Top 2021 Announces Top 5

Washington's top player in the junior class has announced her top five schools. 5'11 guard Talia von Oelhoffen has cut her list of schools she is considering down to UConn, Oklahoma, Oregon State, UCLA and Stanford. The recent Chiawana High School transfer is coming off of a huge sophomore season where she averaged over 27 points per game, while leading Tri Cities Prep to a 2b State Championship and winning MVP at the State Tournament. She is a skilled scorer with the ability to shoot the ball from deep with ease. Talia has been a highly recruited player dating back to her 7th grade year, playing on the Northwest Blazers travel ball team. UConn has been actively recruiting her for the last few years, making her one of the few players out of Washington to ever be actively recruited and offered by Geno Auriemma. UConn has been out to Chiawana this Fall and followed her throughout the spring and summer. Oklahoma is not shy about trying to snag elite northwest area players. Senior Jordyn Jenkins strongly considered the Sooners before choosing USC this Fall. Oklahoma also heavily recruited former Team USA Gold Medalist and NW Blazer alum, Joslyn Tinkle out of Missoula, Montana. The 6'4 forward came down to Sherri Coale with Oklahoma and Tara VanDerveer with Stanford. The Stanford Cardinal ultimately won that recruiting battle. Nonetheless, over a decade later, Hall of Famer Sherri Coale is back in another battle with Stanford for the talents of a Northwest Blazer. Oregon State has very strong northwest roots with four northwest players on their current roster. Multiple Northwest Blazer alum are connected to Oregon State, including former Pac-12 Player of the Year, Jamie Weisner. Maybe the most important connection could be OSU assistant coach Katie (Baker) Faulkner who played with Weisner on Steve Klees' Blazer teams all growing up. Current Oregon State guard Aleah Goodman suited up For Steve Klees' Blazer program for multiple years as well, before joining the Cal Stars for her final club season. UCLA recently recruited one of the regions top forwards in Dalayah Daniels of Garfield High School and Tree of Hope, but she chose California. They will look to have a different outcome with von Voelhoffen. Lastly, Stanford has been extremely successful recruiting the Evergreen State. Current Stanford standouts include Lexie and Lacie Hull out of Central Valley High School and Anna Wilson who played her senior season at Bellevue High School. As mentioned before, Joslyn Tinkle played for Stanford and two other former Northwest Blazers spent multiple years starting for the Cardinal with Brittany McPhee (Mount Rainier HS/WA) and Kaylee Johnson (Wyoming) enjoying successful careers there. All of this being said, there are lots of potential leads for all of these schools, but only one school will be able to receive Talia's talents. Whichever school gets her will be getting a three level scorer that can truly see a play or two ahead on the floor. She has a lot of natural strength and a mental edge over many of her opponents. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.