BELLEVUE — The Peninsula College men’s and women’s basketball programs ended their regular seasons with road losses to NWAACC North Division foe Bellevue.
For the men, who lost 76-65, this is the end of the 2013-14 season.
The women, meanwhile, will open the NWAACC tournament against the conference’s No. 1-ranked team, Columbia Basin (13-1, 23-4) on Saturday in Kennewick.
Boding well for the Pirates is their penchant for putting up a fight against top teams.
For the second time this season, the Peninsula women battled North Division champion Bellevue (13-1, 20-7) on Sunday, falling 67-62. Last month, the Pirates lost to the Bulldogs 64-62.
Peninsula (8-6, 11-13), which finished fourth in the North, also played two close games against the division’s third-place team, Skagit Valley, this season.
The Pirates were led Sunday by freshman Gabi Fenumiai and Madison Pilster, who scored 22 and 20 points, respectively.
Fenumiai also pulled down 14 rebounds, and finishes the regular season ranked third in the NWAACC with an 11.6 average.
Sophomore Alison Knowles, who played less than a minute against Shoreline on Wednesday due to injury, played 32 minutes and scored 11 points.
Knowles shot 3 of 5 on field goals, with all five attempts coming from 3-point range.
Sophomore Pherrari Brumbaugh dished out a game-high seven assists for the Pirates.
Bellevue 67, Peninsula 62
Peninsula 28 34— 62
Bellevue 27 40— 67
Individual scoring
Peninsula (62)
Henderson 4, Pilster 20, Fenumiai 22, Knowles 11, Schmillen 1, Brumbaugh 4.
Bellevue (67)
Fleming 10, Rogers 21, Rankin 12, Hopkins 10, Berrysmith 8, Hall 6.
Men’s Game
Bellevue 76, Peninsula 65
Sophomore Xavier Bazile finished his career at Peninsula with 23 points, which gives him the highest two-year career scoring average in modern school history at 23.8 points per game.
Bazile finished fifth in the conference this season with a 23.8 per-game scoring average.
The Pirates finish the season, the first under head coach Mitch Freeman, fifth in the NWAACC North Division with a 6-8 record (12-11 overall).
Bazile, also Peninsula’s leading rebounder, pulled down 11 boards in Sunday’s game.
Freshmen Markus Rawls and Terrell Penney also scored in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Rawls also grabbed six rebounds.
For the first time since 2009, the Pirates will not be participating in the NWAACC tournament.
However, the undersized Pirates have the distinction of being the only team to beat the NWAACC’s No. 1 team Clark this season.
They also upset North Division co-champion Whatcom earlier this month.
Peninsula 76, Bellevue 65
Peninsula 21 44— 65
Bellevue 30 46— 76
Individual scoring
Peninsula (65)
Bazile 23, Shamlin 5, Horsley 4, Flowers 2, Rawls 13, Charbonier 2, Penney 10, Hechanova 6.
Bellevue (76)
Ward 4, Muongvang 10, Greer 5, Clinton 11, Jones 1, Holloway 9, McLaughlin 18, O’Keefe 18.
