Tri-Cities area teams making their mark in the final season stretch

Hard to believe, but winter sports are already winding down, with just one or two weeks left before postseason play begins.

So the games sometimes mean so much more around this time. And there were some doozies last weekend.

Here are the top team performances from last weekend’s events:

Kamiakin boys basketball 78, Chiawana 61

The big news about Friday’s game was Chiawana suffered its first loss of the season.

Kamiakin had been circling this game since losing to the Riverhawks on Jan. 3 by a 79-49 score.

A day after that loss, the Braves went to Walla Walla and dropped that contest too.

But since then, Kamiakin was reeled off seven consecutive victories.

Kyson Rose led the Braves with 28 points, while Messiah Jones added 17 and Trey Arland had 15.

The killer for the Riverhawks was not being able to stop both Rose and Jones in the paint. Kamiakin outscored Chiawana 38-8 in points in the paint.

Still, the Riverhawks are in first place at 10-1 in Mid-Columbia Conference play, while Kamiakin and Walla Walla are right behind at 10-2 each.

Chiawana boys wrestling 50, Pasco 21

Jack Anderson’s Riverhawks are starting to gear up for the post-season tournament run.

Chiawana won the Class 4A state team title last year, and it should be a heavy favorite again to win.

But the Riverhawks had to take care of the MCC regular-season title first.

They did that Saturday, in a dual meet set up as the second part of a tripleheader at Pasco High with the girls basketball and boys basketball games sandwiched around it.

Chiawana got off to a rousing start and rolled to the win, with Robby Vaughn (145 pounds), Darion Johnson (152), Tyson Stover (182), Isaiah Anderson (195) and JJ Rodriguez (220) earning pins.

Johnson, Stover and Anderson all won individual state championships last year in Tacoma.

Chiawana girls basketball 59, Pasco 46

Talia von Oelhoffen continues to shine for Chiawana, scoring 26 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and already reaching 2,000 career points in her high school career.

Kylie Thorne added 16 points for the Riverhawks, who have bounced back from losing to Kennewick a few weeks ago.

Chiawana sits atop the MCC standings at 11-1, while the Lions are in second at 10-1.

River View boys basketball 73, Wahluke 66

The boys from Finley went up to Mattawa and won a tough road game in SCAC East play.

With the win, the Panthers are now a solid 17-0, and have earned a first-round district home game when that tournament begins in a couple of weeks.

They are also ranked No. 3 in the latest WIAA RPI standings.

Head coach Josh Stacy has put together a powerhouse, with a trio sharing the heavy scoring load: William Bailey III is averaging 15.7 points a game, while Tyler Bussell is at 14.2, and Braulio Mendoza at 14.1.

Warden girls basketball 59, Royal 26

Josh Madsen’s Warden girls stayed unbeaten at 16-0 after the Cougars routed Royal in 1A SCAC East play.

The Cougars are led by Kiana Rios, who averages 17.2 points. But she has help, as Jaryn Madsen (12.6) and Rylee McKay (10.2) also average in double-figure scoring.

Like the River View boys, the Warden girls are ranked No. 3 in the latest WIAA RPI standings.

Hicks, von Oelhoffen hit milestones

Besides von Oelhoffen’s 2,000-point career milestone she hit against Pasco on Saturday night, Prosser’s Haden Hicks crossed the 1,000-point threshold over Quincy in a 75-23 win on Friday.

Both players are just juniors, so they’ll keep adding to their totals over the next 1.5 seasons.

SWX Classic set for March 15

The third annual SWX Classic high school all-star basketball event will be Sunday, March 15, at Kamiakin High School.

The event pits the Yakima area’s best boys and girls high school basketball players against the top players from the Tri-Cities region.

The series began in the early ‘90s, when the Yakima Herald Republic and the Tri-City Herald started it. The event ran for over 20 years, but was not held for a few years until SWX started it up again.

Proceeds from the event will go to the Kamiakin High School dance team and the YMCA of the Greater Tri-Cities.

Event organizers will be contacting and inviting athletes to play over the next month.

Other notes

• Looks like Southridge High grad Shawn O’Malley’s playing career is over.

But he’s staying in baseball.

O’Malley was named the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners’ High-A California League affiliate in Modesto for the coming season.

O’Malley, 32, played in the big leagues for both the Anaheim Angels and the Mariners.

Last year, he spent the entire season with the independent league Kansas City T-Bones.

• The Seattle Times released its annual red, white and blue chip list of the state’s top 100 seniors for football.

A blue-chip player can start anywhere in the country in Division I football. A red chip could be a starter for the Pac-12 school. A white chip player could be a college player somewhere.

The Mid-Columbia had two players on the list, both on the white chip list: Othello’s Isaiah Perez, who has already signed to play for BYU; and Chiawana’s Kobe Singleton.

Singleton missed most of the past season with an injury, but he still drew interest.

Oregon has offered him to come to its school. But Singleton has not officially committed anywhere yet.

Track and field

Kamiakin grad Samantha Raines, competing for Eastern Washington University, cleared 12 feet, 7.5 inches to win the women’s pole vault competition on Jan. 23 at the Idaho Open indoor track meet at the University of Idaho.

Lewis-Clark State’s Emily Adams (Waitsburg) placed second in the women’s 3000 meters, with a time of 10:39.79.

Picking up third-place finishes for EWU were Madison Doepker (Walla Walla) in the women’s weight throw at 53-9.75; and Madison Wilson (Hermiston) in the women’s 60-meter hurdles at 9.21 seconds.

EWU’s Katie Petsch (Kamiakin) placed fourth in the women’s 200 meters at 25.87 seconds.

Spokane Community College’s Alma Manzo (Connell) was part of a fourth-place 4x400 women’s relay team that clocked in at 4:09.56; then Manzo also finished sixth in the women’s 60 meters with a time of 7.9 seconds.

Gonzaga University’s Riley Moore (Richland) placed fifth in the men’s 1-mile run at 4:18.57.