EPHRATA — The Tiger girls showed grit in spurts, but 33 turnovers were too much to overcome in a 48-23 season-opening loss to 4A Moses Lake on Tuesday.

Those miscues fed the Maverick offense all night – Moses Lake converted the Tiger errors into 27 points.

Ephrata hung around early, trailing just 10-7 after the first quarter. Alexis St. Mary scored four points and Cassidy Cox added a bucket, but five turnovers led to six Moses Lake points, a sign of things to come.

The second frame is where thing began to unravel. Ellie Kono converted an offensive rebound putback and Maycee Black drove baseline for a bucket, but it wasn't enough. Nine turnovers allowed Moses Lake to pull away to a 23-11 halftime lead.

Out of the locker room, the Tigers posted their best stretch of the night during the third quarter, nearly keeping pace with the visitors. Cox scored early on a fast break, then freshman point guard Sophie Molitor knocked down a jumper from the short corner and sunk a pair of free throws as the clock wound down. 

Ephrata trailed 30-17 entering the fourth quarter, when the turnover bug returned. The Mavericks took advantage of the Tiger miscues, outscoring their hosts 18-6 in the final period to secure the non-league win. 

"One thing that I was happy with was our start to the game," Ephrata coach Alain Black said afterward. "We struggled with that last year and always felt like we were fighting back, so to see the girls compete well in the first and third quarter was a good thing. Now we just work to build more and more on that."

Cox led Ephrata with six points and six rebounds. Maycee Black and Kono each added four points and six rebounds while St. Mary also chipped in four points. 

Making her high school debut at point guard, Molitor finished with four points and a team-high three assists during 30 minutes of court action. She filled in for returning starter Jill Linehan, who missed the game due to illness.

"First varsity game as a freshman (point guard) can be intimidating, but she didn't back down," Black said of Molitor. "We had limited subs for her due to Jill being out, but she continued to play aggressive and played through being tired." 

A lack of rebounds proved nearly as costly as turnovers for Ephrata. In particular, Moses Lake dominated the offensive glass 28-7, creating second-chance shot opportunities all evening.

"Our focus this week has been boxing out defensively, spacing on offense and finding ways to get more scoring opportunities," Coach Black said. "We have to be able to get more looks at the basket if we want to win games."

The Tigers look to rebound Friday, Dec. 5 at 5:45 p.m., traveling to Chelan to take on the Mountain Goats.

"Chelan will be quick," Black said. "They have a couple good players that we will need to focus on and contain."