Mossyrock senior Andee Nelson goes for two points in the paint against Lake Roosevelt at regionals on Saturday.
Toledo freshman Payton Torrey puts up a shot in traffic against Lake Roosevelt during regionals on Saturday.
Mossyrock senior Jenny Brockway looks for open space against Lake Roosevelt at regionals Saturday.
Mossyrock freshman Caelyn Marshall goes for a layup against Lake Roosevelt on Saturday at regionals.
By Aaron VanTuyl
For The Chronicle
LONGVIEW — The Vikings didn’t know a ton about Lake Roosevelt going into Saturday’s 2B girls basketball regional matchup.
“We knew that they had two tall girls,” Mossyrock senior Andee Nelson said, “and they’d play, like, rough, and make us work for it.”
On Saturday, the Vikings just beat the Raiders at their own game.
Mossyrock went on a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter here Saturday and held a big advantage on the boards, knocking Lake Roosevelt out of the playoffs with a 45-39 regional victory.
The win means Mossyrock (21-5) gets another loser-out game on Wednesday in Spokane, with a spot in the eight-team double elimination portion of the State 2B tournament on the line.
It’s the first trip to Spokane since 2008 for the Mossyrock, which won the State 2B championship in 2007.
“I think we’re going to do good,” Nelson said. “I’m just so excited we finally got to state in basketball.”
The Vikings led 27-21 at halftime, but got caught up in a back-and-forth battle in the third and needed a big 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to pull away.
Freshman Payton Torrey, who was among the five Vikings battling the flu over the past week, scored a game-high 18 points and came up big during that run.
Torrey scored to put Mossyrock up 38-36, then cashed in a 3-pointer with 2:45 left to play that put Mossyrock up 45-36.
Prior to that run, the Vikings’ biggest lead had been a brief 9-point advantage in the second quarter.
“I just told them, whoever wants it is going to come out, and execute, and play with some toughness,” Mossyrock coach Autumn Moorcroft said. “And they showed that they wanted it.”
Torrey added eight rebounds, while Nelson scored 14 points — including a long banked-in 3-pointer as time expired in the first quarter.
Mossyrock shot 40% (16 of 40) from the field and, despite its size disadvantage, outrebounded Lake Roosevelt 31-22.
Ellie Hansen led Lake Roosevelt with 16 points and five rebounds. Kyona Edmo added eight points for the Raiders, who finished the season at 14-11.
Mossyrock plays at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Spokane. The Vikings face the winner of Saturday afternoon’s Columbia Burbank /La Conner game, with the winner moving on to face either Tri-Cities Prep or Liberty at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.
