Alums return for one last game in the old Shorecrest gym

Fans watch their last basketball game in the old gym
Photo by Jerry Pickard

Shorecrest's aging facilities, including the gym, are being demolished to make way for a new school and gym.

By Frank Workman

They wanted to come home.  They wanted to come back. They wanted to be together, to play together, one more time.  One more time in the old gym before it gets torn down and a new gym tries to take its place.

Saturday night at Shorecrest, two final games were played in the only gym the school has ever known. There would be games featuring male and female alums and both of this year’s varsity teams.

It was a grand celebration of basketball, friendship, camaraderie, and of being a Scot for life.  Food was donated, burgers were grilled, donations were accepted, and the Best Popcorn In Wesco was enjoyed.

Laughter, cheers, and tears rattled the rafters one last time.

Coach Dori Monson with Shorecrest Girls
Photo by Jerry Pickard

It was ladies first, as a team of alumnae took the court to oppose the Girls Varsity team, the Dori Monson-coached team that took 4th Place in State this year.

Commissioned to coach the Alumnae on the other bench was Henry Akin, from the first SuperSonics team, a longtime LFP resident and SC girls hoops fan (and unofficial coach) for more than twenty years.

Watching his team warming up before the game, it was evident to Akin that it had been quite some time since several of his players had touched a basketball. And for some, not only were their pasts behind them, their behinds were behind them, as well.

But the alumnae had recruited enough good players from their past to field a competitive team.

Girls game in play
Photo by Jerry Pickard

Kristy Eggen, from the Class of ’94, proved to be just the take-charge sparkplug that a thrown-together team like this needed.  Now a Clinical Therapist at a psychiatric hospital, her 15 points led the game’s scoring, and her single-handed break of the Scots’ full-court press in the second half was the stuff of dreams.

Jocelyn Riordan, Class of ’08, just graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Puget Sound, where she finished as the school’s 7th all-time scoring leader for the Lady Logger basketball team. Her contribution of 9 points paled in comparison to the court smarts she showed.

Adrienne Moore, Class of ’01, was a member of the Scots’  State Championship softball team, and was named by the Seattle Times as their Female Athlete of the Year. Her athleticism showed through the rust, and she graciously expressed admiration for India Matheson and Oniye Chibuogwu, who she was stuck with guarding for most of the game.

Rachel Schrote, who just graduated from SC last spring, suited up to the delight of all.  Her absence from the team last year (to a devastating knee injury during the fall soccer season) undoubtedly cost her team a berth at State during her senior year.

Lisa Magnusson, ’05, now a teacher in the Shoreline SD, hit three 3-pointers, including two in the second half, to help keep the young Scots at bay.

Opening toss in the men's game
Photo by Jerry Pickard

The game’s final outcome (a 51-47 win for the old gals) is of little consequence in the scheme of things (as was the Mens’  5-point win over the boys varsity team in the nightcap).

What matters is that the players cared enough to come back, to make one last trip to the gym, to soak in its sights and sounds and smells, and to recall the memories the building evoked, and the way that the part of their lives that was spent in that building helped shape who they are becoming.

After both games, players teams shook hands, hugged, and got their pictures taken together, commemorating an unforgettable night. 

A night when they were all Scots, and when they got to play one last game in a building that had meant so much to so many.