By Jim Hoehn
Special to Peninsula Daily News
EVERETT — Peninsula’s inside tandem of Taisha Thomas and Jenise McKnight combined to offset a standout performance by Tacoma’s Bobbi Westendorf to send the Pirates to the Elite Eight round of the NWAC Championship Tournament.
Thomas scored 20 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and McKnight had 17 points and 8 rebounds to lift the Pirates to a 69-61 victory over gritty, shorthanded Tacoma in the opening round on Saturday morning.
Westendorf, the West Region MVP, had 36 points and 14 rebounds to keep the Titans within striking distance. She had 20 points in the first half, including four 3-pointers in the first quarter.
“She’s a big-time player,” Peninsula coach Alison Crumb said. “We had our hands full in the first half. We let her go off a little bit, gave her too much space from the 3-point line, and kind of played with some jitters, I think. Once that came down, I think we came out in the second half, we were ready to kind of seal the deal, come in and just lock down and play smart.”
The Pirates led 53-45 entering the final period, but scored just two points over a span of 4:05 as the Titans closed within 61-56 on two free throws by Sidra Malik with 1:53 remaining.
Peninsula held off the Titans down the stretch despite missing 6 of 12 free throws over the final 1:01.
Peninsula (19-9), the No. 2 seed in the North Region, advances to the Elite Eight today at 2 p.m. against top-ranked Umpqua (28-2). The River Hawks won their opening game 84-49 over Treasure Valley.
“The end of the game was a little bit too wild for my liking, but at this point of the season, we tell our girls just to survive and advance,” Crumb said. “A win is a win. We’re trying to be the best version of ourselves that we can and we’re going to need all of that and then some tomorrow.”
Tacoma (20-8), which had just eight players on the roster, lost starting guard Makenna Roiko to an apparent ankle injury less than four minutes in and starting center Teeya McLean picked up three fouls — including her fourth — in a two-minute span of the third quarter, sending her to the bench with 3:02 left in the period.
The Pirates shot 48 percent, while holding the Titans to 33 percent. Peninsula, which led the NWAC in free-throw percentage with 71, was just 10 of 22 from the line.
“My mentality today was do what you’ve got to do to win,” said Thomas, who was 9 of 14 from the field. “I didn’t want to go home early. We practiced at 6:30 in the morning all week to prepare for this.”
Peninsula led 35-32 at the half and extended it to 40-32 on basket underneath by Thomas and a 3-pointer by Sephora Yayouss. Anaya Rodisha, back after missing several games with an injured ankle, scored on a drive to give the Pirates their biggest lead of the quarter at 53-43.
The contrast in offensive styles was evident from the start as the Pirates worked the ball inside or drove the lane, while the Titans countered with an outside attack that resulted in six 3-pointers — including four by Westendorf.
Westendorf, a 5-10 sophomore swing player, scored Tacoma’s first 11 points to help the Titans to a 16-8 lead. The Pirates scored the final six points of the quarter, including a pair of short-range baskets by McKnight, to pull within 16-14.
Peninsula retained momentum into the second quarter, taking a 24-20 lead on Thomas’ putback with 4:11 left in the half.
The Pirates capitalized on a late offensive foul in the backcourt against Malik with 6.2 seconds left in the half. Peninsula inbounded under the Tacoma basket and Yayouss hit from the top of the key at the buzzer to put the Pirates up 35-32 at the break.
“They have one post and we had her in foul trouble a little bit, and then they play four guards out,” Crumb said. “Defensively, we had to struggle a little bit in the first half to be able to have our posts to play the perimeter. But offensively, then there’s some mismatches.”
In the closing minute, McKnight was helped from the court after injuring her ankle, but Crumb said she should be fine for today’s game.
Peninsula 69, Tacoma 61
Tacoma 16 16 13 16— 61
Peninsula 14 21 18 16— 69
Tacoma (61) — Westendorf 36, Vega 8, Malik 8, Prichett 7, McLean 2.
Peninsula (69) — Thomas 20, McKnight 17, Rodisha 12, Yayouss 7, Dugan 5, Rodriguez 4, Smith 4, Butler, Barnes.
Rick Ross/Peninsula College Peninsula guard Sephora Yayouss brings the ball up the court against Tacoma’s Shoni Prichett (44) and Sidra Malik (32) in Peninsula’s 69-61 win in the opening round of the NWAC tournament on Saturday.
Rick Ross/Peninsula College Peninsula head coach Allison Crumb congratulates her team on winning its opening round game of the NWAC Tournament.
