Girls basketball: La Center 45, Rainier 40

Katie Whitten and Andrea Griffey sparked a big fourth-quarter comeback to keep La Center’s season alive and move the Wildcats one game from reach the Class 1A regionals with a 45-40 win over Rainier on Tuesday.

“This was a great comeback for a young team,” La Center coach Herm VanWeerdhuizen said. “We’ve got two sophomores, two freshmen and a junior. They’re still learning, so this was an awesome win for us.”

Rainier lead 32-22 after three quarters. But Whitten scored nine in the fourth quarter, and Griffey added eight to fuel a 23-8 run at the end.

Whitten finished with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Griffey had 11 points, four steals and two assists.

Ashley Denny, playing the post, added seven rebounds and four steals.

La Center will face Woodland in a winner-to-regional/loser-out game Thursday in Chehalis.

LA CENTER 45, RAINIER 40

RAINIER (11-12) — Mortlock 17, Thomas 10, Eygabroad 1, Honik 6, Dungan 6, Turcott 0, Brown 0, Justice 0. Totals 15-42 (4) 6-14 40.

LA CENTER (16-7)– Katie Whitten 18, Danielle Larson 3, Katie Hebdon 0, Andrea Griffey 11, Rachel Moudy 7, Sierra Bloch 0, Ashley Denney 4. Totals 15-38 (5) 10-19 45.

Rainier 12 10 10 8–40

La Center 6 9 7 23–45