As soon as the postseason lights grow bright, Bryn Beckman delivers for the Rainier High School girls basketball team.
The star of last season’s state tournament run led the third-seeded Mountaineers with 19 points in a win over Morton-White Pass, 66-43, at Rochester High School on Saturday, Feb. 3 to open the District 4 2B tournament.
Early in the game, the Mountaineers looked to be in a dogfight with the Timberwolves, who defeated Kalama Friday night to clinch the final seed in the tournament. Rainier struggled to pass the ball without a pesky Timberwolves defender poking it away, and MWP played aggressively to put the Mountaineers in foul trouble. The lower seed blitzed Rainier with seven unanswered points to close the first quarter leading 17-13.
“We were struggling with their press. The press played right into their game,” Rainier coach Brandon Eygabroad said of the slow start.
The Mountaineers responded with both the first seven points and the final nine points of the second quarter, outscoring MWP 16-3 in the period. They dropped back into a zone defense, which allowed them to force turnovers and tough shots and opened up easier looks on offense.
Beckman and Angelica Askey combined to score 14 of the 16 points in the quarter, and Rainier led 29-20 at halftime.
“I think we really started to focus on moving the ball because we got a little stagnant in the first quarter,” Beckman said. “We decided to get as many passes in as we could so we could get easy buckets instead of OK ones.”
The Mountaineers once again stalled after halftime, failing to score a point for the first three minutes while the T-Wolves drew within four points. Brooklynn Swenson came alive with back-to-back 3-pointers in just 20 seconds, and she followed it up with two more baskets to extend the lead to 13 entering the fourth quarter.
Rainier got a scare entering the fourth quarter as Askey limped to the bench and did not return to the game, but Eygabroad noted the junior “got the wind knocked out of her.”
The Mountaineers carried on without her in the fourth, scoring 21 points in the final eight minutes to cruise to a 66-43 victory. Beckman led the way with 19 points while Swenson scored 15 — 12 in the second half.
“Bryn’s a gamer. She lives for these moments. She has shown time and time again that she’ll rise to the occasion,” Eygabroad said of Beckman. “She’s a true competitor.”
Beckman credited her success to the team playing as one, which comes naturally as many of them have played together since elementary school.
“The biggest thing is that we were playing together so we had a lot of momentum. It’s really cool when we all have energy together and are looking out for each other,” she said.
The Mountaineers advanced to face second-seed Raymond-South Bend from the Pacific 2B League on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at Montesano High School, but results were not available before press time. With a win, Rainier could set up a rematch with Adna as the Central 2B League’s top-seeded team faced Toledo on Tuesday. If the Mountaineers lose to Raymond-South Bend, they would fall to the losers bracket and face Onalaska at 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8 at Castle Rock High School.
