Photo by John F. Cleveland, IITonasket High School senior Cierra Silverthorn moves closer to the basket during Tonasket’s District Playoff game against Chelan on Feb. 21. Silverthorn has signed on to play for Walla Walla Community College next year.
TONASKET – Dana Pryor and Cierra Silverthorn, both seniors at Tonasket High School, will be playing against each other in college next season.
Pryor will be playing for Wenatchee Valley College (WVC) under head coach Rachel Goetz.
“WVC actually went to a lot of my games during high school,” Pryor said. “Half the season was over when they started coming to games and asking me if I wanted to play for them. It was the beginning of May when I signed the intent to play.”
Pryor said she chose to play for WVC because she knows a lot of people who have played for them in the past and was told it was a really fun college to play for.
“We recruited [Pryor] because she is a local talent and kids from North Central Washington are always good to have in our program,” Goetz said. “[Pryor’s] got a ton of talent, she fits our system and we know how she works with team mates. She has a great work ethic and she’s willing to put in work and time in the off season and that’s what it’s all about for a college athlete.”
She added that Pryor comes from a successful high school program and she likes having athletes who know how to win.
“She’ll do great at the college level,” Goetz said. “We aren’t going to recruit kids who we don’t think will have the opportunity to succeed. WVC is in the same region with Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) so we’ll play them twice in league. [Pryor and Silverthorn] will get to battle it out but they both seem like good competitors. It should be great. We’re excited for Pryor to come to us and be a part of our team.”
Silverthorn will be playing for WWCC next year under head coach Bobbi Hazeltine.
“[Silverthorn] had a good career at Tonasket and we followed her for a couple of years,” Hazeltine said. “She had good stats so we visited with her for most of the year. When her season ended, she came down and visited and had a great try-out. I think she’ll do great. She’s probably one of the freshmen I think can make an impact at the beginning. She’s good inside and outside and she understands the game really well. I think she has a chance to play right away.”
Hazeltine added that it’s very common for local freshman to play against each other at the junior college level and that she thinks the game against WVC will have a little more emotion but that each girl will focus on their new teams and play.
Former Tonasket girls’ basketball head coach Greg Moser, who coached both girls for four years, said he thinks they will both be very successful.
“I think [Pryor] is going to do well. She’s a very athletic young lady with a lot of undeveloped talent and WVC is a good fit for her,” Moser said. “I think WWCC is a really good for [Silverthorn]. She’ll hopefully get to play in the three spot but she’s strong enough for the four spot. I’m excited for them and looking forward to watching them play.”
