SHORELINE — With just two starters back from last year and several former reserves seeing their first substantial court time, the Shorecrest girls basketball team had its share of struggles the first month of the season.
The Scots weren’t able to notch back-to-back victories until their 10th and 11th games and let their overall record slip to three games below .500 twice through their first 13 outings.
Three of Shorecrest’s first six losses were by four points or less, but it was a disheartening 46-point defeat to top-ranked Meadowdale Jan. 14 that served as a wake-up call.
“We talked at that point about that it’s all about believing you can go out and compete with teams,” Scots coach Don Dalziel said. “Since then they’ve won the close games and they’ve been able to balance things out when someone’s having an off night.”
Shorecrest has won eight of its 10 games following the Meadowdale debacle and carries a six-game winning streak into tonight’s rematch with the league-leading Mavericks. The late-season surge helped the Scots clinch either a fifth or sixth seed to next week’s Northwest District 3A playoffs.
“We knew these were games we needed to get to improve our position for districts,” Dalziel said after Shorecrest topped Jackson 48-38 last week. “We set a goal to get 10 wins and we’ve accomplished that goal.”
On Wednesday, the Scots surpassed that goal on their home court by surprising Kamiak 38-35 in a Western Conference 4A South Division thriller for win No. 11.
Banimi Lawson hurled up a putback as she crashed to the floor to give Shorecrest a one-point lead with 15 seconds to go. Katie Dewey then secured a rebound off a Kamiak miss and sank a pair of free throws with 3.3 seconds left to seal the outcome.
The Scots (11-6 league, 11-8 overall) led by as many as eight in the first half and erased a pair of two-point deficits in the final 2:30.
“At the beginning of the season, we crumpled when it came to crunch time,” Dalziel said. “Now we know how to win these difficult games.”
Against Jackson, Amy Farquhar led three Scots in double figures, scoring six of her 12 points during a 19-7 second-quarter run that put Shorecrest in front for good.
Lawson added 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals and Mary Tseng finished with 10 points and four steals for the Scots, who caused 26 turnovers and held Jackson standouts Emilee Eisinger and Sam McCracken to nine points each.
Kelsey Whitcomb paced the Timberwolves with 12 points, all from 3-pointers. The senior forward supplied the game-winning field goal for the Timberwolves when the teams first met, but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter in the rematch.
“Even though we weren’t clicking from the perimeter, it was our most complete game of the year,” Dalziel said. “We didn’t get super outrebounded like we did the last time. We were able to establish an inside game against two very good post players.”
Shorecrest missed its first eight shots and spotted Jackson an 8-0 lead before rattling off three straight buckets. Anna Dunlap’s 3-point play at the 6:45 mark of the second quarter gave the Scots their first lead at 11-10 and a minute later Shorecrest charged ahead to stay on a post-up by Farquhar.
With a pair of steals and fastbreak layins to open the third quarter, the Scots stretched their eight-point halftime advantage to 29-17. Kat Binder drilled Shorecrest’s only 3-pointer midway through the period, snapping a three-minute scoring drought by the Scots.
Jackson pulled within 10 twice in the first minute of the fourth quarter, but didn’t hit another field goal until McCracken’s 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining.
“It wasn’t any one person who did it all,” Dalziel said. “Amy carried us a little bit in the second quarter, Mary hit some big shots in the second half and Banimi was huge defensively all night.”
As a fifth or sixth seed, Shorecrest will head north for a first-round playoff matchup with either the Northwest 3A League’s No. 3 or 4 finisher Feb. 18. Before districts begin, Tseng would like to see the Scots work out some lingering kinks in their offense and their mind-set.
“We just need to learn some of the small stuff. Moving the ball, getting it into the post and playing together as a team,” Tseng said. “Sometimes we break down and people will hang their heads if things don’t go their way. We need to get everybody up.”
Coming on strong toward the end of the season is nothing new for the late-blooming Scots, who have advanced deep in the district tournament the past two seasons but have yet to come away with a state berth.
“Perennially we’ve been a strong second half of the season team,” Dalziel said. “I can’t put my finger on why that is, but we’ve seemed to put it together at the end of the year.”
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