Shorecrest Girls Win First League TItle in School HIstory

For the first time in the 50-year history of, the Scots' girls basketball team are league champions.

Coach Dori Monson's Scots (13-7 overall, 12-2 3A WesCo) held off a pesky Everett High School team for a 58-51 win, the 3A WesCo title and the top seed in the District 1 girls basketball tournament beginning next week.

Junior guards and Janie Uppinghouse led Shorecrest on offense with 22 points each.

Uppinghouse knocked down three 3-pointers in the opening stanza as the Scots rushed out to leads of 10-0 and 13-3.

"It was really good to get a run, it really paced us for the whole game," said Uppinghouse.

The Seagulls were unable to find the a similar rhythm from the outside, shooting a meager 6-23 from deep.

Monson talked after the game about his team's ability to close out opponents, something they have consistently done during their current eleven game winning streak.

"The girls have just developed a winning mentality and even in the closest of games, they really believe in themselves," the Shorecrest coach said.

Both Monson and Uppinghouse acknowledged the significance of winning the conference.

"It feels amazing, it's a great accomplishment," the junior Uppinghouse said.

Her coach was quick to point out that while it is an important milestone for the program, the Scots main goal this season has been to get back to Tacoma for the 3A state playoffs.

"We want to get back to state, that was the goal we set at the beginning of the season and this is a great step towards that goal," Monson said.

Shorecrest had a 16-5 lead after one quarter and looked to be in control before the Gulls began forcing the ball inside to their 6' senior post, Emily Liger.

Liger led Everett with 13 points on the night and Aliya Davis added 12 more.

Liger and Davis took control of the Seagulls' offense in a second period where they outscored Shorecrest 17-12 and cut their deficit to 28-22 entering the half.

But again, it was Uppinghouse and Lasconia striking from outside to open the second half.

Uppinghouse scored the first seven points, including two more three-pointers and Lasconia added one more of her own to extend the Scots lead back to 11 points entering the fourth quarter.

The Seagulls would make one final run at the Scots in the last eight minutes.

But another of Lasconia's four triples pushed an eight-point lead again to 11 with six minutes to play. When the home team cut the lead to five with two minutes to go, it was Uppinghouse from right in front of the Scots bench to make the lead eight and put away Everett for good.

"We've had different players step up every single game and I just couldn't be prouder of them," Monson said of his team postgame.

The win leaves Shorecrest with a 12-2 league record that is identical to  Lynnwood's, but since the Scots defeated the Royals in both of their meetings this year, it's the Scots who will take the top seed at the District 1 tournament.

It also means they will host their opening round game, which will be against their arch-rival on Wednesday February, 9 with a tip time of 7:30pm.

It will be the third meeting this season between the Shoreline rivals, with the Scots winning each of the first two by scores of 71-60 and .