Julia Fjortoft scores 13 to lead Meadowdale past Shorecrest

By Tony Dondero

Enterprise reporter

SHORELINE

The Meadowdale girls basketball team had yet to lose to Shorecrest this decade, but Mavericks coach Troy Parker didn’t want his team to take the Scots lightly Wednesday, Feb. 4.

The Scots were coming off a huge 54-50 upset win over Jackson in which they took a 17-point lead in the first quarter.

But thanks to its athletic players, Julia Fjortoft and Gabi Beyer in particular, and a tenacious defensive effort, Meadowdale would not meet the same fate.

The Mavericks forced 15 turnovers and led from start to finish in a 47-31 victory at Shorecrest.

“We dove on the floor a lot more. Our defensive intensity was better,” said Fjortoft, who scored a game-high 13 points. “Ball pressure was a huge point that coach Parker made. You put ball pressure (on the opponent) and that puts them in bad situations.”

Meadowdale is 13-3 in the Wesco South, 14-4 overall. Shorecrest is now to 5-11 in the conference and 6-12 overall. The Scots will be the fourth 3A seed out of the Wesco South to districts with the loss.

The Mavericks led 20-10 at the half and held Shorecrest to two points on 9 percent shooting in the second quarter. Meadowdale then built the lead to 16 and pulled away in the third quarter.

Meadowdale’s man-to-man defense forced Shorecrest to dribble and pass away from the basket and the Scots ended up taking a lot of tough shots.

“When we’re playing good defense, that’s what we do,” said Parker, who took over the program after Dan Taylor resigned after last season. “We get out, we try to take care of passing lanes and I really think that, to be honest, it’s taken us awhile collectively to get on the same page defensively because it’s a new program and I’m a new coach. I think right now we kind of understand where we’re supposed to be and we have really good athletes. I don’t think you can ever discount that piece. We have kids that move very well laterally. Defensively, we should be good.”

Meadowdale held Shorecrest to 25 percent shooting (11-of-44). Gloria Tseng scored 10 points and Ashley Hagood added eight for the Scots.

“There was a lot of pass-and-stand going on tonight and that’s not a very effective offense,” Shorecrest coach Ed Wissing said. “The girls know it and they were talking about it in the locker room. It’s about execution.”

Meadowdale won without its leading scorer, senior Hanna Fjortoft, who averages 12.6 points per game. Fjortoft has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, but her sister Julia said she hopes to play Friday at Jackson and finish out the season with a brace on her knee.

However, Parker was hesitant to say when Fjortoft would be back.

“Up in the air,” Parker said. “I’m not a doctor. What they’ve told us is that we’re going to start ramping her back up. She such an exceptional athlete — most kids, they’re done (after tearing an ACL) and the fact that she’s even got a shot to do this I think — (we’re) very fortunate to have her.”

“We’re going to be better when No. 24 (Hanna Fjortoft) is in the lineup for us,” Parker said. “That said, our kids have really risen to the challenge. Kids like Tanya Zickefoose and Alexis Nugent. They go out there and they do all the kind of dirty work.”

Beyer scored 11 points and sophomore guard Michaela O’Neill added eight off the bench.

Meadowdale shot 38 percent from the field and made 18-of-47 shots including a pair of 3-pointers.

“Our guards do a good job recognizing when they have an advantage and when they don’t, and when we’re shooting the ball well, we’re a pretty tough outfit,” Parker said. “Tonight, we kind of ground it out.”

The Mavericks shot 82 percent from the foul line on 9-of-11 shooting while holding Shorecrest to four foul shots in the first three quarters. The Scots made 8-of-12 foul shots for 67 percent but six of the made foul shots came in the fourth quarter after the game was essentially decided.

“I don’t think we’re at our peak yet,” Julia Fjortoft said. “That’s a good thing.”