MOSES LAKE – Berths to the 2023 state basketball tournament are on the line for both the Moses Lake Christian Academy/Covenant Christian School’s boys and girls basketball squads on Thursday night, as they prepare to play in their respective district title games at Wenatchee High School.

MLCA/CCS Girls

Having earned the No. 1 seed in the Central Washington 1B tournament, the Lions only needed one win to advance to Thursday's title game. Their 62-20 over Entiat marked MLCA/CCS’s 13th straight win and punched its ticket into the district championship.

Senior Kali Kast led the Lions with 21 points, 10 of which came in the first quarter. Fellow senior Makiya Kast scored 15 points in the win, connecting on two first-quarter three-pointers.

“It didn’t start too fast for us (against Entiat), the first few minutes we were struggling to find our way offensively and then it just broke open from there,” MLCA/CCS girls basketball Head Coach Josh Kast said. “Makiya (Kast) knocking down a few threes, and then Kali (Kast) gets some stuff inside. We had a good inside-out duo with that in the first quarter.”

The MLCA/CCS girls will match up with Waterville-Mansfield in the Central Washington 1B district finals, having defeated the Shockers twice already this season; a 53-41 win on Dec. 16 and a 39-35 win on Jan. 20.

“Between last year and this year we’ve played five games against them, and each one of them have been within 12 points,” Kast said. “Really competitive games. Waterville is always ready to play. They’ve got good shooters on the outside that you’ve really got to keep track of and not let get open shots.”

After an early exit from last year’s Girls 1B State Tournament, the Lions are looking to return to state this season.

“We were a nine seed going into state last year and got upset in the round of 16,” Kast said. “I told the girls that everything happens for a reason – it wasn’t our time, you learn from it. We lost to the No. 16 seed last year, so that hurt. I think the girls have learned from it, they’ll be ready for that no matter what our seed is.”

The Lions and Shockers will tip off at 6:30 p.m. at Wenatchee High School on Thursday.

“We’ve talked about it all season long, and in the off-season, about how we need to handle those situations differently in the future,” Kast said. “I definitely expect us to have a better mindset going into the playoffs here.”

MLCA/CCS Boys

The MLCA/CCS boys had to play two games to reach the Central Washington 1B title game, first defeating Thorp 84-20 before taking down Soap Lake 64-53 last Friday.

Up 39-37 after the third quarter, the Lions outscored Soap Lake 25-16 to ride out to a win. Junior Jonah Robertson led MLCA/CCS with 18 points, closely followed by senior Jeff Boorman with 17 points. Both Robertson and Boorman connected on two three-pointers in the fourth quarter of the win over the Eagles.

“I really think it was a good statement win,” MLCA/CCS boys basketball Head Coach Emerson Ferguson said of the win over Soap Lake. “We jumped out on them, which is what we like to do with anybody. I felt it was a very strong win for us mentally and it gets us back to (our mentality of) ‘Hey, this is what we expect to do – we expect to win by double digits, we don’t expect to skate by.’ It was good for our mental approach and our confidence.”

Standing between a ticket to the state playoffs is Riverside Christian, who already defeated the Lions once this season in a 56-55 win on Jan. 31. MLCA/CCS’s other matchup was another close game, a 55-53 win on Jan. 6.

The loss to Riverside Christian was MLCA/CCS’s only league loss this season.

“Both games we just had spurts where we unfocused and weren’t doing what we needed to do,” Ferguson said. “We know we need to stay focused and play a full four quarters.”

After back-to-back wins to open up the postseason, the Lions will get reinforcements when junior Caleb Jones returns to the lineup. Freshman James Robertson returned for the postseason after missing “three or four” games with an injury.

“The hope is that we come out and start strong, start fast and just have a big lead and keep it that way,” Ferguson said. “That’s definitely what we’re aiming to do, and if we can do that I know for sure that we’ll be successful.”

The Lions tip off against the Crusaders at 8:15 p.m. at Wenatchee High School on Thursday.

“The big thing is they understand that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a blowout,” Ferguson said. “It’s going to be an all-out battle. When it comes to these types of playoff games, that’s usually what it is. Both teams are here for a reason, and they know that it’s going to be a battle from start to finish.”

“There’s more at stake now,” Ferguson said. “That’s the biggest thing that changes.”

Ian Bivona can be reached via email at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.