These Tri-Cities teams already clinched top Class 4A playoff berths. Who’s close behind?

We’re down to the final week of the regular season for high school basketball, and there are a few playoff spots available in the Mid-Columbia Conference.

But one thing is for sure — the Chiawana boys and girls teams took care of business this weekend by clinching the top spot in next week’s District 8 tournaments for Class 4A teams.

That means the Riverhawks will play host to the Greater Spokane League’s No. 4 teams in both boys and girls games on Feb. 12. Girls tip off at 5 p.m. and boys at 7 p.m.

This past Saturday, the visiting Walla Walla’s boys had a chance to close the gap against Chiawana in the standings.

But the Riverhawks jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back to win 87-69.

That gives coach Chad Herron’s team a 13-1 MCC record, with a 2-game lead over both Kamiakin and Kennewick, each with 11-3 MCC marks.

A Chiawana victory over visiting Southridge on Tuesday night will give the Riverhawks that MCC title outright.

On Saturday, Chiawana’s Cooper DeWitt had a big game, scoring 24 points and dishing off six assists for the Riverhawks. Teammates Jayden Martinez (20), Landyn Cantu (14) and Seth Schmidt (11) also scoring in double figures.

They offset a monster game by Wa-Hi’s Michael Cornia, who scored 32 points and grabbed 17 rebounds.

• Meanwhile, Chiawana’s girls trailed 25-20 at the half to visiting Walla Walla on Saturday night, only to come out on fire in the second half to win 59-42.

That gave the Riverhawks a 13-1 MCC record. With both Pasco and Walla Walla the next closest Class 4A teams in the standings with 9-5 records, it means Coach Mike Brown’s Riverhawks have the top seed.

Kennewick’s girls, a Class 3A team, still have a chance to catch Chiawana for the MCC title with a 12-2 record. That includes Chiawana visiting Kennewick this coming Friday, Feb. 7, to end the regular season.

In Saturday night’s showdown, Talia von Oelhoffen — with Stanford’s top assistant coach in the stands watching her — finished with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals to lead the Riverhawks to the win.

Teammate Kylie Thorne added 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Delaney Pink had 15 points.

The biggest performance, though, may have come from Chiawana senior Alyssa Agundis, who put the clamps on Wa-Hi’s leading scorer, Rian Clear, who finished with 8 points. Clear averages 22 points game.

Agundis is the two-time MCC Defensive Player of the Year, and she’s a heavy favorite to get the award again.

Karyssa Olivares came off the bench to lead Wa-Hi with 14 points.

• Best game I’ve seen this season? Had to be Friday’s Kamiakin boys beating visiting Walla Walla 72-69.

The Braves had the Blue Devils down big twice during the game — at least by 10 points each both times — only to have Wa-Hi come back with some great outside shooting.

Late in the game, with teams trading baskets — there were 16 lead changes, and the contest was tied five other times — it was Kamiakin’s Steven Westermeyer who made an acrobatic, twisting, and driving layup that proved key to the win.

Messiah Jones led the Braves with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Kyson Rose had 23 points and 6 boards.

Dylan Ashbeck led Wa-Hi with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists.

• The Class 2A Central Washington Athletic Conference boys basketball league continues to have top-notch contests.

Take Prosser, for example. On Friday, the Mustangs we’re hosting unbeaten Toppenish and had jumped out to a 39-22 halftime lead.

But this is Toppenish, whose team members pride themselves on coming back from any deficit. And they do.

The Wildcats rallied in the second half to cut the Mustangs’ lead to just 2 points. But Prosser, thanks to Kaden Swift’s 20 points, held Toppenish off 71-62 to hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season.

Prosser then goes to Selah on Saturday, and the Mustangs cannot get over the hump against the Vikings – who win the game 61-58.

Noah Pepper, who probably should be the CWAC MVP for the second straight year, scored 34 points to lead the Vikings.

• Former Chiawana girls basketball coach Steve Davis was honored at halftime of the Riverhawks girls game against Walla Walla on Saturday night.

Davis spent 18 seasons coaching girls basketball, first at Pasco, and then moving over to Chiawana when the school opened.

In those 18 seasons, his teams won 11 league titles, won a total of 345 games for a winning percentage of 76 percent.

Davis was also named league Coach of the Year 10 different times.

He resigned after last season to spend more time with his wife and two young sons.

Notes

• Carroll College’s Kolby Killoy (Pasco) played quarterback this past fall for the Saints. The junior was 113 for 217, for 1,584 yards. He tossed 8 touchdown passes and threw 10 interceptions.

• Walla Walla High School lineman Cole Schmidt has committed to playing football next fall for College of Idaho.

• Pitcher Brayde Hirai, a junior for Central Washington University, will be back this summer to play for the Walla Walla Sweets. Hirai is a Chiawana High grad who spent his first two seasons of college ball pitching for Walla Walla Community College. He also spent the previous two summers pitching for the Sweets in the West Coast League.

• Braydey Hodgins (Chiawana) scored 25 points on Saturday to lead the Boise State University women’s basketball team to an 83-72 win over Nevada.

• Bailey Cartwright (Chiawana) scored her 1,000 career point in college basketball Saturday when the Providence Argos women’s team lost to Lewis-Clark State 74-64. Cartwright is a graduate student at Providence after playing three seasons at Concordia of Portland.

Cartwright’s younger sister, Kenedy Cartwright (Chiawana), also plays for the Argos.

Earlier this season, Providence teammate Emilee Maldonado (Sunnyside) also scored her 1,000th career point for the Argos.

• Former Tri-City American Carey Price earned his 47th career shutout as a goalie for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens when they beat Florida 4-0 on Saturday.

The vaults him over Ken Dryden into the Canadiens’ No. 3 all-time spot in that category.

Dryden had 46.

Jacques Plantes is second on the list with 59, while George Hainsworth is No. 1, with 75 shutouts.

MCC boys basketball standings

Through games of Feb. 1

Chiawana 13-1 MCC/17-1 overall

Kamiakin 11-3/15-3

Kennewick 11-3/13-4

Walla Walla 10-4/14-4

Richland 8-7/11-8

Southridge 5-9/6-12

Hanford 3-12/5-14

Pasco 2-12/3-15

Hermiston 1-13/2-16

MCC girls basketball standings

Through games of Feb. 1

Chiawana 13-1 MCC/16-2 overall

Kennewick 12-2/15-2

Walla Walla 9-5/13-5

Pasco 9-5/12-5

Hermiston 8-6/11-7

Richland 7-8/8-11

Kamiakin 3-11/4-14

Hanford 3-12/4-15

Southridge 0-14/3-15