The Rainier Mountaineers girls basketball team may boast one of the best defenses in the state. In their home win over Central 2B League foe Winlock on Wednesday, Jan. 3, the Mountaineers held the Cardinals to 14 points, one night after holding Mountain View to 29 points in a 51-29 victory.
The dominance continued on Friday, Jan. 5 at Wahkiakum, as Rainier silenced the home crowd with a 59-17 win. To wrap up the week, the Mountaineers defeated non-league foe Raymond-South Bend on Saturday, Jan. 6 by a score of 71-31.
With the help of its defense, Rainier scored 82 points against Winlock — the most the team has scored in a game in head coach Brandon Eygabroad’s tenure, which began in the 2018-19 season.
The Mountaineers raced out to a 26-5 start through the first quarter against the Cardinals behind a bevy of steals and transition baskets, including from junior guard/forward Bryn Beckman who outscored Winlock, 10-8, in the first quarter alone. Their dominance grew in the second quarter, scoring another 26 points to Winlock’s 3 to take a 52-8 lead at the break.
“We came out and played our game. We got after it on the defensive side, created turnovers and got easy baskets in transition,” Eygabroad said of the victory. “On offense, we shared the ball and knocked down shots, but the defense caused a lot of those easy buckets. It was nice to fill up the scoreboard.”
Eygabroad subbed his starters out with a 66-10 lead more than three minutes into the second half.
The Mountaineers’ second unit continued the defensive shutdown in the fourth quarter, clamping the Cardinals to 2 points in the final period to finish off the 82-14 victory. Beckman finished with a game-high 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half. Anika Plowman came off the bench and provided 14 points, Brooklynn Swenson scored a dozen and Angelica Askey scored 10.
Askey dropped 25 points in the Mountaineers’ win over Raymond-South Bend on Saturday, a game in which Rainier started slowly in the first quarter.
Eygabroad said his team’s sluggish start was due to the wear and tear of four games in five days. The Mountaineers picked it up thanks to Askey scoring in bunches, primarily with 20 first-half points.
In a battle of the last two remaining unbeaten teams in Central 2B League play, the Mountaineers (13-0, 6-0 C2BL) visited Napavine (13-1, 6-0 C2BL) on Tuesday, Jan. 9, but results were not available as of press time.
Prior to the game, Eygabroad said the matchup against the Tigers would be a tough one, as they swept the Mountaineers in two meetings last year.
“We battled with them last year. It’s gonna be a tough game, going into their place and in their environment,” Eygabroad said about Tuesday’s game. “We’ve just got to play our game. I keep telling the girls that if we can play Rainier basketball, dictate out there on the floor and set the tone early, we’re going to be in a position to win the game at the end.”
Rainier will next host Toutle Lake in a home league contest at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11.
After that contest, four of the final six regular season games will be on the road.
