Mountaineers snap Riverhawks’ 8-game win streak in 66-20 thrashing

Rainier holds Toledo to 4 second-half points

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The Toledo Riverhawks ran into a buzzsaw unlike any they have seen this season when the Rainier Mountaineers cruised to a 66-20 home win Friday, Jan. 17.

Rainier denied Toledo of a ninth straight win and handed the Riverhawks their worst loss of the season in which they surrendered a season-high 66 points and scored a season-low 20 points. In fact, only one of Toledo’s previous 13 opponents had surpassed the 50-point mark before it ran into Rainier.

The Mountaineers played to the beat of head coach Brandon Eygabroad’s drum as he set the tone for his team before the game.

“My pregame speech was about how our whole goal for this game is to continue to make the right play. They’re a good defensive team and they’re well-coached,” he said. “I was impressed with our performance.”

In the early moments of the Central 2B League contest, it appeared that fans were bound to watch a heavyweight tilt between two of the top teams in the league. Rainier was a bit sloppy in the first quarter with some poor passes but maintained a 16-8 lead heading into the second.

Senior Bryn Beckman, making her home debut after missing most of the season with a knee injury, canned a pair of 3-pointers within a minute to give the Mountaineers some separation. She tallied 10 points in the frame, and fellow senior Brooklynn Swenson blitzed the Riverhawks with steals, layups and jumpers to extend Rainier’s lead. The Mountaineers rode a 18-3 run to the locker room as they led 39-16 at halftime.

Toledo also had trouble defending posts Lexi Beckman and Janess Blackburn, who combined for 14 first-half points.

“Our post defense was pretty weak tonight. We didn’t do a good job of getting the post off the block or keeping them from catching the ball off the block,” Toledo head coach Randy Wood said. “That was the biggest problem. I thought our closeouts were a little bit slow tonight, too. I think we can play better defense than that.”

A one-sided first half became a much more one-sided second half as Swenson continued her hot shooting into the third quarter with two quick triples. Toledo responded with two buckets to make it 47-20 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, but that was the last time the Riverhawks would score in the game.

Rainier sailed to the finish line by scoring the final 19 points, including all 12 points recorded in the fourth quarter to win 66-20.

“They’re the best team we’ve played so far this year,” Wood said of Rainier. “We haven’t faced Adna or Napavine yet, but they’re definitely the best team we’ve seen this year.”

Swenson and Blackburn led all scorers with 16 points apiece while Bryn Beckman added 14 points. Lexi Beckman notched nine points and made some dazzling assists to her teammates.

“I swear every time I look she’s gotten 10 times better. The scary part is she’s only 14. She’s an eighth grader,” Eygabroad said of Lexi Beckman. “The sky’s the limit for this kid. She continues to make the right play.”

After they held a 21-13 lead with 5:30 left in the first half, the Mountaineers put the Riverhawks in a chokehold, outscoring them 45-7 while forcing a dozen turnovers over the final 21 minutes and 30 seconds.

Eygabroad was proud of how his team came out of the gates with a spark for the second straight game after struggling early in previous games before finding the spark later.

“Defensively, we kept our girl in front. We were ready to help. I thought we communicated better today,” Eygabroad said. “I think they’re realizing that we have seven games and 11 practices left. Before, there was this ‘Who’s gonna do it?’ Now it’s like, ‘We’re gonna do it together and this is how we’re gonna do it. We’re gonna play our game no matter the score.’”

Rainier (11-2, 2-1 C2BL) hopes to keep playing its brand of winning basketball against a 3A powerhouse when it visits White River Saturday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. White River has been a C2BL assassin this season, dropping both Adna and Napavine by double digits.

Toledo (10-4, 1-1 C2BL) will host Onalaska (10-3, 0-2 C2BL) on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. before visiting Adna two nights later.