MOSES LAKE — Jamie Loera and Macey Morales — the evening’s point guard matchup — went toe-to-toe.

Morales spun and finished with her left hand over Loera late in the fourth quarter. Loera responded with a leaner.

The pair finished with 16 points each to lead their respective teams, but it was a defensive play that sealed the game for Moses Lake.

Morales, with Chiawana down by six points, drove on Loera again. However, this offering ended up smothered in the arms of the Arizona State commit. On the other end, Loera dribbled into the lane and threw a quick pass to Morgan Yamane for a jumper that pushed the lead to eight points.

Yamane’s bucket stood up as Moses Lake (3-0) defeated Chiawana 45-37.

“I try not to let it get to me because I knew that my defense was in a good place and she was just able to finish,” Loera said. “I knew that just on offense we just had to play together and get our offense going and that’s what we did second half.

“My arms were in good position, she just finished really well. I just thought next play.”

The two programs link up on an annual basis. The series includes a game where Jessie Loera scored a school-record 37 points and a game in the regional round of the state tournament that same season.

Tuesday wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing game, but it was a good measuring stick for two programs with hopes of a rematch in late February or March.

“We’ve got to be able to finish a little bit stronger and not have some mental mistakes, but I think, again, when you play a team of Chiawana’s caliber you’re going to have mistakes and we, again, have some youth that we saw some mistakes with,” head coach Matt Strophy said. “But I’m incredibly proud of the girls for their determination in beating a quality team and doing the things that we needed to do to get the job done.”

Moses Lake held a 14-6 edge at the end of one quarter. Chiawana responded in the second by drawing fouls. The Riverhawks scored 11 of their 16 second-quarter points from the free throw line and took a 22-20 halftime lead after Morales drilled a three-pointer with time winding down.

As the back-and-forth nature of the game would suggest, Moses Lake upped its aggressiveness to start the third quarter. Abby Rathbun made two trips to the line and scored five quick points to highlight a 10-2 spurt.

“We came out and we got that ball moving and that’s the key thing to that,” she said. “I knew what my job was and since they were getting calls all game long for driving I was like if we can get that ball moving we can get them off rotation then we can start driving and get those fouls back for us and get this game turned around and get it going our way.”

Chiawana crept back to within six points near the end of the third quarter before a three-pointer by Ellie Mayo and a lay-up on a stolen inbounds pass by Loera pushed the lead up to 11 points — the largest of the night.

“I was trying to get their offense a little off,” Loera said. “I just was trying to get hard defense and I knew it was kind of frustrating them a little bit so it finally clicked and I got the ball back.”

Score by quarters

ML — 14 6 19 6 45

C — 6 16 6 9 37

Scoring

Loera 16, Rathbun, 7, Clark 6, Mayo 6, Yamane 6, McPartland 2, Carpenter 2

Boys basketball

Moses Lake 64, Chiawana 48

PASCO — Moses Lake (1-2) picked up its first win of the season, beating Chiawana 64-48.

The Chiefs led by 17 points through three quarters.

Zach Phillips totaled 28 points and seven rebounds. Evan McLean and Dax Lindgren added 13 and 13 points, respectively.

“It’s early, but still our expectations are way higher,” head coach John Hohman said. “And I think the players’ expectations are higher.”

Girls bowling

Eisenhower 4, Moses Lake 0

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake (2-3) was swept by Eisenhower, 4-0.

Eisenhower topped 800 pins in both games and edged Moses Lake in the two Baker games as well.

Cassidy Nelson and Kerisa Sanislo recorded a 152 pins each in the first game, but the Cadets won 801-732. Maddy Garza produced 161 pins in Game 2, also won by the Cadets 895-730. Lexy Santiago (232) and Sam Hugill (200) led Eisenhower.

Eisenhower won both Baker games 157-147 and 170-161.