Or having your niece play the basketball game of her life in the biggest game of yours.

Redmon's title-winning performance was a surprise to both coaches, Uncle Jim and Prairie's Al Aldridge, though Aldridge said he's warned his players that the 6-footer was Lewis and Clark's x-factor.

"It was just waiting to happen," said Aldridge, who had to settle for his third runner-up finish, to go with four titles, since 1994. "But not to that extent."

The extent was mind-blowing considering that Redmon had scored just 15 points in Lewis and Clark's first three tournament games. She was so under the radar that she wasn't even voted to the all-tournament team, for which ballots are due by halftime of the championship game but often submitted well before.

On the other hand, those watching carefully will have noted an extremely versatile player with length, good wing and guard skills, good court sense and a good mid-range offensive game. Redmon's ability to create off the dribble, for example, helped create early foul trouble for Alex Montgomery in the quarterfinals against Lincoln. Most of the time, she wisely deferred to the team's star, Heather Bowman, a nationally rated power-forward prospect who is headed to Gonzaga and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Redmon, the player, spun the wheels right off Prairie's championship wagon while revealing just about every part of her offensive repetoire during a telltale and timely, 2-minute, 46-second stretch near the beginning of the second quarter. After planting a foul-line jumper and a put-back, she buried a pull-up jumper after delivering a convincing ball fake to start her move. Then she crashed inside for a three-point play and completed the outburst by attacking the rim after a filthy inside-out dribble move for her 10th and 11th points of the stretch.

All told, Remond made all eight of her field-goal attempts in the first half, ran that string to nine before missing her 10th attempt and finished 10 for 12 from the field. She also usd her vantage point and Prairie's defensive focus to deliver four assists and was disruptive on defense with two steals and a block.

"When she went off like that," said Bowman, who had 16 points, "it just got everyone else going."

Katelan wasn't the only member of the Redmon family who offered up a grand performance. Her uncle, Jim, managed a nearly perfect game.

The Tigers fronted Prairie star Katie Madison and twice planted help defenders on her blind side for early offensive fouls that served to rob the Falcons of an option to get back into the game with physical play. Prairie instead tried to finesse high-post lob entries that either left the receiver too deep under the basket or sailed out of bounds. Lewis and Clark also targeted Prairie's super soph, Ashley Corral, and successfully neutralized the Falcons' two key players, forcing Corral and Madison into a combined 13 turnovers.

His niece may have made him look even better, but Redmon had a Midas touch with his offensive calls throughout the game. Lyndi Seidensticker, the Tigers' sharp-shooting junior, had 10 points, including a pair of threes. Bowman, Ren Mallory and Jade Peone also drained three-pointers and the Tigers shot a blistering 53.8 percent, a pretty remarkable figure for a 4A championship game that figured to be more of a defensive struggle.

Mostly, Katelan Redmon walked into the championship game a little less blinded than earlier in her first state tournament by the bright lights of the Tacoma Dome.

Change was what Redmon said she had sought when she transferred from Mt. Spokane to Lewis and Clark. That, and a desire to play for her uncle.

It was a fortuitous development for Lewis and Clark. The Tigers beat Prairie by three in last year's quarterfinals, but were knocked out of title contention by a hot Snohomish team in the semis and beat rival University to place third. Lightning bolt guard Briann January graduated and now is a freshman at Arizona State, but Redmon's transfer made up for the loss.

"It's been different, but I've liked it," Redmon said of playing for her Uncle. "He has treated me like he treats everyone else."

On that point, coach Redmon agreed.

"She may have been family," he said, "but, bottom line, I treated her like everyone else."

And that, uncle and niece being on the same page, was another unexpected pleasure on an evening full of them.