The last time the Rainier Mountaineers stepped onto the W.F. West court, they put forth a magical fourth-quarter effort to shock Adna and reach the 2B District 4 mountaintop.
Six days later, Rainier’s magic vanished.
Eighth-seeded Northwest Christian (Colbert) staggered the top-seeded Mountaineers in the 2B state opening round 53-42 Friday, Feb. 28 at W.F. West. Rainier suffered its third straight defeat in the first weekend of the tournament dating back to 2023, but only the most recent came against a lower seed.
The Mountaineers will have to take the long road to accomplish their state-championship aspirations, a road they didn’t envision just six days ago. With a win Friday, they would've skipped the Round of 12 and advanced to the quarterfinals.
“The longer path is sometimes the more rewarding one,” Rainier coach Brandon Eygabroad said. “We’ll see if we can make something special out of it this year.”
Rainier, donning “B3LIEVE” warmup shirts before the game, was joined by senior captain Brooklynn Swenson, who sat on the bench in a wheelchair just hours after a morning surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles suffered in the district title game. She received a warm welcome from the Rainier faithful both when she was wheeled into the gym and when she was announced as a non-starter.
“I didn’t even have a question that she was gonna be here,” Eygabroad said.
Swenson’s absence was felt from the opening moments. She had an uncanny ability to snag defensive rebounds in traffic and push the basketball down the court in transition, but Rainier couldn’t replicate those skills in the first quarter.
The Crusaders imposed their will from the first possession, pulling down numerous offensive rebounds and drawing contact. They jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Angelica Askey and Jazzlyn Shumate drew the Mountaineers within a point. But it was all Northwest Christian for the final five minutes of the frame, with the Crusaders storming in front via a 16-3 run to take a 23-9 lead into the second quarter.
Junior post Macey Shamblin was a nuisance down low, swallowing up every Northwest Christian missed shot and either scoring an easy layup or earning a trip to the charity stripe.
Rainier’s offense, mostly consisting of Askey scoring at will, found some life in the second quarter but still struggled to feed the ball inside to Janess Blackburn and Lexi Beckman. Askey tallied 12 of the Mountaineers’ 16 second-quarter points to draw within single digits with a 34-25 halftime score.
The third quarter was a defensive slugfest, and the Mountaineers failed to take advantage of limiting the Crusaders to nine points by only scoring three points themselves. Rainier earned some clean looks, including a few open outside shots from senior Bryn Beckman, but the lid would not come off the basket.
Needing another fourth-quarter spark for the second time in six days, Rainier found some momentum to inch closer thanks to buckets by Askey and Kaysen Bravo. Askey’s fourth 3-pointer of the night cut the lead to 47-38 with 2:50 remaining, but too many Crusaders offensive rebounds and putbacks doomed the Mountaineers, whose comeback hopes fell short in the 53-42 loss.
Askey led all scorers with 28 points, with no other Mountaineer scoring more than five. Shamblin paced Northwest Christian with 22 points, the majority of which coming off of putback layups.
“One of the emphases was to box out. We didn’t execute that. They were a little more physical,” Eygabroad said. “They crashed the boards really hard and made it really tough on us. We definitely got beat on the rebounds tonight. That definitely was one key factor in the game.”
Rainier will face ninth seed Mabton in a loser-out Round of 12 matchup Wednesday, March 5 at 9 p.m. in Spokane. Eygabroad said his senior-heavy team must take a deep look within in order to avoid a second straight winless trip to state.
“Right now, at the end of the season, it’s, ‘How bad do you guys want it?’ We’re good enough to beat these teams. We’re one of the best teams in the state,” he said. “It’s a matter of going out there, grinding possession for possession, not having the little mental lapses in the middle of the game, and truly playing together for 32 minutes because that’s what it’s going to take to continue to win from here.”
