Vikings Can’t Counter Red-Hot Red Devils in Regional Loss

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Mossyrock went blow-for-blow with Neah Bay in the first half but couldn’t keep up with the Red Devils’ hot shooting from deep in a 58-40 loss in the 1B Regional round Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School.

The loss means Mossyrock will now play in a loser-out game in the state tournament on Wednesday in Spokane, rather than advancing directly to the quarterfinals like Neah Bay will do now.

In what was a back-and-forth battle in the first half as the two teams traded blows for the entire second quarter, it was the Red Devils who finally caught momentum and carried it with them to the end.

After being notched at 23-all at the half, the Vikings came out of the locker room late and struggled to find the bucket. Mossyrock went scoreless for the first six minutes of the second half as Neah Bay built a 13-point lead (36-23) with three minutes left in the third quarter — its largest lead of the night at that point.

“They’re a really good shooting team,” Mossyrock coach Autumn Moorcroft said. “Even with a hand in their face, they hit a couple deep ones. Not much you can do about that, especially when they’ve got that big girl down low. You gotta choose which one you’re gonna stop, and hopefully you can get both of them.”

It would get no better for the Vikings from there as Neah Bay built a 15-point lead near the start of the fourth quarter, buoyed by four-straight 3-pointers at one point, and fended off Mossyrock the rest of the way. 

The Vikings were outscored 35-17 in the second half.

“The first half, we were right there with them tied up at the half,” Moorcroft said. “But second half, it was difficult for us to get the ball to go into the basket. (Neah Bay) plays really aggressive and we kind of let their aggressiveness get to us a little bit.”

Columbia Valley League MVP Payton Torrey led the Vikings’ offensive attack with a team-high 20 points to go with nine rebounds. Post Hailey Brooks added seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds while Caelyn Marshall chipped in seven points.

Mossyrock will now face No. 11 Waterville-Mansfield in a loser-out match in the opening round of state at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday in Spokane. The Vikings are still in the hunt for a state title, they just have to win one extra game to get there now.