ARLINGTON — The Archbishop Murphy offense couldn’t get much going in the first half of its game Friday night.
Except Kacey Moore.
The senior scored nine of Archbishop Murphy’s 13 first-half points, and carried her hot shooting into the second half. Moore finished with 20 points as she led the Wildcats to a 46-29 come-from-behind win in a Cascade Conference contest at Lakewood High School.
“Kacey stepped up,” said Archbishop Murphy head coach Cassie Snyder. “We were really struggling. She had all our points in the first quarter and most of them in the second quarter. For her to bring that energy off the bench was huge for us tonight. We couldn’t find it and she brought it. She continued that in the second half and rallied her teammates. She’s MVP for us tonight, that’s for sure.”
Lakewood scored the first eight points of the game and put up 10 points in each of the first two quarters to build a 20-13 lead at halftime. However, the Cougars managed just nine points the rest of the way as the Archbishop Murphy defense clamped down on Lakewood and, led by Moore, the Wildcats’ offense started finding the hoop.
With 3:30 remaining in the third quarter, Moore drove to the basket for a layup and gave Archbishop Murphy its first lead of the game.
The Wildcats never looked back.
“You try to call timeouts and say, ‘This is what we’ve got to do to slow this down,’” said Lakewood head coach Chris Walster. “You hope that changes the momentum. Sometimes it does, but in this case it certainly didn’t. (Moore) just continued on.”
The win was the second of the season against Lakewood for Archbishop Murphy — which also defeated the Cougars 44-39 on Dec. 16 — and all but clinched the No. 1 seed to the 2A district tournament from the conference and the accompanying first-round home game.
Undefeated King’s is atop the standings but the Knights, a 1A school, play in a different postseason tournament.
“It’s huge. The playoffs are very competitive,” Snyder said. “That No. 1 seed is vital. This game was one of the biggest games of the season. It was great for us to get this win.”
Along with Moore, Maddie Hill scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Archbishop Murphy (10-1 league, 12-2 overall). Megan Dorney added six points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, the No. 6 team in the latest Associated Press 2A poll.
“They amped up the defense,” Walster said. “… They played much better in the second half, defensively and offensively. They were knocking things down.”
Senior Marissa Blair led the way for Lakewood (8-3, 12-5) with a team-high 12 points and nine rebounds. Blair is one of two Cougars players listed at 5-foot-10 — the tallest two players on the Lakewood squad.
“This is the first year in a long time where we feel like speed is our friend. Height certainly isn’t when you look at us come out on the floor,” Walster said. “We talked about blocking out on rebounds because we’re never going to be bigger than anybody we play. We like to play up-tempo. We like to run. Sometimes that can be a double-edged sword if you’re not hitting shots. A lot of times you’re just giving the other team the ball that much sooner and I think that’s kind of what happened tonight.”
Like Lakewood, Archbishop Murphy prefers an up-tempo style and a quick pace up and down the floor.
“They’re kind of like us: they’re very athletic and aggressive and they can shoot,” Snyder said. “They gave us a hard time on the press last time. We had a lot of problems with it last time — so we worked on that and I think we did a better job tonight. They’re a great team, too.”
Friday night was the Cascade Conference’s annual Coaches vs. Cancer night, with both teams honoring an individual from each school before the game. The Cougars celebrated Dani Leach — a breast cancer survivor who teaches at Lakewood High School.
Archbishop Murphy honored Addie Schmidt, a senior post who was diagnosed with cancer her junior year.
During introductions, the Lakewood team signed a pink basketball it had used in warm ups and ran over and presented it to Schmidt.
“I think it was pretty emotionally impactful for our girls,” Walster said. “When we heard the story of Addison Schmidt from Archbishop our girls decided they wanted to give her our pink ball that we all warmed up with. So they signed it and gave her the ball.”
The gesture meant a great deal to Schmidt, Snyder and the rest of the Archbishop Murphy team.
“Lakewood was so awesome,” Snyder said. “They all signed it and gave it to her as they announced the names at the beginning which was amazing. They’re awesome. I’m speechless, honestly. It was just such an amazing thing for them to do.”
The Cascade Conference has taken part in a Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser for each of the past seven seasons. In that span, the conference’s teams have donated almost $20,000 to the American Cancer Society.
“I think this event is awesome and it’s great to be a part of,” Snyder said. “Addie, one of our seniors, she brings so much energy to our team and just what she’s gone through has been unbelievable. We’ve kind of had that firsthand experience of what somebody goes through for that. She’s been amazing. It’s awesome to have her here and she got to play. It was just a really cool event.”
At Lakewood H.S.
A. Murphy 4 9 17 16 —46
Lakewood 10 10 4 5 —29
Archbishop Murphy—Olivia Riojas 2, Maddie Hill 10, Izzy Lucas 0, Megan Dorney 6, Talys Jurdana 0, Alyson Matriotti 0, Emily Rodabaugh 2, Addie Schmidt 0, Kacey Moore 20, Lexi Ducheane 6. Lakewood—Natalie Neer 3, Emily Senyitko 7, Taylor Storms 0, Hayley Senyitko 0, Gillian Romeis 0, Bailey Dixon 0, Marissa Blair 12, Jelly Perry 3, Jenna Langdon 4. Records—Archbishop Murphy 10-1 league, 12-2 overall. Lakewood 8-3, 12-5.
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