NWAC basketball: McKeown has Walla Walla women at the top of their game

Bobbi Hazeltine has no qualms about traveling to small schools in the middle farmland if it means getting the right players in her program.

As coach of the Walla Walla Community College women’s basketball team, Hazeltine did just that to make sure the Warriors got Touchet’s Cierra Jo McKeown to sign on the dotted line.

“We always recruit small-school kids because of their work ethic,” Hazeltine said. “Other teams have big-city kids, or inner-city kids, and they are good players, don’t get me wrong. But there is no substitute for work ethic.”

Hazeltine made plenty of trips to Touchet to watch McKeown play, and saw her in camps and summer tournaments. With Touchet just 17 miles west of Walla Walla, the recruiting trip was an easy one to make.

“You could go to Touchet and be home by dinner,” Hazeltine said. “She is a really well-kept secret. She is a great kid.”

The Warriors (21-4) have benefited from McKeown’s talents this season. The 5-foot-9 freshman shooting guard led the team in scoring with 19.8 points, helped the Warriors to a share of the East Region title with Spokane with a 14-2 record, and has Walla Walla in the NWAC Championships starting Saturday against Clackamas.

“It has been a lot of fun,” McKeown said of her first season of college basketball. “Last year we didn’t make it to the NWACs, and we were a little rough at the start of the season. As the season went on, we got better. Halfway through the season, we had improved so much, I knew we would make it.”

A lot of that has to do with McKeown, who was voted to the East Region first team and named Freshman of the Year by the league coaches.

“In our first game, she had 34 points,” Hazeltine said. No one knew who she was. Now it’s tough because people know about her. We have people face guard her, and that is a compliment. She does a lot. To be first team all-region as a freshman, and some say she is one of the top five players, that means a lot. We are lucky we get her for another year. She is special player now, and she will have teams looking at her down the road.”

McKeown was a quadruple-double threat during her high school career and had a sensational senior season at Touchet, averaging 25.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 6.9 steals a game. Doing all that while being double-teamed on a nightly basis makes it that much more impressive.

She doesn’t face the same defensive pressure in college — numbers-wise, anyway — which is fine with her.

“It’s so much fun to have multiple players on a team who can do multiple things,” McKeown said. “We are a really good defensive team and we run the ball a lot.”

While the game is the same, the amount of plays, screens and presses that McKeown has had to learn have more than doubled at the college level.

“They have so many plays and I would get confused,” McKeown said of the start of the season. “Bobbi is a good coach, and she pushes us to do our best. She will help you out. She explains things and corrects you.”

While learning plays is one thing, having talent is another.

“She was a great passer and shooter in high school, and still is,” Hazeltine said. “But now, she is a much better defender. That is one thing we had work on.”

WWCC VS. CLACKAMAS: The Warriors enter the 4 p.m. contest on an eight-game win streak, while the Cougars, the No. 3 team from the South Region, were 2-3 in their past five games.

While McKeown is the NWAC’s ninth-leading scorer, the Cougars do not have a player on the top 20 scoring list. They do have one of the best rebounders in 6-foot freshman Kayce Mock, who average 11.43 boards a game.

“We have a tough quadrant,” Hazeltine said of Lower Columbia (26-3) and host Everett (14-12) in the group. “Umpqua (27-2), who is the favorite, is on the other side of the bracket, but you have to win them all anyway.”

CBC VS. LANE: The Hawks (19-8), who get the 10 p.m. game Saturday, are led by sophomore Sierra Perez (Pasco), who averages 20.3 points per game and is deadly from 3-point range (40.6 percent).

Lane (25-4), the No. 2 seed from the South Region, is led by Sarah Hall (16.7 points, 8.4 rebounds). The Titans won their past five games heading into the tournament.

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 5:18 PM with the headline "NWAC basketball: McKeown has Walla Walla women at the top of their game."