MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks (3-7) fell to the Ridgeline Falcons 65-23 at home Tuesday. Despite the loss, head coach Matt Strophy was happy to find the small victories from their game.   

“It's a tough one. Ridgeline is a really good team and program,” he said. “We talked to the girls at halftime about finding some little victories, and we found one when they tried to run this little out-of-bounds play that we didn't know was coming, but we knew it was going to come (eventually), and we defended it really well. I was pleased with that. But again, it's just taking some little victories, and it was tough to find in a 40-point game like that.”  

The Falcons came out hot in the first quarter and took a 25-4 lead. Across the second and third quarters, they outscored the Mavericks 28-14, which helped them close out the fourth strong and seal the win.   

“Our focus now is league play, and so we've got 10 practices to get ready for Eastmont and West Valley, and that's what we plan to do. We'll utilize this (game) the best we can to learn from it and move forward,” Strophy said.   

The Mavericks faced a tough challenge early, as Ridgeline harbored a couple of players with a height advantage. The Falcons applied a lot of pressure in transition and forced Moses Lake to turn the ball over on multiple occasions. This helped Ridgeline jump out to a 25-4 lead heading into the second quarter.   

“Whenever we go up against length, that's tough because we don't have it,” Strophy said. “But there are little things that, whether it's a help situation or a rotation situation or finishing a possession with a block out, we give up eight offensive rebounds for eight second chance points in the first half alone. These are little fixable things.”  

In the second quarter, the Mavericks started to find more opportunities to score. As they began to start pushing the ball up court and executing more effective passing, Moses Lake was able to find a few more scores either from mid-range or inside the paint.   

Though the Falcons pulled back from pressing in transition, they were able to lean on their taller players to prevent the Mavericks from going on a substantial scoring run. Ridgeline managed to outscore Moses Lake 15-10 and held a commanding lead going into halftime.   

During the break, Strophy said he encouraged his players to just find the small victories and finish the game strong.   

In the third quarter, the Mavericks showed gradual improvement on defense. As they prepared for their game against the Falcons, the Mavericks noted they were well-versed in certain things they do best, Strophy said. When they could adjust to what Ridgeline was running, they switched to another scheme.   

“As soon as we showed help on one thing, they slipped the screen the next time down and got a layup out of it. They are really intelligent basketball players at Ridgeline. I felt like we had some good things that we saw on defense. It needs to be more consistent out of all five, every time,” Strophy said.   

The Falcons continued to impose their will on defense and held the Mavericks to just nine points in the second half as they ran away with the game.   

Despite the loss, another bright spot for the Mavericks was Reese Char, who made her presence known on defense and was able to disrupt the Falcons' offensive flow at times.   

“She gets after (it), she’s got long arms, she had a couple of tips and then gets a steal off her own deflection. All the kids, I'm super proud of, that main eight. We've got a main core nine (players) that we're rotating in, and I've been super pleased with their effort,” Strophy said.   

As they look ahead, the Mavericks are focused on league competition picking up. They begin on Jan. 9 at Eastmont with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m. With games beginning to spread out, Strophy and the Mavs are eager to utilize practices to improve on the hardwood.   

“It's going to be staying focused and staying competitive in our own practice so we can simulate the kind of activity we're going to see out of Eastmont and West Valley, because we're going to see some pressure out of those teams. That's why we scheduled a non-conference so we see that type of pressure, hopefully we can give that to each other and better prepare us for those league games,” he said.   

BOX SCORE:   

RDGE: 25-15-13-12: 65
MLHS: 4-10-4-5: 23 

    Addyson Burns (5) looks for a teammate to get open against Ridgeline Tuesday. Head Coach Matt Strophy encouraged his players to find the small victories throughout the game.
  

    The Mavericks’ Maiya Lam (30) presses a Ridgeline player on defense. Head Coach Matt Strophy said the Mavericks improved on defense throughout the game.
  

    Breanna Bischoff (12) analyzes the Ridgeline defense as she takes possession of the ball during their game Tuesday.