SHORELINE — Throughout much of the 1980s and ’90s, Shorewood enjoyed a decided edge over nearby Shorecrest when it came to girls basketball.

As of late, the pendulum has swung towards the eastside of I-5.

The Scots demonstrated once more last weekend they’ve taken the upper hand in the captivating crosstown rivalry, overpowering Shorewood 53-42 in a Jan. 17 make-up game at Shorecrest High School.

It was Shorecrest’s seventh straight win over the Thunderbirds — dating back to the 2000-01 season — and the second crucial Western Conference 4A South Division victory by the Scots in less than 24 hours.

Shorecrest squeaked by Lynnwood 40-37 the night before to complete a regular-season sweep of the Royals. The back-to-back wins give the Scots a substantial cushion over Lynnwood in the race for Wesco’s second automatic berth to the Northwest District 3A playoffs.

“That Lynnwood game we had to have,” Shorecrest coach Don Dalziel said. “That gives us the tiebreaker and now we’re two full games ahead of them. We’ve got to keep this going and make sure the second half of the season is our better half.”

The Scots charged out to a 7-0 lead over Shorewood and never trailed. The Thunderbirds couldn’t come up with an answer for Shorecrest’s inside-outside combination of junior Banimi Lawson and sophomore Mary Tseng.

“We made it an emphasis to get those two on the same side of the court,” Dalziel said. “They work well together.”

Lawson scored 10 of her 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the second half. The 5-foot-10 power forward burned the T-birds in the paint with an array of spin moves and perfectly-timed up-and-unders.

“That was great because she was coming off a frustrating game against Lynnwood,” Dalziel said. “Tonight she was given a lot of the same looks, but she had more confidence she could finish. She’s capable of having a game like that every time she steps on the floor.”

Tseng punished Shorewood from the perimeter, draining three 3-pointers as part of her game-high 20 points. She hit her first three field goal attempts of the fourth quarter, as Shorecrest took its largest lead of the game at 47-35 with 3:15 to play.

“We wanted her getting looks early and often,” Dalziel said. “She’s got a great shot.”

Shorecrest was a sizzling seven of 10 from the field in the fourth quarter and connected on five straight shots during one three-minute stretch, but the T-birds didn’t fold. A 7-0 Shorewood run trimmed Shorecrest’s advantage to 47-42 with 1:50 remaining.

But the T-birds missed their final six shots and were dealt their seventh consecutive Wesco South defeat.

“That’s the story of our season,” Shorewood coach Brandon Glasser said of his team’s ability to battle back only to fade down the stretch.

“They shot the lights out and (Tseng) had a tremendous night, so you’ve got to give them credit. I thought we did a good job getting to their shooters and they still knocked them down.”

Shorewood’s shooters were on target from long range. Point guard Mesa Huertas was four of eight from 3-point territory and the T-birds made a season-high seven 3-pointers to keep Shorecrest’s lead in single digits most of the night.

“We’ve got some confidence spotting up,” Glasser said. “I gave them the green light to take those shots and it helped us stay in it. But we couldn’t get anything going inside. That’s our biggest concern right now.”

Senior guard Katie Dewey contributed 10 points on five of eight shooting and junior forward Amy Farquhar added eight points for the Scots, who improved to 5-4 in league play and 5-6 overall.

Stephanie West and two other sophomores paced Shorewood (1-7, 1-9). West hit two 3-pointers and finished with eight points, Andrea Tulee scored seven off the bench and Anyka Ozog added six.

The T-birds suffered a 55-38 loss to Edmonds-Woodway a night earlier, though the game was closer than the score indicated. Freshman Rachel Eckerlin’s 3-pointer with five minutes remaining made it a six-point game, but Shorewood couldn’t get any closer.

“We’ve been competitive with everyone, with the exception of (first-place) Meadowdale,” Glasser said. “We’re within six, eight, 10 points of teams, but we can’t get over the hump. The second half of the season we need to pull together the full package.

“It’s been a bumpy road and nobody likes to lose, but we’ve got to suck it up.”