TACOMA — Walking out of the Tacoma Dome without the state championship trophy on Saturday night was a difficult proposition for all the Snohomish Panthers, but one member of the girls basketball team was especially sad to go.
Panthers senior Emily Guthrie might never find a better venue to shoot some hoops.
Guthrie was not only the hottest 3-point shooter in this year’s Class 4A state tournament but maybe the most effective this tourney has ever seen. Her 17 3-pointers over four games shattered the state record of 13, which was set in 2006 and matched by Prairie’s Ashley Corral last March. Guthrie was named to the all-tournament team.
Guthrie had 13 3-point goals in three games heading into Saturday night’s championship, in which she nailed 4-of-6 shots behind the arc during a 60-47 loss to Kentwood. For the tournament, Guthrie shot 54.8 percent (17-of-28) from 3-point range.
“Her confidence was up here,” teammate Ally Schmitt said, holding a hand near her hairline. “She helped us immensely this week. She was lights out.”
How lights out? Three teams had lower percentages from the free-throw line during the tournament than Guthrie’s clip of 54.8 — and one of those was the Panthers (53.3).
Still, Snohomish coach Ken Roberts shrugged when asked about Guthrie’s marksmanship during the four-day tournament.
“She’s a good shooter,” he said. “She can shoot like that, but this year she just didn’t get the ball off much. They knew, in league games, to stay on her.”
Guthrie, who nearly doubled her regular-season scoring average of 6.8 points per game with a 13.3 average during the tournament, said she was definitely feeling the hot hand all week.
“The teams were concentrating on (star post player) Katie (Benson), and I kept getting open. So I was in rhythm,” she said. “The atmosphere (of the state tournament) makes me want to make more shots. Hearing people cheer makes me want to make them.”
Guthrie opened the tournament by matching Benson’s team-high 17 points after nailing 5-of-8 shots from behind the 3-point arc, helping the Panthers breeze past Bellarmine 53-34 last Wednesday. The next night, against Garfield, she added two more 3s.
And then, in a Friday semifinal game against highly-regarded Moses Lake, Guthrie buried 6-of-11 shots from behind the arc.
“She’s a gamer,” Roberts said. “I’m the golf coach, and it’s the same with her out there. She finished 10th in the state in golf, and it’s not because she was the 10th best player; it’s because she’s a gamer.”
The Kentwood Conquerors obviously noticed. Guthrie was a focus of their defensive game plan throughout Saturday’s championship.
“One of the key things was to shut her down, and I think we did a good job of that,” said Kentwood senior Shelby Wahlberg, who spent most of the night trying to keep a hand in Guthrie’s face. “She had an awesome tournament, and I think our defense is what won us the championship.”
Guthrie was understandably upset after the loss, but her reddened eyes lit up when told of the state-tournament record she had just set.
“That’s pretty cool,” the 5-foot-8 senior said. “When I come back here, I can see my name in the program.”
Maybe Guthrie will one day return to the Tacoma Dome. But for now, she’ll sure miss it.
“If I could shoot here every day,” she said, “I’d be fine with that.”
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