Chiawana basketball star leaves town. Tri-City Rush staying put
Talia von Oelhoffen knew it was time to leave home.
The senior Chiawana star-athlete and her family decided that after waiting through the pandemic for her chance to play, she would instead graduate early and get her collegiate career started now.
High school sports will hopefully begin in February with fall sports up first. But winter sports are not expected to start until perhaps March.
Last Week, Oregon State University said the standout guard who committed to the school last year would be joining the women’s basketball team this season and will be available to practice and play with the Oregon State team upon completion of university health protocols.
”We have been looking forward to having her here since she committed to Oregon State, and now we are happy she will be joining us about five months earlier than we had originally planned,” Beavers head coach Scott Rueck said in a news release. “As the prospect of a high school basketball season dimmed for von Oelhoffen, the opportunity to grow and develop alongside her teammates at the next level became increasingly appealing.”
But here’s the best part: this season won’t count against her eligibility. She gets an extra half-year of school paid for and she could be ready to play for the Beavers by Jan. 29.
The down part? Not getting a final season with her Chiawana teammates, and a chance at playing in the McDonald’s High School All-American game. Even though von Oelhoffen hadn’t played a game of high school basketball this season, she was named to the Naismith Trophy Midseason Top-25.
Collegiate Girls Basketball Report has her ranked as the No. 14 rated player in the nation. In three seasons of high school basketball — the first two at Tri-Cities Prep (where she led the Jaguars to a state 2B title her sophomore year) and last year at Chiawana — Von Oelhoffen scored 2,392 points, placing her on pace to become the all-time leading scorer in Washington State history.
Rush has a schedule, home
The Tri-City Rush has a place to play for the 2021 American West Football Conference indoor season. And now it has a schedule.
This past weekend the team agreed to a deal to play its home games at the HAPO Center in Pasco.
Games will be played in the portion of the building that has hosted rodeo-type competitions, and the ceiling is high enough that it shouldn’t affect high kickoffs.
“The HAPO Center is an exciting facility and we are very happy with the seating layout we have created,” said Rush team owner Brandon Tate. “I believe past fans and new alike will really enjoy the location as well as the overall experience planned. Most importantly we wanted to offer something to previous dedicated fans of professional indoor football.”
On Sunday, the AWFC announced its season schedule for the other teams that will play in 2021 in addition to the Rush — the Idaho Horsemen of Nampa, Idaho, the Oregon High Desert Storm of Bend, the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks vand the Yakima Canines. Idaho is the defending champion from 2019, going 13-0.
Wenatchee Valley is the only other team that played in the AWFC in 2019. The pandemic wiped out a season for 2020. But Oregon, Tri-City and Yakima are all expansion teams.
Because of the current pandemic, the league agreed to push the start of the 2021 season back a few months. Normally beginning in March, the AWFC now will start in May. On Monday, Tate and the team released its official 2021 schedule, along with announcing season ticket prices range from $55 to $250, individual game tickets are $10 to $50. Only season tickets currently are for sale.
The Rush will open at Yakima in the Yakima Valley SunDome on May 9. The team’s home opener will be May 15, at 7:05 p.m., versus Oregon. The season is schedule to run into late August. The Rush recently held its first round of team tryouts, and another is set for February.
Former Tri-Cities Fire season ticket holders have been offered a 15 percent discount on Rush season tickets. Tate asks that Fire fans email a copy of their receipt to info@tricityrush.com, and the Rush will send them back the code.
As the 2020 season was getting ready to start the Fire ownership shut down just before the season opener. That left ticket holders — some who purchased the two-season ticket packages during the 2019 Fire inaugural season — with no product and without their money.
It was Tate and his outdoor semipro team, the Tri-City Rage, that offered to step up for the AWFC and play the Fire’s road games.
In the end it didn’t matter, as the season was canceled.