Washington Girls Basketball

Warriors Klaus, Barnes sign LOIs

In signing their national letters-of-intent Tuesday, two Washington seniors will be continuing their athletic pursuits at the collegiate level with close friends and teammates.

Kelli Klaus next year will join the basketball program at Colorado Christian University with former Warrior Ashley Piper, now a freshman at the 1,000-student liberal arts college.

And all-state swimmer Morgan Barnes will be attending the University of South Dakota along with Ian Ford, who inked his scholarship offer with the 6,000-student state school last week.

Klaus said she actually became interested in Colorado Christian first, then urged Piper to take a look at it.

Both girls attended Cedar Valley Christian School together before joining the Washington basketball program.

“I visited Colorado Christian on the way back from a family vacation in Arizona before my freshman year in high school,” Klaus said.  “I knew I wanted to go to a small, private Christian school. And I just fell in love with the atmosphere there and how welcome I felt.”

She was only a part-time starter on the Wash sophomore team and played sparingly last year on the varsity, totaling 17 points and 19 rebounds in 17 games.  But Warrior Coach Frank Howell said that at 6-foot-1, she has yet to come near her full potential on the court.

“She’s twice the player she was a year ago because of her work ethic and positive attitude," Howell said. "She has her best basketball ahead of her.

“This will really be only her third year in organized play, so she has a great upside.”

Klaus said she was recruited as much for her leadership skills as her stat sheet.

“But I’ve been working hard on my game.," she said. "I get up and down the floor a lot better. I’m not afraid to shoot.”

She says, though, that her priority in college will be on academics. Her high school transcript is filled with advanced placement courses, and her lowest grade has been an A-minus in math.

Barnes, too, is a straight-A student who is even taking a class this year at Coe College. He plans to major in actuarial science at South Dakota.

“I wanted to swim at a Division I school,” he said. “And they have a real strong math and business program there. So it was a good combination.”

Since recently moving up from Division II competition, South Dakota has been upgrading its swimming facilities and recruiting, Barnes noted.

Like his older brother Nathan before him, he’s had a stellar career at Washington by qualifying for the state meet from the time he was a freshman.

He finished sixth in the 500 yard free style and eighth in the 200 free as a sophomore, then came in third in the 500 and second in the 200 last year.

Coach Chris Cruise said he will be in contention for state titles in both events in the upcoming season.

“Last year Morgan became one of the elite distance swimmers in the state," Cruise said. "And he’s a real leader with his commitment and positive attitude.”

Klaus to sign with Colorado Christian

Kelli Klaus will sign a national letter of intent Tuesday to play women's basketball at Colorado Christian University.

Klaus scored 17 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in 17 games for the Warriors last season as a junior.

She will join former Warrior Ashley Piper at Colorado Christian. Piper is a freshman at Colorado Christian.

Klaus and swimmer Morgan Barnes will sign their letters of intent at a ceremony Tuesday at the Washington cafeteria.

Everybody wins 'Battle of Oney Sisters'

CEDAR FALLS - Craig and Kathy Oney were the proudest parents in the McLeod Center Sunday afternoon.

Two of their daughters - Katelin and Alissa - played against each other in an exhibition basketball game that gave new meaning to the term sibling rivalry.

Katelin, 21, is a senior guard at the University of Northern Iowa, where she's helped the Panthers play in two straight NCAA tournaments. Alissa, 18, is a freshman guard at Maryville University, an NCAA Division II school in St. Louis.

They were on the same team briefly at Cedar Rapids Washington High School in 2008 when Katelin was a senior and Alissa, then a ninth grader, was promoted to the varsity for the state tournament. Other than that, they'd never played with or against each other in a game prior to Sunday's meeting.

"It was awesome, a lot of fun," said Katelin. "It's really weird that something like that gets to happen in a basketball season."

Northern Iowa has a much stronger team than Maryville and won the preseason game, 84-49. Both Oney girls played well, although there was a scary moment in the first half when Alissa dove into a pile of players for a loose ball and didn't get up, crying.

"She's a pretty tough kid, doesn't cry a lot," Craig said. "She was hurting. I got sick to my stomach."

