SHORELINE — If you asked Cassie Chesnut, the Shorecrest senior would tell you she “wanted it” more than crosstown rival Shorewood in the District 1 Girls 3A Basketball Quarterfinals on Friday. But really her play did the talking.
Leading by six with less than two minutes left, the No. 4 seed Scots (11-10) had possession. The ball ended up in Chesnut’s hands under the basket, like it had all night. The Montana State University-Billings commit powered to the rim and sank a layup, drawing a foul and a large cheer from the crowd.
Including Chesnut’s ‘And-1,’ the Scots went 7-for-7 from the free throw line down the stretch, putting the finishing touches on a 53-38 win against the fifth-seeded Stormrays (11-13). Chesnut finished with 28 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks, her two-way dominance carrying Shorecrest to the semifinals.
Final: Shorecrest wins 53-38
Cassie Chesnut (28 points, 17 rebounds) proves too much for the Stormrays down the stretch, and the Scots advance to the District Semis@HeraldNetPreps
— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) February 15, 2025
“At the end of the game, it was just who wanted it more,” Chesnut said. “[It was] who came out stronger and wanted it. … We might be around the same level as Shorewood, and last game we were pretty even because it went into overtime, but this game it was just effort.”
The Scots lost their last three games entering Friday, while the Stormrays had won their past five – their last loss came against Shorecrest in the aforementioned 66-65 overtime game on Jan. 25 – but Chesnut & Co. turned the tide.
“She’s one of the best players I’ve got to watch at the high school level,” Shorecrest coach Malcolm Rosier Butler said of Chesnut. “Just her impact offensively, defensively, rebounding. She scored 28 points and had [18] rebounds. There’s not many people who can do that. She’s obviously the front-runner of our team, and a lot of what we do revolves around her — for good reason — but she does an amazing job carrying the load and leading this basketball team.”
The Scots got out to an 18-12 lead in the first quarter, with the game running through Chesnut from the opening tip. But Shorewood freshman Elle Wiehle, who led the Stormrays with 11 points, stepped up in the second. The 5-foot-10 forward scored the first four points of the quarter, and despite having to guard the 6-foot-2 Chesnut, asserted herself on the offensive boards and put up big shots to push Shorewood ahead 25-22 in the final minutes of the half.
“We put (Wiehle) into a position that we weren’t sure we were really going to do,” Shorewood coach Brandon Glasser said. “And then once we saw that the matchup was working, it was cool to see her adapt and show confidence.”
HT: Shorecrest leads 26-25
This was Shorewood freshman Elle Wiehle’s quarter. Asserting herself on the offensive boards and finishing shots to score 8 of her 9 points, she helped the Stormrays pull ahead before Scots senior Melody Tagle hit a go-ahead 3 with 30 seconds left.
— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) February 15, 2025
Thanks to a go-ahead 3-pointer from senior Melody Tagle, Shorecrest took a 26-25 lead into halftime. Tagle hit another three on the other side of the break, but both sides cooled off until the final minutes of the third.
Rosier Butler called a timeout to reset while leading 31-30 with 1:59 left in the quarter, and the Scots finished on a 7-1 run to take a seven-point lead into the fourth. Sophomore guard Anna Usitalo (8 points) capped it on a deep-3 with five seconds left.
“It was big, but that didn’t stop us from coming out strong in the (fourth quarter),” Usitalo said. “We came out just wanting to win. Got to keep going, got to keep pushing.”
The Scots didn’t allow things to get much closer after that, and capitalized on the foul game as time ran out for Shorewood.
Shorecrest advances to face top-seeded Snohomish (16-6) in the semifinals at Marysville-Pilchuck on Tuesday. In their last meeting during the Wesco Crossover Games on Feb. 7, the Panthers won 52-39.
“That was just not our best game,” Chesnut said. “We shot really poorly, and I think we just need to come out with as much as we [did] in this game. … Defensively, we’re good. We just need to focus on offense and take good shots.”
Meanwhile, the Stormrays will host No. 9-seed Mountlake Terrace (10-12) on Tuesday in the consolation round, still holding a chance to advance to the state tournament with just two more wins.
“We know how we need to start this,” Glasser said. “Now that it’s at this stage, I think we’re ready to rise to the occasion and play from start to finish.”
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