SHORELINE — Shorecrest coach Dori Monson has seen it before. With the game on the line, junior guard Brianne Lasconia always seems to step up. She did it when she made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Glacier Peak earlier this season. She did it a week ago when she scored 22 of her 26 points
in the second half to beat Everett.
And boy did she ever do it Friday.
Lasconia scored 14 of her team’s 19 points in the fourth quarter as Shorecrest overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat Meadowdale 46-43 to clinch a spot in the Class 3A state regional.
The Scots (15-7), who have won 13 in a row after starting out 2-7, advance to play Glacier Peak at 8 p.m. Friday at Lynnwood High School for the 3A District 1 championship and the top seed from the district into the regional tourney. Meadowdale (12-8), which had a four-game win streak snapped, plays a loser-out game Tuesday against Ferndale.
“Bri has been that player all season for us,” Monson said. “She’s such a great talent, such a great distributor of the ball. But when we need her to take over, she just does it every time.”
Lasconia scored 17 points in the final 11 minutes after Meadowdale took a 33-22 lead. Twelve of the points came in the last three minutes when, after Meadowdale took a 40-33 lead on a Margreet Barhoum fastbreak layup, it looked like the Mavericks would escape with the win.
Instead, Lasconia sank a 3-pointer, then a layup, then a free throw to make it a 1-point game. After a spectacular scoop layup by Barhoum temporarily halted Lasconia’s tear, the Shorecrest star made a 3-pointer with a defender in her face from the right wing to tie it at 42 with 1:41 to play. Shorecrest’s Christina Jarvis got the ball back with a steal and, of course, Lasconia gave the Scots the lead with a layup with 1:09 to play, Shorecrest’s first lead since the end of the first quarter.
With the score 45-43, Meadowdale inbounded under the Shorecrest basket but turned it over and Lasconia made one of two free throws with three seconds remaining. Barhoum’s long 3-point attempt at the buzzer was off.
“We were making silly turnovers and we knew we just had to calm down,” said Lasconia, who finished with 26 points. “I just tried to get into the flow. I play my best when I stop thinking and just relax and play, and that’s what I tried to do.”
The loss spoiled what Meadowdale coach Troy Parker said was his team’s best performance of the season. The Mavericks held the Scots to 26 percent shooting but made just 32 percent of their own and went 7 minutes, 24 seconds between the third and fourth quarters without scoring.
“We allowed Shorecrest to hang around long enough to allow a really, really talented player to make plays at the end, and she did,” Parker said. “There were times I thought if we just make a shot here, we’d get separation, but ultimately our inability to score allowed Shorecrest to come back.”
Shorecrest won despite getting points from just four players, including 10 from Janie Uppinghouse. Barhoum, Wesco 3A’s leading scorer, finished with 19.
“We just said we can’t lose, it’s not an option,” Lasconia said. “We took a deep breath and started doing what we do best.”
“Meadowdale did a great job with their pressure early and we didn’t handle it well,” Monson said. “But we made adjustments and executed when we had to.”
Meadowdale must now find a way to recover quickly from its most disappointing loss of the season.
“This is a high-character group and they rise to the occasion,” Parker said. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t say we were bitterly disappointed by this loss. This is going to be a real test of our team.”
At Shorecrest H.S.
Meadowdale 9 16 8 10 — 43
Shorecrest 10 10 7 19 — 46
Meadowdale—Hatch 0, Fjortoft 0, Barhoum 19, Landa 10, Rickel 1, Reuble 2, O’Neill 6, Kossian 3, Bretz 0, Sagdahl 0, Sonko 2. Shorecrest—Ruhlman 0, Lasconia 26, Jones 0, Jarvis 4, Greenburg 0, Glesener 0, Uppinghouse 10, Matheson 6, Ibsen 0. 3-point goals—Barhoum 2, Kossian 1, Uppinghouse 1, Lasconia 4. Records—Meadowdale 12-8 overall. Shorecrest 15-7.
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