Moses Lake takes double-digit win over Eagles
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Junior Anna Olson helped lead the Chiefs in the second half of their win over Issaquah, scoring 17 of her 20 points after halftime.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Moses Lake Junior Anna Olson fights for the loose ball in the first half of the Chiefs win on Friday night at home.
Senior Madisyn Clark fires the shot from deep with an Issaquah player coming in to contest on Friday night at home.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Gabi Rios drives to the basket for the Chiefs in the first half of their 65-45 win over Issaquah on Friday.
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake girls basketball picked up a strong win over Issaquah at home on Friday night, defeating the Eagles 65-45.
Issaquah caused problems for Moses Lake early, taking advantage of its size inside the paint. With the score even after the first at 12 apiece, the Chiefs managed to pull away a bit in the second quarter.
Moses Lake took advantage of missed opportunities by Issaquah, taking a double-digit lead into the locker room at 30-20. Madisyn Clark led the way for the Chiefs in the first half with 11 points.
Moses Lake continued to pull away in the third, picking up where they’d left off to end the half. The Chiefs maintained their double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter, with the score at 44-31.
Able to match the Eagles size and attack inside, Moses Lake managed to keep their distance through the fourth, picking up their seventh win of the season. Anna Olson had a huge second half for the Chiefs, dropping 17 of her 20 points after halftime.
Olson’s 20 led the way for Moses Lake in scoring, while the junior added four assists and three boards. Clark and Meagan Kartstetter also finished in double figures, with 16 and 12.
Olivia Mayo led the team in rebounds off the bench with six.
Moses Lake head coach Matt Strophy said, coming off the holiday break, he just wanted his team to relax and understand it might take time for things to start clicking.
“As long as we weather the frustration that things aren’t working the way we want them to or were going into the break, we’ll be fine,” Strophy said. “We’ll catch back up with ourselves, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”
Strophy said he felt the balance in the balance in the attack, inside and out, as well as the unselfishness of his players was nice to see. The Moses Lake coach said his team isn’t peaking “by any means,” but he feels good after picking up a win against a solid Issaquah team.
After losing their first game of the season to Sunnyside on Friday, Dec. 20, Strophy said he talked to his players about how they would respond.
“It’s all about how you bounce back,” he said. “Are you gonna get back up, or are you gonna stay down, or are you gonna start pointing fingers, which last year, when we were younger, is what we did.”
This season, the Moses Lake coach said the approach has been focused around a “next play” attitude. As the Chiefs head into 2020, Strophy said the main area he’d like to see growth is in his team’s communication.
“If we communicate, it’s gonna solve a lot of our problems,” Strophy said.
The Chiefs fell at home to Central Valley, 60-35, on Saturday as Moses Lake moves to 7-2, 2-1, on the season. After leading 13-11 after the first quarter, the Chiefs were held to 22 points the rest of the game. Central Valley outscored 39-16 after halftime. Camille Carpenter scored a team-high 11 points.
Next up, the Chiefs will face University at home on Friday, Jan.3.
