With a win against Adna on Friday, Jan. 26, the Rainier High School girls basketball team had an opportunity to improve their chances at a top-two seed in the upcoming district tournament and finish the regular season with a perfect home record.
The Pirates, in front of a healthy section of fans who made the trip to Rainier, had other plans, stunning the Mountaineers with a 68-57 win.
Rainier fell behind early thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers by the Pirates, as they canned four triples in the opening quarter. The Pirates jumped out to a 18-6 lead through the first quarter and continued their bombardment from behind the arc.
The home crowd, hushed for most of the first quarter, came alive in the second as the Mountaineers finished the half on a 12-5 run, capped off by a wild, buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Angelica Askey. But seven first-half triples by the Pirates kept them in front at the half, 29-24.
Rainier pulled within three points early in the third quarter, but the Pirates’ defense clamped down on the home team and forced numerous turnovers. Adna closed the third quarter on a 15-2 tear to open up a 49-33 lead heading into the final quarter.
“There were a couple of mental lapses on our part that we’ve got to clean up,” head coach Brandon Eygabroad said after the loss. “It’s not impossible to contain their offense, but they were a little crisper and cleaner, and that’s something that we’ve got to work on in practice.”
The Mountaineers, led by Askey’s 19 second-half points, made things interesting in the fourth quarter. They traded baskets with the Pirates and managed to slice the margin to six with less than two minutes left. But Adna knocked down its free throws in the waning moments to clinch the road victory, handing Rainier its first home defeat of the season.
“This is one we really wanted. I thought we battled,” Eygabroad said. “At times, we were down 10-plus points, and we came back. But hats off to Adna. They shot it really well tonight and made some big shots.”
The night was sour for seniors Haleigh Hanson and Lilly Johnson, who fell one game short of finishing their senior year with an unblemished home season. But the Mountaineers have more to accomplish, with two final road games in the regular season before districts.
“We can’t overthink it. We might have lost this game, but it’s always better to lose in January than in February or March,” Hanson said. “Even though we lost this game, we can come back, play them again in districts and see how it goes from there.”
The Mountaineers (17-2, 9-2 Central 2B League) concluded their regular season with road games against Morton-White Pass on Tuesday, Jan. 30 and at Kalama on Wednesday, Jan. 31, but results were not available before press time. District play will begin at Rochester High School on Saturday, Feb. 2, with the opponent and time to be determined.
