By Nisqually Valley News staff
Rainier outscored Onalaska 28-12 in the second half and the Mountaineers cruised past the Loggers, 46-28, to clinch 2B District IV’s fifth and final regional berth on Saturday, Feb. 19 at W.F. West High School.
“It’s a great feeling and it’s one we’ve been working toward and that they’ve really earned,” Rainier coach Brandon Eygabroad said. “It’s a little bit of a relief and a little bit of happiness. (I’m) overjoyed with the opportunity for these girls to play another week of basketball and go on to regionals.”
It was a tight contest in the first half, as Rainier jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the first quarter before Onalaska punched back with a 10-5 run to cut the deficit to two points heading into halftime.
But it was a pivotal fourth quarter where Rainier put the clamps on, holding the Loggers to just one bucket in the final frame while scoring 15 points of their own to secure the win.
Brooklynn Swenson and Bryn Beckman led the charge for the Mountaineers with game-highs of 13 points each. Faith Boesch drilled three 3-pointers to finish with nine points and Isabella Holmes chipped in eight.
Rainier was coming off a winner-to-regionals, loser-to-play-in game on Thursday, Feb. 17, where they lost to Wahkiakum. But just like they’ve done all season, they bounced back after a loss.
The Mountaineers have now won three loser-out games in the district playoffs, and three of their last four games. Eygabroad credits it to his team’s toughness.
“This is one of the most resilient groups of girls I’ve ever coached and they just keep coming back day after day,” Eygabroad said “After a loss, they come back with the same effort, same energy and practice the same mentality. They never back down.”
During the game against Wahkiakum on Feb. 17, the Rainier girls basketball team hit the first basket, a Niemi 3-pointer that put the Mountaineers ahead early, but after the early shot, it was all Wahkiakum in a 60-38 contest.
The Mules scored 18 unanswered points after Niemi’s first shot and ended the first quarter on a 21-3 run.
The Mountaineers could never recover from that opening stretch.
“It was a tough start,” said Eygabroad. “Wahkiakum likes to apply pressure and get after it defensively, and we weren’t quite ready for that pressure tonight and it affected us. We played more into their style of play rather than ours. We played more like ourselves in the second half but it was too late by then. We could never claw our way back in.”
No Rainier player cracked double figures in a tough night shooting, but Swenson and Boesch led the Mountaineers with nine points a piece. Beckman also finished with eight points.
On Sunday, Feb. 20, the Mountaineers were seeded 11th in the 2B conference. They will play No. 14 seed Columbia (Burbank) at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 25 at Tumwater High School.
