Knights' Briana Cedillo joins the Lady Vikings
Jul. 15MOSES LAKE Briana Cedillo from the Royal Knights girls basketball team has signed with Big Bend Community College and will join the Lady Vikings womens basketball program."It's been a long time coming," Cedillo said. "I was kind of late to the decision. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep playing or not, but coach (Preston) Wilks and all the girls there were really great."According to BBCC womens basketball Head Coach Preston Wilks, Cedillo almost decided not to pursue college basketball. However, a change of heart led Cedillo to make it official with the Lady Vikings program.Wilks said he feels her journey to committing to BBCC will benefit her in the long run when she hits the hardwood. He noted seeing other players of his in the past go through similar experiences and realize they were not ready to give up basketball."They realize, 'Man, I really want to play,' and they come back with a fire in their belly, and that's what pushes them to be good," Wilks said. "Briana had a mini version of that experience where she went cold for a month and thought she wasn't going to play and realized that was probably a mistake, and so I think that's going to really help her and fuel her desire and passion to keep getting better."For Cedillo, the impression Wilks and the Vikings made on her played a significant role in her decision."Coach Wilks was really convincing," she said. "I wanted to go somewhere where the team came first, and winning as a team. He really emphasized that and there's some schools I kind of talked to where it wasn't really the biggest emphasis. But I think with (good) team culture, winning comes with team culture."As a Knight, Cedillo left a legacy. According to Head Coach Farrah Wardenaar, Cedillo tied the school record for most three pointers in a single game with seven and received All-League honors since her sophomore season. In her senior season, she knocked down 37 three pointers which helped her finish with a career total of 98.In addition to the individual accolades, Cedillo noted the growth she got to experience in the Knights program and with each season came improvement as a team. In spring 2026, the Knights finished third in the 1A state girls' basketball tournament, which also happened to be the teams first appearance since 2001.Though accolades and team success have curated several long-lasting memories, her favorite of all was getting to play alongside her sister Vanesa Cedillo, Briana said."I got to play three years with her," Cedillo said. "We were both on varsity together, I think assisting each other was really fun."As she reflected on her time with the Knights, Cedillo said the experience prepared her to take on a lot of responsibility."I was on varsity as a freshman," Cedillo said. "Just helping the team and finding a way to help the team in any way I can, whether that was just bringing the ball up when I was a freshman to carrying some of the point load in my later years."Now she takes her abilities as a player and teammate to BBCC as a Lady Viking. Wilks expressed excitement with what Cedillo is bringing to his team for the next two seasons. While recruiting her, he was able to track down a game against Wapato that had been streamed on YouTube, he said."I can see that she's versatile, she can play guard, and we like our guards to be able to handle it. We'd love every single one of our guards to have some point guard experience because that feeds into what we like to do offensively," Wilks said.When she took a visit to Big Bend to practice with the team, she also made a positive impression through some friendly competition."She's really fast, and one day we had her do a foot race against one of our fastest players, and it was neck and neck, and she beat her right at the end," he said. "She's quick, she can handle the ball, she can shoot the three, and offensively that's all great. Defensively she's a little pest out there on the perimeter; she knows how to get down there and get up into you, and that's going to play really well for what we like to do defensively."While Wilks had a lot of time to get to know Cedillo directly, he also did his own research on the side. What he came to find was the character of the player that is joining his program."We always do our due diligence and talk to people about these recruits," he said. "Either their coach or other people that we know, and everything that we've heard about Briana is that she's a quality person. She's responsible, accountable, a good student, likable (and) coachable. We're excited to have somebody with that type of character coming to join our team."
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