MOSES LAKE - With turkeys and hams eaten and presents unwrapped, it was back to the hardwood for the Moses Lake Chiefs girls basketball team last night.

The Chiefs would wrap up the 2010 portion of their schedule against visiting Ferris High School with the hopes of kick starting a strong second half to the season.

Unfortunately, even though Moses Lake would survive with a 53-51 win behind the 16-point efforts of Jordan Loera and Kayla Bernsen, it appeared that the Chiefs were unable to recapture the rhythm they had built during a strong run of play before the holiday break began 10 days ago.

"You got to give some credit to Ferris for being resillient and knocking down key shots," Moses Lake head coach Matt Strophy said. "The break has a little to do with our play especially with five days off. The way Christsmas fell it made sense to give them five days off."

Early on the Chiefs' offense missed on multiple close-range shots but they kept Ferris at bay. Moses Lake would lead 12-6 on two Sadie Nielsen free throws with just under three minutes left. 

The Chiefs committing six turnovers in the first eight minutes of play, but their slightly better shooting and ability to get to the line helped them hold a 15-12 lead at the end of the quarter.

"Us getting to the line is due to their aggressive style of defense," Strophy said. "That was just their style of play so we took it to them.."

Moses Lake scored five points from the line and had four layups to hold their edge. Ferris shot 4-for-14 from the field while the Chiefs were a solid 5-for-10 with Bernsen scoring eight points.

"The last two practices we had coming back were tough and hard and we saw that it paid off since we definitely came out and played well," Loera said. "Unfortunately we couldn't keep it throughout the whole game."

Second quarter play saw an improvement in ball possession but Ferris' shooting remained on vacation. 

Ferris trailed 18-15 at the 6:28 mark on a free throw by Katara Belten-Sharp, but after that Moses Lake began to get to the line while forcing their guests into 2-for-15 shooting in the quarter and they were able to pull out to a 32-18 halftime lead.

The Chiefs finished the first half shooting 50 percent from the field with a 10-for-20 effort led by Bernsen's 14 points.

"We worked on Kayla using that power dribble, squaring up, and jumping off two feet," Strophy said. "She had a good first half because she played power basketball."

Coming out of the half, the visitors announced their intentions to make things interesting, scoring the first two baskets of the half to cut the gap to 32-22 at the 6:27 mark.

But a Loera steal and layup at 5:28 righted the ship and the Chiefs were up 36-22.

"It is very important to come out strong after halftime," Loera said. "We need to show people that it is our court and we need to show people how we can play."

The teams traded baskets with many more misses mixed in with some turnovers before a Hailey Sieverding jumper at 1:44 of the third cut the Chiefs' lead to 40-31.

A Sieverding trey a minute later then brought Ferris within 42-34.

An ill-advised Chiefs three-point attempt would lead to a Ferris drive and layup before the buzzer and Moses Lake had seen its lead cut down to 42-36 heading into the game's final eight minutes.

The Chiefs shot 3-for-14 from the field in the quarter and committed five turnovers.

The Saxons cut the gap to 42-38 before Loera hit two free throws at the 6:11 mark to bump the lead back to 44-38.

After Strophy called a timeout, Kyleigh Gamez hit a posting up Magie Munoz who hit a layup to give Moses Lake a 46-38 advantage.

"When you needed the two points to stop the bleeding it was nice to execute that pick and roll," Strophy said. "We hadn't executed throughout the game but to come out of that time out it was nice to see that happen when we needed something like that to happen for us."

But it wasn't over yet.

Ferris, who missed their first 10 shots of the quarter got back-to-back treys capped off by Earthman's bucket at the 2:08 mark and the Chiefs lead was at 50-45.

The Chiefs tried to kill the clock but quick shots led to more misses and Ferris cut the deficit to 50-47 on two Sieverding free throws at 1:01.

Moses Lake's next possession came up empty and with a chance to cut into the deficit a Ferris shot was blocked by Bernsen and Gamez caught the ball before being fouled with 18.5 seconds left.

Gamez hit one free throw to give the Chiefs a two possesion lead.

Ferris would hit a free throw themselves at 5.6 left in the game to make the score 51-48.

They then fouled Loera who promptly hit both free throws and the game was no longer in doubt despite Ferris hitting a three-pointer with .3 left to secure the final score.

"It's important to get this kind of game out of our system before we kick into the grind of the league season," Strophy said. "Knocking down those free throws at the end was great to solidify the victory."

The Chiefs shot only 2-for-15 from the field in the final quarter

After starting the game at 50 percent shooting, Moses Lake finished 15-for-49 from the field to finish at 31 percent.

Nielsen chipped in with eight points as Moses Lake ended up with 18 turnovers.

"The most important thing now is to get everyone on the same page and Kayla and I as captains need to pull the team together," Loera said. "I definitely think we'll be back to normal especially after having five days off. In the long run we'll get back in our rhythm."

ACH 70

Chewelah 39

REARDAN - Almira/Coulee-Hartline's Lady Warriors opened up play in the Reardan Christmas Tournament with a 70-39 win over Chewelah on Wednesday night.

ACH (7-1) led 15-5 after the first quarter and then blew open the game with a 22-13 third quarter to lead by 19 going into the final eight minutes of play.

Madeline Isaak led ACH with 22 points, Nikki Osborne chipped in with 15 points, and Sarah Gloyn finished with 10 points.

The Lady Warriors took on the hosts last night in the tournament final. Information was not available at press time.

Manson 35

WILSON CREEK 31

WATERVILLE - Despite a 20-point effort by Holly Wilson, the Wilson Creek Lady Devils fell 35-31 to Manson in the Waterville Tournament Alan Dale/Columbia Basin Herald final on Wednesday.

The loss Alan Dale/Columbia Basin Herald Wilson Creek to 2-5 on the season.