ROCHESTER — Saturday evening in Rochester had a familiar feel to it.
Just like last year, Onalaska and Mossyrock faced off in the first round of the 2B District 4 Tournament in Rochester on the eve of the Super Bowl
And just like last February, the Loggers came out on top of a defensive battle, advancing to the district quarterfinals with a 42-29 win.
“A win’s a win,” Onalaska coach Alana Olson said. “The girls did what they had to do to get the job done.”
Early on, it looked like a repeat of the regular-season finale was in store. On Tuesday, Onalaska topped Mossyrock by 38, and on Saturday, the Loggers opened the game on a 7-0 run before building an 18-3 lead by the end of the first.
In that opening frame, Leighton Underhill and Randi Haight both hit two three-pointers, and the Loggers held the Vikings without a field goal. All three of Mossyrock’s points in the frame came from the free-throw line, and the Vikings didn’t connect from the field until three minutes into the second. By that point, Onalaska led 25-3.
“That’s exactly how you want to come out in districts,” Olson said. “I thought our defensive communication was great in the first quarter. We didn’t give them any easy looks.”
Mossyrock went into the locker room down 18, but began to show signs of life in the third. Kendall Cournyer and Taylor Schwartz both scored four points in the frame, and the Vikings held the Loggers to just eight points. At one point, they were back within 10.
The offense couldn’t continue to execute efficiently enough to complete the comeback in the fourth, though, as they scored just six points in the final frame.
“They could have laid down and quit, and they didn’t do that,” Mossyrock coach Nick Rashoff said. “We just can’t come out of the gate slow. We just gotta figure out a way to execute from the get go till the buzzer at the end. Just work harder, match the aggressiveness, or set the tone ourselves, and do that for a full game.”
After scoring 28 in the first half, Onalaska scored just 14 points as a team in the second half, something Olson chalked up to a lack of energy.
“We were patient in the first half, but we weren’t passive,” Olson said. “I thought that we got a little complacent on offense in the second half.”
Haight finished with a game-high 13 points, including three three-pointers, and Olson credited her for her effort and tenacity on both sides of the ball.
“Randi has really come on strong this last half of the year,” Olson said. “She’s got more confident on offense, and her defense is really, really important to this team. She has the toughest assignment every night, and she can play intense defense all 32 minutes.”
Emalie Jacoby finished with 10 points, Underhill ended the evening with eight, and Renzy Marshall tallied four. Mia Olson logged three points, and Leah Hamilton and Kaiyah Sandridge added two apiece.
Cournyer finished with nine points to lead the Vikings, and Taylor Schwartz and Maci Rashoff both scored seven. Calliope Schultz collected four, and Adyson Barrows finished with a pair.
Like last year, Mossyrock finds itself in the elimination bracket after Day 1 of the tournament, but Rashoff is hoping that the similarities between last year and this year continue.
The Vikings need to win three straight elimination games in a row to make the state tournament, a feat they accomplished last winter after falling to Onalaska in the opening round.
The Vikings (10-10) will face either Morton-White Pass or Adna in their first elimination game on Thursday in Centralia.
“I don’t want to be in this position, but like I told them, it’s been done before,” Rashoff said. “Just take it one game at a time and see what happens.”
Onalaska (13-6) is through to the quarterfinals, where its run at a district title ended last year. The Loggers will face Forks, a team they’ve beaten twice this season, on Tuesday in Rochester.
A win would give Onalaska two chances to clinch a state tournament bid, while a loss would mean it would need to win three straight games to punch their ticket.
“They’re scrappy,” Olson said of Forks. “We’re gonna have to get to work and be ready to go.”
