Ephrata boys, girls fall to Ellensburg

EPHRATA — Ellensburg High School seemed to run circles around Ephrata High School Friday night during its league basketball games.

The girls game was rough from beginning to end. Left and right, Ellensburg was able to swipe the ball from Ephrata players’ hands. In the first quarter, Ellensburg didn’t hold back, scoring 28 points while Ephrata only managed four.

During the second quarter, Ellensburg slowed down, but not enough for the Lady Tigers to stand a chance at catching up. By halftime, Ellensburg was ahead 45-12.

The third quarter was Ephrata’s lowest-scoring quarter, only managing two points.

By the fourth quarter, it was clear Ellensburg had the game and Ephrata was no match. The Lady Tigers took a tough loss of 18-73.

Alessa Soto led the Tigers with six of their total 18 points of the night.

The Lady Tigers are 3-12 overall and haven’t won a league game.

The Ephrata boys didn’t let the tough result of the girl’s game hinder their eye on the prize. From the gate, the Ephrata boys pushed themselves, but it just wasn’t quite enough against Ellensburg. In all but the last quarter, Ellensburg was able to outscore Ephrata, securing the victory.

The Ephrata boys also fell to Ellensburg, but not by as many points. The final score was Ephrata 52, Ellensburg 84.

Senior Ethan black led the Tigers with 17 points.

“Our effort was poor tonight,” said Ephrata boys head coach Brandon Evenson.

He explained he felt his players had missed some open passes they normally don’t and they were off defensively. He said Ellensburg is a good team, but he felt like his team should be able to compete more with them.

The Ephrata boys are 6-10 overall and 2-6 in the conference.

Box Scores

Girls

Ephrata - 4 8 2 4 - 18

Ellensburg - 28 17 19 9 - 73

Boys

Ephrata - 10 12 16 14 - 52

Ellensburg - 19 15 31 9 - 84