SPOKANE — Some may have questioned Mossyrock being given the 1B girls No. 6 seed for the regional and state playoffs.
The Vikings were upset in the district semifinals and ended up taking the district’s third and final regional spot. They then suffered an 18-point loss to No. 3 Neah Bay at regionals on Saturday.
That put them into a do-or-die match with No. 11 Waterville-Mansfield Wednesday afternoon in the opening round of state at the Spokane Arena.
The Vikings answered the call, jumping out to a hot start to zap the Shockers early and ride out a 43-34 victory.
“People kind of second-guessed us in our ranking and where we were supposed to be,” Mossyrock coach Autumn Moorcroft said. “So the girls were pretty fired up to get that win today and at least be promised two more days in Spokane.”
Mossyrock rocketed out to a 16-9 run to start the game, fueled by staunch defense and the offensive output of Payton Torrey and Hailey Brooks. From there, the Vikings were able to cut off all of the Shockers’ comeback attempts, as the two squads had equal scoring totals in each of the final three quarters.
The Vikings overcame a poor shooting, hitting just 30% from the floor, including 3 of 13 from long range. Instead, it was their defensive effort that carried them as they forced the Shockers into 19 turnovers.
“Everybody says the first day everyone struggles with shooting,” Moorcroft said. “So just to win the turnover battle was important.”
Torrey led all scorers with 20 points to go with six steals, while Brooks provided the firepower from inside, tallying 16 points and five rebounds to keep the Shockers honest. The Vikings only had four players score in total, with Abbie Lovan chipping in three and Caelyn Marshall — who was in foul trouble for a bit — finishing with four points and three steals.
“Hailey Brooks did great down low and then my guards had a couple slip-ups defensively but they got on top of that in the second half and didn’t let (Ella Osborne) get hot again,” Moorcroft said.
Now the Vikings will face No. 5 Garfield-Palouse in the state quarterfinals at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday. A win would send them to the semifinals, while a loss would put them in a loser-out game.
“We’ll just take it one game at a time,” Moorcroft said. “(Garfield-Palouse) is a good team.”
