Star senior leads Shorewood girls over Marysville Getchell

SHORELINE — On a senior night when Shorewood coach Mark Haner admitted he’s long run out of superlatives for 6-foot-2 forward Taryn Shelley, the Wesco standout may have given him one more to offer up.

“She brings it every night,” Haner said. “She’s had a double-double every game this season. She does it all.”

Shelley has made a habit out of filling up the stat sheet with put-back buckets, mid-range jumpers and a nightly collection of double-digit rebounds, but 3-pointers?

It’s not often Shelley gets the opportunity to let one fly from beyond the arc, but with Marysville Getchell staging an early fourth-quarter comeback, Shelley, trailing the play, received a pass at the top of the arc and without hesitation knocked down a 3 to quash the Chargers’ momentum.

Shorewood guard Katie Taylor played poised down the stretch against Marysville Getchell’s pressure defense, and the Thunderbirds came away with a 43-35 Wesco 3A win Friday night at Shorewood High School.

Shelley finished with a game-high 15 points to go with double-digit boards, Taylor added nine points — eight of which came during a pivotal third-quarter stretch — and Davi Borromeo chipped in seven points.

Shorewood (17-2, 9-2 Wesco 3A) didn’t have its best shooting night, but that was made up for with an inspired defensive effort.

Haner felt his T-birds could’ve played better defense during Shorewood’s win against Arlington on Wednesday. He challenged his team to play a full 32 minutes, and they responded by holding Marysville Getchell (12-7, 7-4) to 15 points under its season average.

“I feel like one of the strongest parts of our team is our defense,” Shelley said. “We all work really hard on that. Our low players, they close out on the wings really good to stop the three and get back down, and the top two are really good at controlling the top.”

Shorewood’s 2-3 zone forced Getchell to settle for 3s, and when they wouldn’t fall, chances were slim of getting a second chance with Shelley patrolling the paint.

“It’s in our DNA,” said Haner of Shorewood’s ability to play great team defense. “It’s something that the girls all buy into of how they have to play. It’s not just the effort part that has to be there, they understand how to move within a zone.”

Although trailing throughout, Marysville Getchell never felt out of the game. The Chargers’ largest deficit was a 15-point hole, trailing 30-15 late in the third quarter after Taylor breathed some offense into the Thunderbirds.

Shorewood led 17-11 at half, but Taylor hit a pair of 3s and had eight points during a 13-4 scoring run.

Getchell climbed back, though, thanks in large part to Gabrielle Grandbois, who finished with a team-high 13 points. Grandbois helped the Chargers cut their deficit to 32-22 at the end of the third, and a bucket from Carley Wika and another fro Grandbois to open the fourth trimmed Shorewood’s lead to 32-26 with 5:50 to play.

But after a Thunderbirds free throw, Shelley connected on her critical 3-pointer that put Shorewood back up by 10, and the T-birds never looked back.

“I’m usually down low,” Shelley said, “so when I get the chance to shoot outside, I definitely will take it.”