Bears end Chiefs' unbeaten run for second time in three seasons

TACOMA — Moses Lake did everything it was supposed to do against top-ranked and undefeated Central Valley.

Except score enough points.

For the second time in three seasons, Central Valley ended Moses Lake’s undefeated season at the state tournament. This time it came in the state semifinals 51-33.

The Chiefs had played the Bears respectably the last two seasons, losing games by 8 and 12 points. But this iteration of CV was something different entirely.

“I think the fact that they’re on a mission from last season’s loss (to Bellarmine Prep in the state quarterfinals),” head coach Matt Strophy said. “So, I think they’ve stepped up their entire game offensively and defensively and I’m really proud of our defense. We held them to 51 points — that’s their season-low — and we worked our rear-ends off to get there.”

Behind seven first-quarter points from Jamie Loera, Moses Lake led most of the first eight minutes and the opening quarter ended in a 13-13 tie. Loera scored a team-high 16 points with eight rebounds, however, no other Chief had more than five points.

Central Valley started the second quarter with a 7-0 burst, taking the lead for good on a Lacie Hull breakaway lay-up.

The Stanford-bound Hull twins, Lexie and Lacie, for the most part were held in check. Lacie Hull led the Bears with 13 points while Lexie had 10.

It was the equal contributions of fellow starters Hailey Christopher and Camryn Skaife that widened the margin. Christopher scored 10 points, including a 3-point play at the end of the first half that stretched the Bears’ lead to nine points. Skaife scored all eight of her points in the third quarter, banging home two 3s that increased Moses Lake’s deficit to 12 points.

Moses Lake returns to the 3rd/5th place game tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. against the loser of Woodinville and Eastlake.

“That’s going to be the mission for our group as coaches as well as players — is our ability to regroup after dealing with adversity that we haven’t had to deal with yet this year being our first loss,” Strophy said. “And then how are we going to come out tomorrow morning and deal with it.”

Score by quarters

ML -- 13 8 7 5 33

CV -- 13 17 13 8 51

Scoring

Jamie Loera 16, Abby Rathbun 5, Madisyn Clark 3, Morgan Yamane 3, Kiera McPartland 2, Brecka Erdmann 2, Kendyl Crum 2