PORT ANGELES — In 2005, point guard Alison Crumb helped lead the Peninsula College women’s basketball team to it’s first-ever region title.
Ten years later, coach Alison Crumb and the Pirates clinched their second Northwest Athletic Conference North Region championship by doing something no other Peninsula women’s team has done: sweep the season series with Skagit Valley.
The Pirates defeated the Cardinals 68-58 on Wednesday night, and that combined with Whatcom’s 80-73 win over Bellevue guarantees Peninsula at least a share of the North title.
The seventh-ranked Pirates (12-1, 18-5) can claim the region outright by beating winless Shoreline (0-12, 0-21) at home in the regular season finale Saturday at 5 p.m.
“We don’t want to look past a game, but we really feel like we have the tools to be able to win pretty decidedly on Saturday, and so I feel like we’ve won a championship,” Crumb said after Wednesday’s win.
“And that’s important for us, and it’s important to me, and I wouldn’t want to win it, for my first North championship, with any other group.
“This is a group that is very like-minded, they’re competitive, they love the game.
“And so to put in that much work with people that are like-minded, it’s very rewarding. I can’t imagine doing it with another group.”
Win or lose Saturday, the Pirates will take the North’s top seed to next week’s NWAC tournament because they have a better postseason tiebreaker number than Bellevue.
“It’s just so exciting. Crumb’s excited. It’s the first time that a team that she’s coached is going to get a banner,” Pirates sophomore Gabi Fenumiai, who will be honored Saturday for breaking the school’s all-time rebounding record earlier this season, said.
“We’re just happy.”
Fenumiai played a big role in Peninsula’s win with 12 points and nine rebounds.
She also survived to see the buzzer after picking up her fourth foul with 8 minutes, 24 second remaining.
Fenumiai re-entered the game with 5:36 to play and managed to avoid fouling out, though there were a few close calls.
“I had to get her back in there,” Crumb said. “We needed rebounders badly.”
Despite Fenumiai’s presence and the 12 rebounds from Zhara Laster and seven from Madison Pilster, Skagit Valley became one of the few teams to out-rebound the Pirates this season.
“Yeah, by one,” Fenumiai said. “By one.”
The Cardinals finished with 49 boards and Peninsula had 48.
“Skagit’s a really tough team,” Crumb said
“I think they’re the hardest team for us to play because they’re so disciplined and consistent and they don’t ever self-implode.
“You have to really work to beat them because they don’t make a lot of mistakes. You can get on a run, but they’re going to stay with you.”
Both teams made the final 10 minutes tough for each other.
Skagit’s Nikkie Froehlich hit a pair of free throws to cut Peninsula’s lead to 53-50 with 9:25 left in the game.
The Cardinals (8-5, 18-11), however, would only manage eight more points in the game, and only two points in the final 4:57.
The Pirates scored 15 points in that span, but only one field goal, as they made 13 of 20 free throws down the stretch to hold off Skagit Valley.
Crumb compared Wednesday to an NWAC tournament game, particularly since Peninsula was coming off a big road win over Bellevue on Sunday.
“It’s good for us, though, because that’s exactly what the tournament’s going to be like, and we need that kind of experience,” Crumb said.
“I think our girls did really well. Obviously, it wasn’t our best game but, you know, we’ll take it.
“And I think down the stretch we had some people make some key plays.
“Zhara had a great game. Gabi, I thought, had a great game for playing pretty much the majority of the game in foul trouble.”
Along with her 12 rebounds, Laster contributed 12 points, four steals and two assists, while playing a team-high 33 minutes despite being a month removed from suffering a knee injury that sidelined her for a few weeks.
“She was getting rebounds down there, and she’s a playmaker,” Crumb said.
“And when we were kind of stuck in a funk and we didn’t get a lot of transition points, which we normally do, we need her out there to just make those plays, those steals, rebounds, those loose balls.
“If you notice, even if she doesn’t end up in the stat column, she’s around every play, every loose ball, every rebound. She’s just always there.”
Pilster had a game-high 21 points, including 5 of 9 shooting form 3-point range, and two steals.
Peninsula also received nine first-half points off the bench from Whitney Nemelka, as well as seven points apiece in the game from Imani Smith and Miranda Schmillen.
Peninsula 68, Skagit Valley 58
Skagit Valley 31 27— 58
Peninsula 38 30— 68
Individual scoring
Skagit Valley (58)
Turner 7, Froehlich 4, Turrieta 3, Wood 10, Brown 9, Anglim 2, Dorvall 2, Wilson 13, Poradun 6, Besand 2.
Peninsula (68)
Laster 12, Pilster 21, Fenumiai 12, Nemelka 9, Schmillen 7, Smith 7, Ci. Moss, Hutchins.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
