Two hard games spelled the end for the Tonasket girl’s basketball season.

They went to the district tournament in Chelan last week only to bounce out in the second round of play.

“We were knocked out earlier then we anticipated,” said head coach Greg Moser.

Tonasket lost two close games, first against Okanogan Feb. 12 and then against district champion Lake Roosevelt Feb. 13.

“I’m real satisfied overall,” Moser said. “It was a great year. It hurts in your heart to get knocked out so early, when you shouldn’t have been.”

Although the season ended earlier then the team would’ve liked, there were several bright spots across the season.

Cierra Silverthorn, who led in scoring throughout most games, was picked as Caribou Trail League MVP. Jessica Kitterman made the second team and Rachel Hutchins and Dana Pryor were both honorable mentions for the CTL. Moser was also chosen as Coach of the Year.

“The coaches met and picked Cierra because of her outstanding contribution to most of the games,” Moser said.

Another bright spot is that juniors Silverthorn, Kitterman, Hutchins and Pryor will all be back in blue and yellow next year. They will also see all of their teammates again when basketball season rolls around.

“All of the girls are coming back next year,” said Moser. “That’s a real good thing for us. Only two teams in the league will see their whole team return and that’s us and Cascade.”

This year’s team had seven juniors and two freshmen. The experience next year will be a major advantage, Moser said.

This season went well despite the early out at districts.

“There were a lot of positives,” he said. “We had some exciting victories and the girls got a lot of experience.”

Overall, he said he was satisfied with the season.

“It was a very successful season,” Moser said. “Anything can happen at the district playoff level and this year we got the short end of the stick.”

Tonasket lost to Okanogan 52-54 on Feb. 12. In the last 1.7 seconds Tonasket had a foul shot to tie the game. The shot missed and the clock ran out.

Tonasket scorers were Silverthorn with 16; Kitterman and Katy Keeton with 14 each; Hutchins and Pryor with three; Weber with two; and Shelby Olma and Anna Bergh with zero each.

Contributing to the loss was Okanogan’s 44 percent shooting from the field, compared to Tonasket’s 35 percent.

Tonasket played a loser-out game against Lake Roosevelt next. Tonasket lost 56-61.

“It was a three point game with 15 seconds to go,” Moser said. But Tonasket made two fouls and both shots were good.

“Lake Roosevelt won the game from the free throw line,” Moser said.

Tonasket scorers were Silverthorn with 21; Kitterman with 16; Pryor with seven; Hutchins with five; Keeton with four; Bergh with three; and Olma, Carlson and Weber with zero each.

The tight losses were tough to take.

“Seeing the tears in the girls’ eyes after the last game sure told me they’d be doing a lot in the off-season to get ready for next year. They want to win,” Moser said.

Tonasket will support their CTL foe going into regionals.

“Lake Roosevelt did a good job and played well,” Moser said. “We wish the best of luck to them at regionals.”