Katelin has had three knee operations during her sports career, and for awhile it looked like Alissa may have injured her knee as well. As it turned out, Allisa said it was a "high ankle" injury that she was able to shake off. She returned to action in the second half and appeared to be all right.

"It hurts pretty bad, but I just had to play through it," she said. "We'll have to get it checked out later and see how it is."

Katelin didn't like seeing her kid sister on the floor in pain. "I was pretty nervous," she said. "That's the older sister protective instinct."

Katelin, a starting guard for the Panthers, drilled her first three 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Alissa, a reserve guard, finished with seven points and four rebounds.

They both wore uniform No. 2, and both of them played exactly 19 minutes. They guarded each other a few times on defensive switches, but Katelin is primarily a "2" guard (shooter) and Alissa is primarily a "1" guard (playmaker).

"It was fun playing against her," Alissa said. "Our team could have executed a little better, but I'm happy. It's really fun to have a little sister-big sister showdown. I enjoyed it."

Craig and Kathy Oney sat behind the Maryville bench on Sunday with their two other children. Jessica, 27, was a gymnast at Iowa State and is married with a child of her own. Jason, 16, is a junior at Washington and was a receiver on the football team this year.

Kathy wore a special shirt for the occasion, half-Maryville and half-Northern Iowa. She gave a red Maryville shirt and a purple UNI shirt to a friend and asked her to splice them together.

"I said, 'I would like you to cut these apart and then sew the two different colors back together,' " Kathy related. "She said, 'You want me to do what?' "

Katelin said her kid sister was never a nuisance or a nag when they were younger, even when Alissa wanted to tag along.

"Oh, no. She's a good sister. Growing up we would do a lot of things together," Katelin said.

"Even when I hit that shot on her down there today, she thought she fouled me and said, 'Oh, my bad.' We ran back and laughed together. She's awesome. I love her. She's really cool."

Opponents don't normally talk to each other in the days prior to a game, but that informal rule did not apply in this case. "We talk almost every day," Alissa said.

"It was fun, just being on opposite sides. I love her. She's just a great role model for me. She's obviously a great 3-pointer shooter. I've learned so much from her and I look up to her, so I like having her around."

They gave each other a hug on the handshake line after the game and said a few words. Katelin told Alissa "good game" and "I love you."

"We're all really close," Katelin said. "My family is really close."

Everybody left a winner Sunday, especially when Alissa was able to shake off her injury.

"It was a fun experience, watching the two of them on the court at the same time," Craig said. "I told a couple of people, if they turned all the lights out, I'd probably be glowing."

Kathy felt like a winner before the game was even played. She coached both girls in the Cedar Rapids Panthers AAU basketball program and is proud of how they turned out.

"The thing that was most important to me was when Maryville arrived in town, Katelin went to Alissa's hotel, picked her up and took her back to her apartment and cooked her a home-cooked meal," Kathy said. "That's the victory to me."

Janay Pritchett commits to William Penn

Janay Pritchett never started a game for the Cedar Rapids Washington girls' basketball team during her three years on the varsity, but maybe that will change in college.

Pritchett, a 5-foot-6 guard, has accepted an offer to play at William Penn College in Oskaloosa next season.

Pritchett is the fourth member of Washington's team to find a place to play in college, joining Tia Dawson (Dartmouth), Ashley Piper (Colorado Christian) and Alissa Oney (Maryville, Mo.).

Pritchett, a top reserve for the Warriors this season, averaged 5.8 points and helped Washington (19-4) win a share of the Mississippi Valley Conference title and reach the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state tournament.

Pritchett played in 45 games for Washington as a sophomore, junior and senior, but never made the starting lineup for Coach Frank Howell's club. She wanted to start, but accepted her role and excelled as a spark off the bench.

"I talked to him about that. It really bothered me," said Pritchett. "He said we need you as a sixth player, so I said OK."

William Penn finished 23-10 this season and 12-4 in the Midwest Collegiate Conference for Coach Brian Spielbauer.

Pritchett said she likes the campus in Oskaloosa and likes the fact it's only a few hours from Cedar Rapids.

"I toured the campus," she said. "It's not big, but it's not super small. So that's a big plus."

Pritchett said she wants to major in bio-chemistry.