Chiawana grad von Oelhoffen off to rousing start leading Oregon State’s basketball

Talia von Oelhoffen, who starred at Tri-Cities Prep for a few years before finishing up at Chiawana, leads the Oregon State women’s basketball team in scoring at 14.3 points a game through games of Dec. 12.

The Beavers are 5-3, and von Oelhoffen also leads the team with 24 total assists and 10 total steals.

She also leads the team in 3-point shooting, going 14-for-45 (31%) from the 3-point line.

Von Oelhoffen was also chosen as a member of the Pac-12 Conference preseason all-conference women’s basketball team on Nov. 3.

She graduated early in 2021, then joined the Beavers last January without losing any eligibility, helping lead the team to the NCAA tournament.

Von Oelhoffen is still considered a true freshman by the NCAA.

Prep basketball

▪ Kennewick boys coach Bradyn Leyde was able to reschedule some of his games in order to get some of his players enough practices in to become eligible.

The Lions football team just finished playing in the state 3A championship game, losing 17-13 to Bellevue on Dec. 4.

And seven of those football players are on the varsity basketball roster — Dayton Davis, Jonah Gebers, Simeon Howard, Ayden Knapik, Nathan Knapik, Myles Mayovsky and David Wacenske.

“We did play well without our football players up at North Central,” said Leyde of his team’s 87-56 win over the Spokane school on Dec. 2.

In that game, senior Daniel Dickinson led the Lions with 31 points, while Charlie Tipke-Henry added 23.

Now it’s just a matter a finding the right chemistry.

“I like our group and the makeup, but we have a lot of work to do,” said Leyde.

In their first game together as a group, the Lions lost at Sunnyside 67-63 on Tuesday night.

Three players — Tyler Mattioli-Butcher, Myles Mayovsky and Tipke-Henry — led Kennewick with 11 points each.

Brett Maldonado (22 points) and Noah McNair (20) led the Grizzlies to the victory.

▪ Richland boys basketball coach Earl Streufert is a proponent of good practicing, and said he and his coaching staff are still trying to get to know his team.

“They didn’t get coached by us until now,” said Streufert, after his team beat Chiawana on Friday. “Last spring, all we did was play games.”

One of the things he did do was take the team to Utah for a three-game tournament, something he’s done about four times now.

He said it helped with the cohesiveness, even though the Bombers went 1-2.

“Utah was a really good team camp,” said Streufert. “I felt they needed the time together (out on the road).”

▪ Girls MCC game of the week last Friday was Richland hanging on to beat Chiawana 62-58 last Friday.

In that contest, junior Kylee Fox was 6-for-6 from the free throw line over the final minute to help the Bombers fend off the Riverhawks at Art Dawald Gym.

Fox — who was the MCC Player of the Year back in the shortened spring season — finished with a game-high 31 points for first-year head coach Amy Westerfield.

Mike Brown’s Chiawana team should also be good this season, with Pasco transfer A’niyah Heavens and Camryn Cartwright — both seniors — and freshman Malia Ruud leading the way.

Heavens played just the second half and led Chiawana with 17 points, while Ruud finished with 14.

Ruud is the daughter of Ana Tuiaea-Ruud and Jason Ruud. Jason played football at Kamiakin and then went to Central Washington University. Tuiaea-Ruud was a star athlete at Hanford High School before playing women’s basketball at the University of Washington.

Prep wrestling

Chiawana’s boys had two individual wrestling titles on Dec. 11 at the prestigious Inland Empire tournament at Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley.

Judah Bishop went 4-0 with three pins to earn the 170-pound crown for the Riverhawks, while senior Darion Johnson went 3-0 with a major decision and two pins to take the 182-pound title.

NFL note

Kind of got by me, but when the Dallas Cowboys played host to the Las Vegas Raiders on Thanksgiving Day, it matched up two Mid-Columbia offensive coordinators.

Prosser High grad Kellen Moore is in his second season as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator, while Richland High grad Greg Olson — a long-time NFL veteran coach — has been the Raiders’ OC since 2018.

Olson’s Raiders won the game 36-33 in overtime, with Las Vegas getting 509 yards of offense. Dallas was no slouch either, getting 437 yards of total offense.

Signings and offers

As of Wednesday morning, which was an early signing date for college football, Richland senior Elijah Rodriguez made things official by signing a letter of intent to play football for Eastern Washington University.

Rodriguez, a first-team, All-Mid-Columbia Conference player this fall at both running back and defensive lineman, is expected to play linebacker for the Eagles.

▪ Walla Walla High School senior Aden Goodwin, who plays on the offensive line and as a nose guard on defense, has gotten an offer to play football next fall for Whitworth University.

▪ Pasco High senior Julian Ramirez is headed for Columbia Basin College to play men’s soccer starting in the fall of 2022.

▪ Hermiston senior Grace Vertrees has signed a letter of intent to play volleyball next fall for Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton.

▪ Grandview senior Matthew Sauve will play baseball for Yakima Valley Community College next school year.

▪ Prosser High senior Halle Wright will be heading to Pocatello, Idaho, next fall to play for the Bengals’ women’s basketball team at Idaho State University.

▪ Chiawana senior Connor Mendez has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Arizona Christian University.