SPOKANE — Not allowing a repeat of last season’s state quarterfinal loss, the No. 2 Mossyrock girls basketball team hounded Waterville-Mansfield on defense all night, and found scoring all over the floor in a dominant 61-24 win Thursday afternoon in the 1B state quarterfinals at Spokane Arena.
Eight Vikings found their names on the scorebook, led by another strong scoring effort from Caelyn Marshall with 20 points, while the defense clamped down after a poor start to allow just 13 points in the final three quarters.
The win propels the Vikings into a state semifinal matchup against No. 5 Inchelium Friday at 5:30 p.m.
“My seniors, and I have a couple juniors as well, that’s been their goal all season,” Mossy coach Autumn Moorcroft said. “They didn’t want to come here and get into the loser’s bracket right away. That win, our first game, we wanted to set the pace early and keep pushing. They came out excited, ready to go.”
Payton Torrey added nine points and 12 boards with five more assists, making up for a relatively tough shooting night with clamps on defense and a strong presence on the glass. Mckenna Torrey also scored nine points with six rebounds, and Hailey Brooks put four shots into the bucket for eight points with five rebounds.
“It was really good,” Moorcroft said. “Caelyn Marshall played really well offensively tonight, hit a couple 3s early. And then Mckenna Torrey had one, Abbie Lovan hit a three. And Payton Torrey, her defense and her rebounding tonight was great. She wasn’t as active points-wise, but she’s a player that when she does other things, it helps the team out that much more, it opens everybody else up to score more.”
Mossyrock will play Inchelium Friday at 5:30 p.m. back at Spokane Arena for a spot into the state title game on Saturday. A loss would put the Vikings into the third-place game on Saturday.
“We’ve watched them a couple of times online, and then we watched them today right before our game,” Moorcroft said. “They’re long and lanky; we’ve just got to make some adjustments but if we play like we did defensively tonight, we have a good chance to get them.”
