Tri-Cities Prep girls headed to state for 1st time
The Tri-Cities Prep girls basketball team’s magical season will continue into next week, as the Jaguars laid a crunching defensive effort on the Friday Harbor Wolverines on Saturday to pick up a 55-24 win in a regional game at Chiawana High School, advancing them to the state tournament for the first time.
Prep (18-5) will meet fellow EWAC co-champion White Swan at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the first round of the 2B tournament at the Spokane Arena. The Jaguars and Cougars split their two regular season meetings, and also shared the league crown with Mabton.
The offensive script was a familiar one for TCP, with freshman Talia von Oelhoffen dropping in a game-high 19 points and handing out three assists, and Makenna Brandner adding 12 points and Emily Dickson 10. Von Oelhoffen also paced the team defensively with five steals and three blocks.
The Wolverines were held under 25 percent from the field for the afternoon and hit just 3 of their 17 first-half field goals, en route to trailing 30-8 at halftime. Bailee Lambright had seven points and six boards for Friday Harbor, which finishes the season with an 8-12 record after losing in regionals for the fourth straight year.
WHITE SWAN BOYS 63, TRI-CITIES PREP 59: Kobe Singleton led four Jaguars with at least a dozen points by dropping 18, but Prep couldn’t hold on to extend its season, falling to the Cougars at Chiawana in a loser-out regional game.
Logan Mercado had 12 points and 12 rebounds for No. 10 TCP (19-4), Max Nelson had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Stefan Geist added 12 points.
Prep led by as many as eight points, and held a three-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Kipkana Leavitt had 22 points, 11 rebounds and five steals to lead No. 15 White Swan (12-14), which will play No. 7 Toutle Lake at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of the 2B tournament in Spokane.
Dustin Brennan: 509-582-1413, @Tweet_By_Dustin
This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Tri-Cities Prep girls headed to state for 1st time."