Sports roundup: Moses Lake succumbs to No. 1 Central Valley

MOSES LAKE — To beat the best, it’s going to take more than one quarter.

Moses Lake scored 22 points in the first quarter and led by as much as 10 points in the first half before top-ranked Central Valley used its suffocating defense to erase the deficit for its 37th win in a row, 51-39.

The Chiefs were held to 17 points over the next three quarters.

“That type of intensity is going to be hard no matter who you’re playing for 32 minutes, but we do need to establish a consistency,” head coach Matt Strophy said. “Of course that type of intensity against a team like Central Valley is going to be tough and they’re going to battle their way through it and that’s what they did.

“I don’t want to say they caught us off guard with their press because we’ve been pressed before, but they took a page out of our own book. That’s something we do to other teams.”

Jamie Loera and Jessica Olson clicked early. The pair combined for 18 of the 22 first-quarter points and made four three-point shots. Loera’s steal and pull-up jumper to start the second gave Moses Lake its largest lead, 24-14.

And then Central Valley began to clamp down.

Led by Lacie Hull, the Bears chipped away at the lead until a three-pointer from the left wing by Kalle Crouch tied the game just before halftime, 30-30.

The 6-foot-2-inch Hull sisters, who have both verbally committed to Stanford, combined for 29 points — a game-high 18 from Lacie and 11 from Lexie.

“When you would try and close out on them they’d go by you,” Olson said. “But they’re just good players. They can shoot, they can do anything so really anything you did they’d figure out another thing to do to go past you or score.”

With the momentum zapped, Central Valley scored the first 14 points of the third quarter to pull away. Moses Lake’s only field goal came from Loera on a three-pointer from the right corner.

The Chiefs got as close as seven points in the fourth quarter before Courtney Carolan drilled a transition three-pointer to push the Bears’ lead back to double figures.

After a 3-2 stretch against state tournament or state tournament caliber teams, Moses Lake will now get into the bulk of Columbia Basin Big Nine play.

“I think that if we come out strong every quarter and we just pump each other up — I think that a few times we kind of fell apart and we needed to come together and if we stay together the whole game we’ll win,” Olson said.

Score by quarters

Central Valley — 14 16 14 7

Moses Lake — 22 8 3 6

Box score

ML — Jamie Loera 17, Jessica Olson 13, Abby Rathbun 8, Maggie Strom 1

CV — Lacie Hull 18, Lexie Hull 11, Courtney Carolan 7, Katie Hawkins 6, Kalle Crouch 3, Mady Simmelink 2, Hailey Christopher 2, Camryn Skaife 2

Wapato 54, Quincy 15

WAPATO — Ivania Chavez led Quincy with seven points in a 54-15 loss at Wapato.

Alysha Donovan added four points.

Wapato was led by Chehalis Aleck who had 24 points and six steals.

Boys basketball

Wapato 85, Quincy 36

WAPATO — Quincy trailed 33-8 after the first quarter and lost big at Wapato 85-36.

The Jacks were held to 15 first-half points.

Men’s college basketball

Big Bend 91, Williston State 72

MESA, Ariz. — Big Bend took home the consolation championship of the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout 91-72 against Williston State.

The Runnin’ Vikes built a 21-point lead at halftime.

All five of Big Bend’s starters scored in double digits, led by Jacob McCord’s 33 points and 13 rebounds. Jai Jai Ely added 18 points and seven rebounds.

South Plains defeated Snow 85-65 in the championship game.

McCord also made the all-tournament team.

Women’s college basketball

Bellevue 54, Big Bend 53

MT. VERNON — Big Bend lost to Bellevue 54-53 in the third-place game of the Skagit Valley College Tournament.

Sunnie Martinez led the Vikings with 11 points and seven rebounds. Kelsey Foster also reached double figures with 10 points.

Host Skagit Valley won the tournament championship against Spokane, 57-41.