Last Friday, the Rochester girls basketball team defeated Tenino on the Beavers’ senior night.
This Friday, the Beavers got their revenge, defeating the Warriors 37-28 in a tiebreaker game at Elma to take the Evergreen League’s last district tournament spot.
It’s Tenino’s first district tournament spot since the 2021-22 season.
“They were all pretty excited, and I’m just proud of our whole team,” Tenino coach Kirsi Gofinch said. “I’m so proud of our whole program. It was a team win all the way around. The amount of energy and joy and selflessness that came off the bench tonight was really impressive and I was really proud of them.”
It was a defensive battle throughout, and Tenino held a slim 23-21 lead entering the fourth. The Beavers saved their best offensive quarter for last, scoring 14 points while continuing to shut down the Warriors to pull away.
Kylie Gonia hit five of her six free throws in the fourth to help ice the game late, and Georgia Gore hit a three (her first varsity three) and helped lead the defensive effort.
“Just lockdown defense,” Gofinch said of Gore. “She’s a girl we’ve turned to time and time again to shut down someone, and she busts her butt for 32 minutes. She played a great game for us.”
With the win, the Beavers advance to the 1A District 4 Tournament pigtail game. They’ll head to Castle Rock on Monday, and the winner will advance to the quarterfinals and the double-elimination part of the tournament to face Seton Catholic on Wednesday.
“It was a pretty fun trip home tonight,” Gofinch said. “We’re ready to come out and play Castle Rock, and try to keep the magic going.”
