Rainier triumphs over Toledo in loser-out thriller

Behind a 26-point opening quarter and enough defense down the stretch, the Mountaineers pulled off a 52-41 victory over the Riverhawks on Thursday night in an elimination Class 2B District 4 game in Rochester.

It earned a small bit of revenge after losing the regular season meeting 31-25.

“I saw some maturity and leadership from all our girls and couldn’t be more proud of them,” Mountaineers head coach Jordan Hunt said. “We knew that Toledo is a good team and our only shot was to battle for all four quarters.”

Kaysen Bravo paced Rainier with 19 points while Lexi Beckman added 13 and Anika Plowman chipped in 10. Despite scoring just two points in the second, it still led for the majority of the second half.

Toledo’s season came to an abrupt end with two straight losses. Ryah Stanley is the lone senior on the roster and she finished her prep career with seven points. Ellie Fallon paced the Riverhawks with 18 points. Lairson added 11 rebounds, and Fallon added four steals.

It was Stanley's last game as a Riverhawk, as she'll be the lone senior to graudate this spring.

"We want to thank her for all of her time spent in the gym, hard work, and positive leadership this year," Toledo coach Brian Layton. "She will be missed."

"We hope that we will have several returnees that weill be hungry this offseason to get better," Layton continued. "This group was a pleasure to coach, and I look forward to working with them in the future."

Rainier now gets Onalaska next week in another loser-out contest.