Shorecrest girls fall in state opening round on late run

SHORELINE — There isn’t a more pressure-filled environment in high school basketball than a state tournament game. The Shorecrest girls basketball team found that out the hard way in a season-ending 50-46 opening-round loss to Garfield at home on Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs employed a full-court trap for large stretches of the game that devastated the Scots to the tune of 28 turnovers — 19 of which came in the second half. Those stolen possessions helped a veteran Garfield team, which has won the 3A State Championship four consecutive times, overcome a 12-point deficit with seven minutes to play.

Shorecrest head coach Malcolm Rosier Butler, whose team was playing in its first state action since 2020, had circled the high-intensity style of play the Bulldogs operate with on the scouting report. But to quote the philosopher Mike Tyson, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

“They’re a very physical team and it was a lot of physicality we had to play through today and we just struggled with it,” Rosier Butler said. “We played a pretty good (game), but obviously just not quite well enough to win.”

Leading the charge was senior star Cassie Chesnut, who finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks. Chesnut was tasked with taking the ball up the floor against the punishing Garfield defense and found herself cornered often, either having the ball ripped away or losing it out of bounds. When the Scots were able to break the full-court pressure early in the third quarter, Chesnut scored 11 and looked unstoppable on a stepback 3-pointer to rally the crowd.

But by the end of the night, the Scots were barely able to pass halfcourt. Garfield junior Lena Most (15 points) had three straight steals resulting in six straight Garfield points during the decisive fourth-quarter run. Senior Jayda Lewis was also a force to be reckoned with down low, scoring 16 points and snaring 15 rebounds.

Though the Scots’ game plan to play a zone defense and limit looks at the rim forced plenty of Bulldogs misses in close, Garfield ended up getting too many opportunities to be denied. The Bulldogs pulled down over 40 rebounds to the Scots’ 25, as their aggressive paint presence kept Garfield in the game when Shorecrest started to pull away.

Between the physical defense and the Garfield contingent of fans who traveled up north for the game, Chesnut believes it was all too much for the Scots.

“We haven’t had teams press us that hard this season… In Wesco, there’s just not teams that are that physical,” Chesnut said. “Everyone was loud, the (Garfield) cheerleaders, the crowd, and we were just getting run over. We just weren’t ready for that.”

Shorecrest sophomore guard Anna Usitalo shined at moments, with 16 points and some key steals early, but left the game with an injury late in the fourth as Garfield took the lead. In the end, the state-tested Bulldogs put their experience on full display while Rosier Butler’s squad scrambled to find answers.

“The added pressure of loser-out, and trying not to lose it at the end was a lot for us,” Rosier Butler said.

Despite the heartbreaking finish to the campaign, the Scots will have plenty of good memories to look back on. From junior Jorja Perrin’s overtime buzzer-beater against Shorewood to a district upset win over Snohomish to clinch a state spot, the Scots have given their fans plenty to root for.

“I’m proud of them, they’ve been a resilient group, they’ve played amazing basketball together in an amazing season,” Rosier Butler said.

For Chesnut, winning some marquee games and making state in her final season with the Scots was far from the worst way to leave things.

“When we needed to play hard, we did (this season)… When we played hard teams, we went up to their level,” Chesnut said. “I’m so happy this was the team I ended on.”