The Rainier girls basketball team raced out to a huge early lead Saturday and saw out a rather comfortable non-league win over 1A Eatonville, beating the Cruisers 60-36.
“Overall, the girls played a hard-fought game,” Rainier coach Brandon Eygabroad said. “We still have a lot of room for improvement in these weeks leading up to Districts.”
Eatonville had few answers for the Mountaineers’ press early, with the hosts racing out to a 24-7 lead after a quarter and starting the second on a 10-0 run. By halftime, it was 40-14.
“We had a great start, but struggled keeping the intensity coming out of the half,” Eygabroad said.
In that second half, Eatonville started to find a few more answers, keeping things mostly even in the third quarter before outscoring Rainier in the fourth as the clock wound down.
Angelica Askey led the early charging, slotting home 16 of her team-high 22 points in the first half. Brooklynn Swenson added 18 points.
Swenson also led the defense with five steals; Askey, Anika Plowman, and Acacia Murphy all followed her up with four, and Rainier finished with 21 as a team, forcing 30 Eatonville turnovers. Murphy brought down eight rebounds to pace the Mountaineers on the glass.
Rainier will return to league play Wednesday against the defending C2BL champs, hosting Wahkiakum.
