RAINIER — The Rainier girls basketball team’s guards might draw the eye the most on the highlight reels. But the Mountaineers showed Tuesday against Onalaska that they can win down low when they need to as well, dominating the post in a 63-24 blowout.
“We get away from it sometimes, but it’s one of our strengths, and we’ve got to use it,” Rainier coach Brandon Eygabroad said.
On a night where the Mountaineers (16-1, 8-1 C2BL) shot a tough 3 for 11 from beyond the arc, they were able to start their momentum with defense, and sped it up with buckets upon buckets in the paint.
Janess Blackburn turned in one of her best outings of the season, scoring 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
“She was just kind of dominant down there, finding her shots and being patient,” Eygabroad said.
Guard Brooklynn Swenson joined Blackburn on 15, and the bulk of her points came close to the hoop as well, on drives and cuts.
In true Swenson fashion, she also got her hands dirty to the tune of five rebounds and four steals.
“She does a little bit of everything, and really is the glue to our team,” Eygabroad said.
Angelica Askey added 11 points, while Anika Plowman had eight to go along with a team-high six rebounds.
Rainier’s trio of starting guards — Swenson, Askey and Bryn Beckman — finished with a combined 11 assists, as the Mountaineers’ offense became more and more focused with getting the ball down low fast to the likes of Blackburn, Plowman and Haleigh Hanson.
“Whoever’s night it is, we’re going to go to them and we’re going to feed them, and if we’ve got a mismatch, we’re going to exploit that,” Eygabroad said. “The nice thing about my guards is that they’re unselfish. They’re going to use the bigs, and we’ve just got to remind ourselves that they’re on the court as well, because the guards obviously have a lot of offensive firepower.”
A cold start shooting the ball and a couple Onalaska 3-pointers kept the Loggers (8-10, 3-6 C2BL) in the game early, going into the first break down just 17-10. Over the next two quarters, though, the hosts went on a 42-8 run to blow things open, forcing 22 turnovers on the night off of a frazzled Onalaska side that had trouble just getting the ball up the floor at times.
“We were battling, and defensively we’d play good in the half-court, but every time we turned the ball over, they’re getting points off of their defense,” Onalaska coach Alana Olson said. “That deflated us pretty quickly.”
Jacoby finished with 10 points to lead the Loggers, but only mustered two after the first quarter. Cierra Berg mustered five, and was the only other Onalaska player to make more than one field goal.
Onalaska will host Morton-White Pass on Thursday in its penultimate league matchup. Rainier will head to Toledo on Thursday, then get right back to action with a rematch against Adna, with a top-two seed for the district tournament on the line.
