Mavs set to bounce back this season

Dec. 3—MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks girls basketball team is getting back on the court this week and is setting its goals for what it hopes to accomplish this season. Mavs head coach Matt Strophy said the team is striving to bounce back after a tough end last season.

"We had our fair share of struggles. We had a solid league, take a look at Davis High School as the state champions last year and they returned just about everybody," said Strophy. "I know when it came to win-loss record, it was not what we are used to at Moses Lake High School for girls' basketball, so it was challenging for sure."

The Mavs concluded last season with a 7-13 overall record and took sixth in the Big 9 league, which put them on the road against Eastmont for the entry round into districts. The Mavs would put up a fight but would be eliminated from the postseason following that game.

The results of last year's season taught the Moses Lake High School squad two important lessons, Strophy said. The first was that just wearing the Moses Lake uniform doesn't guarantee wins; they have to work hard and earn that success.

"I think that's the main thing that we learned this offseason is we have to put in that work," he said.

In June, the girls did their typical summer basketball work, but in July, they continued working and would head into the gym after Lake Lifts to get some individual training, whether that be ball handling, shooting or strength and conditioning exercises, said the coach.

The second lesson the Mavs learned last season is to improve their consistency from the field and take advantage of opportunities when they arise. Strophy said that last season the team shot at 29% and will need to improve on that if they want to have success this year.

"I think the girls took that to heart and got in the gym and got our shooting machine out and we did a variety of things, so hopefully that will translate onto the court this year," said the coach.

MLHS graduated four seniors from the basketball team in the offseason and will be returning three seniors with Addyson Burns, Addisyn Reffett and Alivia Johnson. Strophy said the Mavs are only returning five of the twelve players on the team last year, meaning that they will be working with a very young roster.

The coach said that Burns will be a key player for the Mavs this season as a senior captain who has taken ownership of the program and is leading the team in the right direction. He said Burns has shown great promise with her aggressiveness on the floor, along with her ability to read the court and make the right game-time decision.

Strophy said the two underclassmen returners will also be worth keeping an eye on this season, with junior Breanna "Boo" Bischoff and sophomore Ella Wiltbank. Bischoff has taken some team ownership as a point guard for the team and Wiltbank had a great swing at the end of last season, where she showed some promise for the future

"They all played together over the summer, so I think there was a lot of camaraderie built," he said. "I think that's a strength of ours going into this year, is the fact that they enjoyed being around each other, they had fun and they played hard when they were on the court."

Just before the start of the season, Strophy said the Mavs came together to set their team goals for the year and the basis of that conversation was that they decided they wanted to stay positive and competitive this season. The team wants to stay prepared for whatever comes this season and, regardless of the outcome, play the hardest they can each game.

"I think they have the right mindset going into the season, and I'm super excited to get on the floor a game Tuesday night at Ephrata," he said. "It's been a joy over these first couple of weeks working with people that have the right attitude going forward."

The Mavs' first game of the season was on the road this week against the Ephrata Tigers on Tuesday. Full coverage of this game will be in Thursday's publication.