YAKIMA — Playing in the difficult Wesco 3A South, the Shorecrest girls basketball team — the league’s lone 2A school — didn’t emerge with the most impressive record, but they were battle tested.
That is one of the many reasons the Scots, who finish the season 18-10, are state champions for the first time in school history after a 49-43 win over Lynden on Saturday.
“I’m fighting back tears every second here,” Shorecrest head coach Dori Monson said after the game. “It’s a long road. You go for 31⁄2 months and we’ve had so many ups and downs this year. To pull it together and play our best basketball in February and March, that was our goal all along and our girls just came out and did that.
“It was awesome.”
Two of the top six 3A teams in the state came from the Wesco South — Lynnwood which placed third and Edmonds-Woodway which placed sixth. The Scots had a 1-3 combined record against the Royals and Warriors, but it was those games that got them prepared for the difficult postseason.
“We were in the toughest league,” senior guard Wurrie Njadoe said. “Actually, that really helped us. Playing Lynnwood and Arlington and all those great teams really helped us. Running with them, we found out how much better we are. We brought that here, we brought that same intensity.”
Senior post Uju Chibuogwu agreed with her teammate.
“The 3A teams challenging us, it pushed us to do better,” she said.
The Scots proved it at the SunDome, beating Washougal by 17, East Valley (Spokane) by 19 and the Lions by six for the championship.
The Scots trailed early in the title game and faced adversity when Chibuogwu picked up her third foul with just under seven minutes to play in the second quarter, but Shorecrest’s surrounding cast helped fill the void with Chibuogwu on the bench.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to our junior Sheridan Stephenson, who came in and got a lot of minutes in our post position,” Monson said. “The fact that we were able to keep it to a five-point game by halftime, we came into the locker room feeling like we were sitting on a run.”
Chibuogwu finished with seven points and 10 rebounds. Stephenson chipped in three points and four rebounds.
The Scots took control of the game early in the third quarter. They led by as many as 11 and never trailed in the final quarter, making their free throws to seal a victory.
Njadoe, who also excels at track, finished with 15 points to lead Shorecrest.
“Wurrie has wanted this so bad,” Monson said. “She won four state championships in track last spring and I told everybody, it would have been really easy for her to say I’m not going to play my senior year and I’m not going to risk my track scholarship to Kansas State. She’s been there for her teammates and she’s been a great leader. She showed today how much she wanted this.”
Njadoe got a little help from junior guard Jazlyn Owens, who scored 11 points including three crucial 3-pointers.
“Jazz has been the real difference in our postseason versus where we were in the regular season,” Monson said. “We had three really good scorers coming out the regular season — Uju, Wurrie and Julia Strand. In the postseason Jazz just showed a gear that I haven’t seen in the three years that I coached her. She just elevated her game and she gave us a fourth scorer and she gave us a floor leader. I told her a big part of this championship belonged to her — as it does to all of the girls.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Yakima Valley SunDome
Shorecrest 12 5 17 15 – 49
Lynden 15 7 7 14 – 43
Shorecrest–Wurrie Njadoe 15, Ari Rantz 5, Jazlyn Owens 11, Julia Strand 8, Uju Chibuogwu 10, Amanda Kagarabi 0, Shelby Gresch 0, Sheridan Stephenson 3. Lynden–Lauren Zwiers 0, Jasmyne Neria 5, Mariah Gonzalez 9, Elisa Kooiman 18, Natalie Amos 3, Ali Vanzanten 0, Sierra Smith 5, Emily Holt 3. Records–Shorecrest 18-10. Lynden 23-4.
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