Shorewood girls snap losing skid

SHORELINE — Even during its month-long losing spell, there were times when the Shorewood girls basketball team was able to get off to a quick start or finish up strong.

In a Western Conference 4A South Division matchup against Edmonds-Woodway last week, the Thunderbirds did both.

Weeding out the mistakes that have hounded them all season long, the T-birds snapped their six-game slide by stunning the second-place Warriors 49-44 Jan. 17 at Shorewood High School.

“It’s a relief for us to get a victory and do it against a good team,” T-birds coach Brandon Glasser said. “We finally played a complete game. We’ve had spurts. I think it was a matter of believing in the things we’ve been doing.”

Though it was tested regularly, that persistence ultimately paid off in the form of Shorewood’s first win since Dec. 13.

“It does get frustrating after every game but you have to look ahead,” senior guard Nanda McCormick said. “We’re a young team — a new team — and I think finally we’re going to start coming together. If we can play like that every game, I see a lot more wins.

“We’ve had overtime games and one-point games. It’s just the little lapses that hurt us. We needed this spark.”

McCormick poured in 12 first-quarter points, knocking down all five of her shots. The T-birds went 7-for-8 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the opening period and grabbed the lead for good with a 7-0 run midway through the quarter.

“I think the key was we focused on defensive goals,” Glasser said. “We didn’t concentrate so much on where we needed to get our looks. It was play good defense and focus on holding (E-W) to a certain amount of points each quarter. And make sure we get good ball rotation on offense and things will come.”

Kelsey Hitchner drilled her first of two 3-pointers at the 1:10 mark of the third quarter to shrink E-W’s six-point halftime deficit to one. But Shorewood sank its first five shots in the fourth quarter as part of a 12-2 run and stretched its advantage to 46-35.

With 2:12 remaining, Hitchner found Morgan Harter for a layin to cap a 7-0 spurt by E-W. The Warriors had chances to trim Shorewood’s dwindling lead at the free throw line but missed all eight of their second-half attempts, including five in the final 1:50.

The T-birds were 9-for-11 at the line and outshot E-W 51 percent (19-for-37) to 41 percent (18-for-44) from the field.

“We hadn’t played a complete game for four quarters as a team,” McCormick said. “We came out and played a good four quarters. We were connecting passes and finishing shots … (and) we kept our turnovers low.

“We came out and played as a team — that’s the biggest thing.”

McCormick led all scorers with 18 points and Caitlin McGinley added 10 points for Shorewood (2-6 league, 3-7 overall).

“Everyone came in at some point and stepped up and was composed when they played,” Glasser said. “And we haven’t had that. It’s huge.”

Even more significant was that the T-birds ended their dry spell against one of the division’s top teams. The Warriors (6-2, 8-2) had won three straight and their only other league loss came to unbeaten Meadowdale.

“For our psyche it’s big,” Glasser said. “It gives us something to build on. This (was) the team to get a victory against.”

Starting with a Jan. 15 meeting with Jackson, McCormick said the T-birds were hoping to come away with three wins in four games and join the race for the playoffs.

Shorewood completes that four-game set by hosting Mountlake Terrace tonight.

“This group has held together through six tough losses,” Glasser said. “Sure we’ve had a difficult time with one another at one time because it’s difficult to lose. But we’ve managed to stay together through it. That will speak volumes about how far we can go.”