Mavericks fend off Panthers in close home win

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks (3-2) held off the Wenatchee Panthers in a competitive 46-43 win at home Friday. After the hard-fought win, Mavs head coach Matt Strophy complimented the Panthers for the challenge they gave Moses Lake. 

“They work super hard. They made us earn everything we got, and hopefully, we did the same to them. I like the energy on both sides, so I'm just glad we came out on top with (Breanna Bischoff) knocking down those two free throws to kind of ice that game. That was really sweet,” Strophy said.   

Moses Lake jumped out to a 16-9 lead in the first quarter. They utilized ball movement and aggressive transition defense to take hold of the lead heading into the second quarter, where Wenatchee began to fight back. By halftime, the Panthers trailed 27-22. In the second half, Wenatchee continued to keep it close, but the Mavericks maintained the lead. The game was tied 30-30 briefly, but Moses Lake pulled away in the fourth quarter behind a couple of threes by Yaretzi Madrigal to earn the win for the Mavericks.   

“That's what she's really good at. She is hard to stop in practice, and so when we give her that opportunity to knock down (a shot) and say, ‘Hey, this is what you do well, so do it.’ Don't come in and be passive; come in and be aggressive, and she was that way. It's exactly what we needed,” Strophy said.   

The Mavericks started fast in the first quarter behind a couple of made threes by Bischoff. Ella Wiltbank also directed traffic to find scoring opportunities either from midrange or inside.   

Moses Lake also hung close in transition and forced the Panthers to earn their way across the court. In some instances, this created turnover opportunities or kept Wenatchee’s offense off balance. The Mavs held a 16-9 lead heading into the second quarter.   

“Everybody wants to jump on the other team right away, see what you can get,” Strophy said. “You've got to credit Wenatchee for clawing back into it after we hit three first-quarter three-pointers, and kind of took them out of their zone for a while.”  

In the second quarter, the Panthers climbed back into the game. They were able to capitalize off some risky passing by Moses Lake and push the ball up the court and score inside. The Panthers rode their momentum to halftime and cut the deficit to five points, trailing 27-22.   

“That's an interesting little balancing act of being aggressive and not being passive, but then being smart at the same time, and so understanding the situation in the game,” Strophy said.   

In the third quarter, Wenatchee continued to force the Mavericks' errors and tied the game 30-30 midway through the period. However, Moses Lake recaptured the momentum after Madrigal knocked down a three-pointer late in the third quarter and Addyson Burns intercepted a Wenatchee pass in transition and scored a layup.   

The Mavericks opened the fourth quarter with a 37-33 lead over the Panthers. After another three-pointer by Madrigal, Moses Lake caught a spark. Wenatchee cut the score to 44-41 with a minute to go in the game. However, moments later, the Mavericks sealed the win with two free throws by Bischoff, making the final score 46-43.   

Despite the turnovers and errors during the midpoint of the game, Strophy was happy with how his players responded to the challenge. He hopes they take this game as a valuable learning experience, he said.   

“We've got to make sure that we use it as a learning experience and not the other way around, where we take some things for granted and we don't think we need to focus on that. We had some costly turnovers, but we did the right things to counteract that,” Strophy said.   

The coach said they will also be focused on being more consistent at putting the ball in the basket, especially when they are getting good looks. They will also use film study to assess which situations are best for being aggressive.   

The results of the Mavericks game against Eisenhower on Saturday were not available at the time of press. Their next home game is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Southridge. As they move further into the season, Strophy said it’s important to keep things in perspective.

“It's one game, and now this game is over. When we play Eisenhower tomorrow, and we haven't seen any of their film yet, so we're going to do some digging tonight and try to come out tomorrow and get some things dialed in before we head down there, but we got to enjoy this for an hour or two and then flush it and move on to the next game,” Strophy said.  

BOX SCORE:   

WNCH: 9-13-11-10: 43  

MLHS: 16-11-10-9: 46 

    Breanna Bischoff (12) and Tristan Raymond (40) get set on defense before Wenatchee passes the ball back into play.
  

    The Mavericks’ Addyson Burns (5) shoots a free throw against the Wenatchee Panthers on Friday. Burns had a transition steal and layup late in the game against the Panthers that helped provide an offensive spark.
  

    Breanna Bischoff (12) shoots a three-pointer against the Wenatchee Panthers. Bischoff knocked down two three pointers early on to help the Mavericks take the lead.