MARYSVILLE – In the District 1 3A Tournament, the Stanwood girls basketball seniors — Jazmyn Legg and Ava DePew — were used to disappointment. After losing in the championship in their freshman and sophomore seasons, they had one last shot to make it happen against Shorecrest at Marysville-Pilchuck High School on Saturday.
Despite a monster game from Shorecrest senior Cassie Chesnut (34 points, 11 rebounds), the No. 3 Spartans (20-4) put together a strong team performance to win the District 1 Championship 57-49 against the No. 4 Scots (12-11).
Final: Stanwood wins 57-49
District 1 3A Champs pic.twitter.com/UBk9mqHvcZ
— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) February 23, 2025
“I’ve been here twice, and this year we finally got the ‘dub,’” Legg said. “To do that with Ava and (the other) guys, it was amazing. It was really, really exciting.”
Ellalee Wortham led the Spartans with 20 points, while Stella Berrett (10 points) and Legg (7 points) combined for 17 points and seven rebounds.
Turnovers plagued the Scots early, allowing the Spartans to take a 12-3 lead to open the game with the help of long outlet passes translating to points. But a string of fouls sent Shorecrest to the line, where they went 5-for-8 to cut it to 14-10 entering the second.
“It’s how we practiced, and we always want to play that way, if we can,” Stanwood coach Dustin Swanson said. “We were able to turn our defense into some offense, which I think gave us a lot of momentum.”
Stanwood started the next quarter out strong again with a 9-2 run, but Chesnut went on a solo run out of the timeout at 3:16. She scored Shorecrest’s next 10 points; the Spartans only scored four during the same time frame. Jorja Perrin scored with under 30 seconds left to cut it to 29-24 entering halftime.
Chesnut continued to impose her will in the third quarter, leading a 9-2 run that was highlighted by an Anna Usitalo block forcing a turnover, which Chesnut took coast-to-coast to tie it 32-32 with 4:16 left in the quarter. Stanwood pushed back after a timeout, thanks to Berrett converting under the basket and Wortham facilitating, but Chesnut hit a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds to cut it to 41-37 entering the final frame.
Despite the mounting pressure, Stanwood stuck to its team game and got back to what made them successful in the first quarter: capitalizing with long outlet passes, using ball movement to create openings under the basket and forcing Shorecrest into mistakes.
“We just didn’t hold them to the margins enough,” Scots coach Malcolm Rosier Butler said. “We didn’t rebound well enough, we didn’t defend well enough, and our shot selection wasn’t good enough. I think if those three things were better, it would have been a different basketball game, but Stanwood is a good team.”
Wortham ultimately delivered the key closing play with 1:34 remaining, taking the ball from Perrin under the Shorecrest basket and laying it in to make it 55-48. After a few turnovers and foul shots from either side, Stanwood came out on top.
“I think winning this proves that we can (go far at the state tournament),” Wortham said. “We’re a strong team, we just have to keep playing the entire game. We’re not a team that gives up easily, so just coming into the state tournament knowing what we’re capable of doing.”
The Spartans will push as far as they can at the state tournament, but Swanson made sure to appreciate this important step along the way.
“There’s nothing like how we feel right now, to take us into our next challenge, our next opportunity,” Swanson said. “No matter what happens, no matter how we end the season – because usually you end the season with sad tears, only three teams finish with happy tears – No matter what happens the rest of the way, we have these happy tears and these happy moments, and nothing can change that.”
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