TACOMA — The Peninsula College women’s basketball team opened its season with a pair of routs, a 68-47 win over Highline on Friday and followed by a 81-59 victory against Tacoma on Saturday afternoon. Both games were played in Tacoma.
Peninsula had five players score in double figures in Saturday’s win, led Cherish Moss, who had 17 points and made five 3-pointers.
Cierra Moss added 15 points, Anaya Rodisha scored 14, Imani Smith had 12 and Tai Thomas finished with 10 points.
Smith also had five assists and three steals. She scored 17 points against Highline to lead the Pirates on Friday.
Peninsula coach Alison Crumb said the sophomore point guard was the catalyst in both games.
“Imani did such great job pushing the ball,” Crumb said.
“And the wings were keeping after it. We continued to run the floor for 40 minutes, which a lot of teams can’t do that, they tend to slow down.”
Zhara Laster grabbed 12 rebounds and had six steals and four assists in Saturday’s game.
The Pirates shot 47 percent from the field.
“I thought we played really consistent, we won every quarter,” Crumb said.
The Pirates have two more games on their season-opening, four-games-in-four-days road trip. First up is Lower Columbia today at 1 p.m. in Longview, followed by a game at Centralia on Monday.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a real test for us. So will Monday,” Crumb said Saturday.
“[Lower Columbia is] good, they’re well-coached, and it’s at their place, which is kind of like ours, it’s a great environment.
“And Centralia has been doing good things. They scored 91 points [against Blue Mountain on Friday].”
Against Lower Columbia, the Pirates will be facing Faye Chartraw, who, like Peninsula’s Cierra and Cherish Moss, played at Neah Bay.
Today’s game can be watched live online on Lower Columbia’s athletic website. Go to the women’s basketball team’s schedule here www.tinyurl.com/PDN-WatchPC and click “Live Video” on the information line for the game against Peninsula.
