It took awhile for the John F.Kennedy Catholic girls basketball team to power up before rallying for a 47-37 victory against Shorecrest in a loser-out game of the Class 3A state girls' basketball tornament on Friday, March 12, at the Tacoma Dome.

After Thursday night's devastating loss to Mercer Island, the motivation of playing for a trophy finally set in.

"We needed to play hard and the light came on," stated Aminah Williams, who toiled for nine of her 11 points in the second half.

Kennedy (23-4) offset Shorecrest's torrid outside shooting to emerge with a 15-14 first quarter lead. The Scots, behind Brianne Lasconia, dissected the Lancer interior defense to turn a Kennedy 18-16 lead into a 23-16 Shorecrest advantage after a Lasconia lefty lay up with 1:35 until halftime. Allie Madison scored eight of her team high 12 points to keep Kennedy in range. Madison also closed with seven rebounds

With the Scots holding a 30-24 margin at 4:59 of the third quarter, Kennedy scored four consecutive points to trim the deficit to two points, 30-28,and eventually 32-30 going into the fourth quarter.

Williams scored five points while Presley Nuefeld drained a three-pointer to spearhead a 10-0 Lancer surge as the fourth quarter began for a 40-32 lead at 5:30. With the shot clock winding down, Yaz Fuller launched a "Downtown Freddie Brown" range three-pointer that banked off the glass to counter a Shorecrest inside goal and Kennedy was never threatened again.

"I laughed when I saw that go in," recalled Fuller who ended with 11 points.

On a more serious note, Fuller explained the motivation.

"I was so devastated by it (the loss to Mercer Island)," she said. "Hurt. I hate to lose. We just put it in our head, 'Would you hate to lose once, or hate to lose twice? I would hate to lose twice, so I don't want to lose again.' "

The strong second half effort was cited by head coach Tom Mummert.

"They really showed me a lot in the second half today," declared Mummert.

Vivienne recovered eight rebounds for the Lancers.