History made as Tri-Cities Prep girls capture league title

This season will go down as a special one for the Tri-Cities Prep girls basketball team, which beat visiting Liberty Christian 60-45 on Saturday in the final game of the regular season to earn the Jaguars a share of the league title for the first time in their history.

The Jaguars (15-4, 12-2) are co-EWAC champions with White Swan and Mabton, but they will get the league’s top seed heading into the District 5/6 playoffs.

And the future of TCP girls basketball looks bright thanks to the continued stellar play of freshman Talia von Oelhoffen, who scored 23 points and made 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter to lift the team over LC. Katie Steele matched von Oelhoffen with four 3-pointers on the night to lead the Patriots with 22 points, while Maddie Godwin had a double-double with 11 points, 11 boards and four assists.

Prep gets a bye through the first round of districts, and will play its opening game at 4:15 p.m. Feb. 10 at Granger High School.

TRI-CITIES PREP 57, LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 49: Kobe Singleton went 3 of 8 from deep for 18 points to go with his nine rebounds and four steals as the host Jaguars scrapped their way past the Patriots to claim the EWAC’s No. 2 seed for districts.

Stefan Geist added 17 points for Prep and Bubba Valencia 14. LC’s stats were not reported.

The Jaguar boys (17-2, 12-2) also get a bye through the first round of districts, and will play their opening game at 11 a.m. Feb. 10 at Granger High School. With the league’s No. 3 seed in hand, Liberty Christian (12-8, 10-4) will face Central Washington B No. 6 seed Waterville-Mansfield (10-10, 7-9) at 6 p.m. Friday at Granger in a loser-out game.

This story was originally published February 3, 2018 at 9:34 PM with the headline "History made as Tri-Cities Prep girls capture league title."