NEAH BAY — Cierra Moss’ goal for her senior season of basketball at Neah Bay was simple and team-oriented.
The Red Devils went on to finish sixth at the Class 1B tournament.
“I wanted to go to state and do well at state,” Moss said, “and we did a pretty good job.”
Moss played a big role in the trophy-winning season.
She became the Neah Bay girls basketball program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,409 points.
For the second year in a row, Moss was named to the 1B All-State team by The Associated Press and voted North Olympic League MVP by the league’s coaches.
Moss also has been chosen as the All-Peninsula Girls Basketball MVP, sharing the honor with Port Angeles’ Maddy Hinrichs.
She led the North Olympic Peninsula in scoring with 25.1 points per game and was one of the top rebounders with 12.1 per game.
Against Mary M. Knight in December, Moss recorded a triple double with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
“She’s just a dang good player,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said.
Moss was at her best in the Red Devils’ second state tournament game, a 72-40 win over Taholah, when she set a 1B tournament record with 40 points.
She made 13 of 23 shots from the field, 5 of 8 from 3-point range and 9 of 11 at the free-throw line.
She also grabbed 20 rebounds, which was three short of another tournament record.
“I felt like I was on fire,” Moss said.
While she was racking up points, Moss said her mind also turned to another record.
“I was thinking about my dad because he scored 51 in a game,” Moss said.
Her father, Rob Moss, is Neah Bay’s all-time leading scorer with 1,456 points as a shooting guard.
“That was before the 3-point line,” Cierra Moss points out.
Her mom, Cinnamon, was a post player for Neah Bay.
Older brother Robert played the post for the Red Devils, and in 2010 he was named the All-Peninsula Boys Basketball MVP.
Sister Cherish, like Cierra, was a two-time North Olympic League MVP and AP All-State honoree.
Younger brother, Ryan, a sharp-shooting sophomore, led the Neah Bay boys this season with 13.2 points per game, including 59 3-pointers, and earned All-State honorable mention.
“We take basketball very seriously,” Cierra Moss said of her family.
McCaulley just finished his first season as Neah Bay’s girls basketball coach, but he’s seen all the Mosses play, including the parents, and is familiar with their varying styles.
“Cierra’s got a little bit of all of them,” McCaulley said. “I would say that all-around she is the best.
“So far. They have a bunch of younger kids, too.”
It might be tough to look past Cierra Moss’ 25.1 scoring average long enough to give her 12.1 rebounds per game their proper due.
But not for McCaulley.
“I really believe that is going to hurt our team the most next year,” McCaulley said. “She gobbled up a lot of rebounds.”
For Moss, rebounding was a catalyst for scoring.
“A majority of my points were down low after getting rebounds,” she said.
This wasn’t lost on her coach.
“She lived on those,” McCaulley said.
Moss credits the NBC basketball camp she attends every year with improving her rebounding last summer.
“All my life I have been a wing, but I played post at camp [last year],” she said.
Next year, Moss’ multi-faceted game (she also made 31 3-pointers this season and McCaulley praises her defense) will be in Port Angeles where she will play for Peninsula College.
“I’m excited to move on the next level and to learn more about the game and about facing better players,” Moss said.
“I know it’s going to make me a better player.”
Perhaps it’s no surprise that college will be a family adventure.
Cherish, who graduated in 2012 and who Cierra said is the best shooter of the Moss kids, signed a letter of intent to play for the Pirates the same day as Cierra.
“We said, ‘How about we just go to Peninsula College together?’” Cierra Moss said.
“I’m excited to be playing with her.
“It gives me a lot of confidence having her by my side.”
[See story about All-Peninsula Girls Basketball Co-MVP Maddy Hinrichs of Port Angeles at http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20140521/NEWS/305219983/girls-basketball-port-angeles-hinrichs-earns-another-all-peninsula ]
