PORT ANGELES — Guilty of trying to do too much on both ends of the floor in a close first half, the Peninsula Pirates women made it easier on themselves in the second half and pulled away for an 83-60 win against the winless Whatcom women’s basketball team.
Peninsula would have trailed after the first quarter if not for Zhara Laster’s long-range 3-point buzzer beater that gave the Pirates an 18-16 lead.
“We didn’t come out very mentally focused,” Peninsula coach Alison Crumb said of Wednesday’s game.
“Physically we were ready to go, but we’d make a good play and follow it with something unnecessary.”
Crumb said the lapses in focus were most harmful defensively.
“There was just some mental breakdowns there, we came out aggressive and wanted to get steals and we lost our help-side, lost the protect defense,” Crumb said.
Lindsey Honeycutt took advantage of many of those miscues, scoring 20 of her game-high 26 points for the Orcas in the first half.
The Pirates’ offense wasn’t immune to making mistakes.
“We have a lot of unselfish players who are trying to make plays for each other, but sometimes the best play is to take it yourself,” Crumb said.
“We were just trying to make too much happen that entire first half.”
Peninsula led 42-37 at the break.
Crumb’s halftime message was, well . . . simple.
“Just simplify some things a little more. We missed some layups, missed some opportunities offensively, and we weren’t paying attention to some things on defense,” Crumb said.
“We just lost focus a little bit defensively. We knew they had only had three players score. The others were more distributors, so we needed to realize we had help on defense.”
The Pirates neutralized Honeycutt for the most part in the third quarter, while getting energy plays from substitute post Daijhan Cooks and Laster and big buckets from Cherish Moss.
Cooks fought hard inside for an offensive rebound and follow basket to put Peninsula up 48-45 midway through the third, then took a charge defensively on the next possession.
“She played a great game,” Crumb said of Cooks.
“She didn’t get rattled, took a couple of charges that were momentum changers for us, and lead us in rebounding.”
Cooks scored 10 points and added seven rebounds.
Moss and Laster alternated scores for Peninsula in the final stretches of the third quarter as the Pirates’ lead grew to 65-53 entering the final frame.
Laster scored 17 points, and had six rebounds and four steals.
“We were more consistent in the second half,” Laster said.
“Our ball movement was crisper offensively and that got us good looks. And we were working together on defense.”
Moss scored 13 for Peninsula.
“Cherish plays within in the concept of the game, plays smart, plays within our framework and didn’t try too do to much,” Crumb said.
Imani Smith led the Pirates with 22 points and added eight assists and four rebounds.
“She was a player they couldn’t really stop,” Crumb said.
“Imani played well attacking the middle of their zone.”
Cierra Moss returned from injury to score nine points.
She assisted on the play of the game, dribbling across court and out to the 3-point line in what looked like a bid to kill time toward the end of the game.
But Moss had other plans, whipping a no-look pass backward to a wide-open Cooks who laid it in for some style points.
Peninsula (2-0, 11-4) hosts Everett (2-0, 9-7) at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The Trojans enter the game with a three-game winning streak.
“Everett will be another scrappy, tough team, another good test for us,” Crumb said.
Peninsula 83, Whatcom 60
Peninsula 18 24 23 20— 83
Whatcom 16 21 16 7— 60
Individual scoring
Peninsula (83)
Smith 22, Laster 17, Ch. Moss 13, Cooks 10, Ci. Moss 9, Thomas 6, Dugan 4, McKnight 2, Criddle, Hutchins, Rodisha, Yayouss.
Whatcom (60)
Honeycutt 26, Deming 17, Nigretto 11, Yates 3, Washington 2, Campos 1, Maxwell.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
