Aberdeen Christian’s lone senior came up big on Senior Night to help the Knights cap their regular season with a key victory.

Rachel Beaner scored a career-high 13 points to help power the Knights to a 49-22 Lake Region Conference girls’ basketball win over Langford Area Thursday night at the Aberdeen Civic Arena. The win assured Christian of the seventh seed in the upcoming Region 1B tournament next week.

Beaner helped take the Knights to a 14-3 first-quarter lead with a pair of three-point field goals, then added seven points in a 30-7 second-half surge as Christian pulled away from a four-point halftime lead.

“This was a special night for her,” said Knights coach Cristian Martinez of his point guard. “She was looking forward to that one, and she had a really good shot today, and played amazing. It was her night.”

Christian set the tone early as Rachel Beaner and Chloe Holt each hit two 3-pointers in the opening quarter. Martinez was pleased with the way the Knights started.

“We started amazing. I was looking forward to this start the whole season,” Martinez said. “We’ve been struggling the whole season, so I was looking for this one.”

In the second quarter, Langford Area was able to rally, outscoring the Knights 12-5. Eighth-grader Alexandria Darling scoring eight of the 12 points, as the Lions cut the Knights lead to 19-15 at halftime.

The second half began a lot like the first half, with Holt and Beaner each knocking down a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 25-15. Chloe Bosma nailed another 3-pointer and Beaner added a pair of free-throws to extend the lead to 35-20 at the end of the third quarter. The Knights offense continued to run on all cylinders, while the defense clamped down on the Lions offense.

Martinez noted how the team responded on defense.

“Defense was amazing today,” Martinez said. “They did everything I told l them to do, and they tried as hard as they could, so that was great.”

The defensive effort did not stop for the Knights, as they allowed Langford Area just two fourth-quarter points, while scoring 14 points of their own to finish the game strong.

Beaner noted how the team came together for the last regular season home game.

“I thought we moved the ball really well,” Beaner said, “just played really good on defense, and just trusted each other.”

Bosma and Holt each added 11 points to the Christian total, while Sophia Fogarty had eight.

Darling led Langford Area with nine points, while Megan Gustafson added five points.

Martinez noted the team will need to continue to work hard to prepare for the Region 1B tournament next week.

“We need to go prepare and keep moving forward and see what we’re going to do,” Martinez said.

Christian (2-18) will play in the Region 1B tournament next week, while Langford Area (3-14) will host Ipswich on Friday in its regular season finale.

LANGFORD AREA (3-14): Bryanna Peterson 1 0-0 2, Montana Marlow 1 0-0 2, Kylie Schock 1 0-0 2, Megan Gustafson 2 1-2 5, Alexandria Darling 3 2-5 9, Eliana Darling 1 0-0 2. Totals 9 3-7 22.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (2-18):  Rachel Beaner 3 4-4 13, Jolie Fogarty 1 0-0 2, Bailey Hunstad 1 0-0 2, Chloe Holt 3 2-2 11, Sophia Eichler 1 0-0 2, Chloe Bosma 4 1-2 11. Totals 15 11-15 49
Langford Area 3 15 20 22

Aberdeen Christian 14 19 35 49

3-pt field goals – Darling; Beaner 3, Holt 3, Bosma 2. Total fouls – Langford Area 15; Aberdeen Christian 10.