ridiculous eight minutes of basketball.

Loera, with her future college coach in the building, scored 18 of her team-high 29 points in the third and Moses Lake scored 33 as a team to increase its lead over Kamiakin from six to 26.

The fourth quarter was a formality as Moses Lake made an early statement the night before the first RPI poll of the season is released, beating Class 3A state tournament contender Kamiakin 84-62.

“They’re the No. 1 team in the 3A so I knew that this was our game to come together and I could even feel it during shootaround, before the game and pregame — it just kind of felt like our game,” Loera said. “I knew that I had to help bring the energy and we had that in the first quarter and even the third quarter so as long as we had energy up I knew we were going to succeed.”

Moses Lake was the more energized team from the beginning.

Active hands defensively caused numerous deflections and steals. Nothing was easy for the Braves.

Conversely, the Chiefs efficiently built a 21-6 advantage after one quarter. For the second game in a row, Kiera McPartland scored seven points in the first, while five other players added at least one basket.

Oumou Toure — a preseason All-State First Team selection by the Tacoma News Tribune — was held to two points in the first quarter, but made her presence felt the rest of the game. Toure scored nine points in the second quarter — 44 for the game — and Kamiakin trimmed its deficit to six points by halftime.

“A lot of it was trying to contain her (Toure) and her dribble penetration,” Morgan Yamane said. “That was kind of the goal — contain her and contain (number) 22 and just be in help.”

Both teams traded baskets to start the second half.

A corner three-pointer from Toure brought the score to 34-28 and then Moses Lake, behind the play of Loera, took over.

Loera drilled consecutive shots from distance that built the lead back up to 12 points. Ellie Mayo swished a three-pointer for a 15-point lead and then Loera, flame-throwing at this point, chopped her feet before a pull-up three from the left wing to make it a 17-point lead.

Loera called for a pick and converted a scoop shot as time expired in the third. A fitting end to Moses Lake’s eight-minute masterpiece.

“We know that basketball is a game of runs,” head coach Matt Strophy said. “We saw it with Chiawana. We haven’t seen it in the other three opponents so we’ve been kind of complacent. Not in a negative way, but we haven’t had to have that type of mentality of back against the wall. So, we still had a lead at halftime, but you’ve got to come out as if it’s either 0-0 or you’re behind.

“You can’t be disappointed. We’re winning at halftime so you have to come out with the mindset of, OK, let’s continue the attack.”

The discrepancy between Moses Lake and Kamiakin was at its most glaring in the fourth quarter. Led by Loera’s five points, the Chiefs had eight different players score. Toure poured in 24 of her 44 points in the fourth quarter and Alexa Hazel ended with 14.

“What did the rest of them have? Four,” Strophy said. “I’ll take that any day. She can score 44 and I’ll take the 22-point win, or whatever it ended up being, every single time.”

Scoring

ML — 21 6 33 24 84

K — 6 15 13 28 62

Scoring

Jamie Loera 29, Madisyn Clark 11, Abby Rathbun 11, Kiera McPartland 10, Morgan Yamane 10, Ellie Mayo 6, Brecka Erdmann 4, Anna Olson 3