ONALASKA — Every coach wants their team to “set the tone” early. It’s a commonly used cliché, but it’s also true that teams that start fast can seize control of a game before it really gets going.

That’s what happened in Onalaska on Wednesday, as Rainier came out firing in its 57-30 victory over the Loggers.

Rainier opened the game on a 13-0 run, the perfect start for a squad that was looking to bounce back from a loss at Adna. In that game, they trailed 18-6 after the first quarter.

“We wanted to come out of our loss the other night and really send a message of who we are and what kind of basketball we want to play,” Rainier coach Brandon Eygabroad said. “I thought we played really unselfishly tonight and got the job done.”

The Mountaineers led by 15 at the break, and they pushed the lead to 27 by going on a 12-0 run to start the third quarter. The Loggers didn’t get on the board in the third until there were fewer than four minutes on the clock.

“That’s not the way we wanted to come out,” Onalaska coach Alana Olson said. “It’s tough to battle back against a good team when you come out like that. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails a little bit.”

While those runs helped build the Mountaineers’ lead, they did plenty in between and after to maintain it.

Rainier made sure to work the ball inside to Janess Blackburn and Lexi Beckman, and they both had success in the paint. Blackburn finished with a game-high 21 points, and Beckman added eight.

When they weren’t scoring, they were able to kick it out to open shooters. Brooklynn Swenson hit a pair of threes during the opening run, and Bryn Beckman hit a three in the second as part of her seven-point night.

“Janess had a really, really good game,” Eygabroad said. “When she’s going, it makes everyone’s life easier. Anytime we can get it and work from the inside-out, it makes the offense run a lot more smoothly.”

Rainier’s defense also did its part, holding Onalaska to its lowest scoring output of the season.

The Loggers didn’t score 10 or more points in a single quarter, and Emalie Jacoby was the lone Logger to hit double-figures with 11.

“We struggled to move without the basketball,” Olson said. “We got a little passive, and we let them dictate what we were doing. We need to be sharper and we need to execute better.”

It’s just the second loss of the season for Onalaska (10-2, 0-1 C2BL), which had won five in a row coming into its league opener. It doesn’t get any easier on Friday, as the Loggers will host Adna.

“This is what we need to get better,” Olson said. “It’s a good learning experience … We just have to get better every single game. That’s our goal.”

The Mountaineers (10-2, 1-1 C2BL) are now back to .500 in league play after their first league win, and they’ll return home Friday to host Toledo.

“Anytime you take a loss, it makes you look yourself in the mirror,” Eygabroad said. “We did that, and we decided we were gonna get better from it … We did a really good job and made them earn everything.”