Kamiakin, Richland boys finish season as co-champs. Pasco girls are unbeaten
With Tuesday night’s games, the Mid-Columbia Conference basketball regular season has been completed.
Kamiakin’s boys defeated Kennewick 70-48, while Richland routed Southridge 96-35.
That means Kamiakin and Richland are regular-season co-champions of the MCC.
However, Kamiakin will get the top seed in the District 8 4A boys tournament that begins later this week because the Braves have a better RPI rating than Richland.
As of Wednesday morning, Kamiakin is ranked 5th, while Richland is 9th.
Hanford’s boys will start things off Thursday with a play-in game at Lewis & Clark in Spokane.
Meanwhile, Pasco’s girls defeated Walla Walla 68-28 to complete an unbeaten regular season.
The Bulldogs finish MCC play at 16-0, and overall play at 19-0.
They’ll open district tournament play next Tuesday.
Walla Walla will play at Southridge at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to determine the final MCC seed into the 3A tournament. The two schools tied for last in the MCC with 1-15 records.
Here are the final MCC basketball standings and the first few rounds of the district tournaments:
4A-3A MCC Boys
Kamiakin 15-1 MCC, 18-2 overall
Richland 15-1, 17-3
Chiawana 10-6, 13-7
Kennewick 10-6, 12-8
Walla Walla 9-7, 10-10
Hanford 6-10, 7-13
Hermiston 4-12, 4-18
Southridge 3-13, 4-15
Pasco 0-16, 0-20
Tuesday, Feb. 8 — Hanford 65, Chiawana 62; Kamiakin 70, Kennewick 48; Richland 96, Southridge 35; Walla Walla 66, Pasco 35.
4A boys District 8 tournament
Top 3 to state regional
Feb. 10
Play-in game, Hanford at Lewis & Clark (loser out), 6 p.m.
Feb. 12, higher seed
Game 1, Chiawana at Central Valley, 6 p.m.
Game 2, Play-in winner at Richland, 6 p.m.
Feb. 15
At higher seed
Game 3, winner 1 at Kamiakin, 6 p.m.
Game 4, winner 2 at Gonzaga Prep, 6 p.m.
3A boys District 8 tournament
Top 3 to state regional
Feb. 12
At higher seed
Game 1, North Central at Mt. Spokane, 6 p.m.
Game 2, Ferris at Walla Walla, 6 p.m.
Game 3, Hermiston at Mead, 6 p.m.
Game 4, University at Kennewick, 5 p.m.
Feb. 15
At higher seed
Game 5, loser 1 vs. loser 2 (loser out), 6 p.m.
Game 6, loser 3 vs. loser 4 (loser out), 6 p.m.
Game 7, winner 1 vs. winner 2, 6 p.m.
Game 8, winner 3 vs. winner 4, 6 p.m.
4A-3A MCC Girls
Pasco 16-0 MCC, 19-0 overall
Chiawana 12-4, 15-5
Richland 11-5, 14-6
Kamiakin 9-7, 13-7
Hanford 8-8, 12-8
Hermiston 8-8, 12-9
Kennewick 6-10, 8-11
Southridge 1-15, 4-15
Walla Walla 1-15, 2-18
Tuesday, Feb. 8 — Chiawana 46, Hanford 32; Kamiakin 59, Kennewick 45; Pasco 68, Walla Walla 28; Richland 68, Southridge 30.
4A District 8 girls tournament
Top 3 to state regional
Feb. 10
Play-in game, Central Valley at Kamiakin (loser out), 6 p.m.
Feb. 12
At higher seed
Game 1, Richland at Lewis & Clark, 6 p.m.
Game 2, Play-in winner at Chiawana, 6 p.m.
Feb. 15
At higher seed
Game 3, winner 1 at Pasco, 6 p.m.
Game 4, winner 2 at Gonzaga Prep, 6 p.m.
3A District 8 girls tournament
Top 3 teams to state regionals
Feb. 10
Playoff — Walla Walla at Southridge (winner to district, loser out), 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 11
Game 4, University at Hermiston, 5 p.m.
Feb. 12
At higher seed
Game 1, North Central at Mead, 6 p.m.
Game 2, Mt. Spokane at Kennewick, 3 p.m.
Game 3, Southridge-Walla Walla winner at Ferris, 6 p.m.
Feb. 15
At higher seed
Game 5, loser 1 vs. loser 2 (loser out), 6 p.m.
Game 6, loser 3 vs. loser 4 (loser out), 6 p.m.
Game 7, winner 1 vs. winner 2, 6 p.m.
Game 8, winner 3 vs. winner 4, 6 p.m.
Boys swimming
The district meet for boys swimming will be Friday, Feb. 11, at Kelso High School.
The state high school championships will follow on Feb. 17-19 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
Olympics
A former Tri-City American is competing in the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Defenseman Zach Yuen is competing for the Chinese men’s ice hockey team.
Yuen, 28, is from Vancouver, British Columbia, and has been a member of the Kunlun Red Star hockey team that is based in China and plays in the Kontinental Hockey League.
This is China’s first hockey team in the Olympics, but only because the host gets a team in the competition.
China made many of the Kunlun Red Star players nationalized citizens so they could play for the home country.
Yuen played four full seasons for the Tri-City Americans, from 2009 through 2013.
▪ Meanwhile, 21-year-old Novie McCabe is a member of the United States Olympic Cross Country ski team competing in Beijing.
McCabe is from Winthrop, Wash., and I met her when she was a junior at Liberty Bell High School in November of 2018.
She easily won the small-school individual title in the WIAA state cross country championships in Pasco. She beat her nearest competitor by almost 45 seconds, and seemed so calm and cool afterwards.
She told me her mother, Laurie McCabe, was an Olympic cross country skier. Laurie McCabe competed for the USA in both the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.
I got the feeling Novie was only running cross country to keep in shape for cross country snow skiing.
I was right. Novie McCabe didn’t compete in high school cross country her senior year.
I’m also not surprised to see her competing in the Winter Olympics.