PORT ANGELES — Grinding through the second half of Northwest Athletic Conference North play, the Peninsula College women’s basketball team kept getting better as the game progressed in a 92-62 defeat of Everett.
A game-long advantage on the offensive and defensive glass played a big part in Saturday’s Valentine’s Day victory.
“We just kept plays alive, which is super important, especially when you are shooting under 40 percent from the field,” Pirates coach Alison Crumb said.
“We needed second-chance opportunities, and Zhara [Laster] and Gabi [Fenumiai] are really active on the boards, which is important for us.”
Peninsula’s (9-1, 15-5) desire for the basketball translated into a 65-49 rebounding advantage, 31-22 on the offensive boards.
“Winning by 16 on the boards is a game-changer,” Crumb said.
“Instead of making rebounding a defensive phrase for us, we really try to look at it as the first part of our offense.
“If we can snag that board, we know we are faster than the other teams in the league, so then we can get out in the open floor.”
The Pirates also were lifted by a balanced effort offensively.
Laster, who sprained her left knee three weeks ago, came off the bench and provided a spark for Peninsula, hitting 8 of 12 shots from the floor to lead the team with 19 points.
She also added eight rebounds, including five offensive boards, and two blocked shots.
“Bringing her off the bench is about trying to ease her back in, but tonight she showed she’s back at that [starting] level,” Crumb said.
“They know it really doesn’t matter who starts. We are going to play our best players, and really we try to get 8-9 kids pretty consistent minutes, maybe with the exception of Imani [Smith] and Maddy [Pilster].”
Neah Bay graduate Cierra Moss once again started in place of Laster and produced well at the end of the half, helping key an 11-3 Peninsula run with eight points, as the Pirates went up 49-35 at halftime.
Moss finished with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Peninsula kept pushing the pace and growing its lead in the second half, helped by long rebounds off missed 3-point attempts by the Trojans.
Everett hit just 1 of 18 3-pointers, and were 0 for 11 in the second half.
The Pirates, meanwhile, improved their long-distance shooting, hitting 6 of 11 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Pilster scored 17 for Peninsula with five rebounds and two steals.
“This is our best team effort because we didn’t have an individual, overwhelming performance like Wednesday,” Crumb said referring to Pilster’s 30-point performance.
“Our scoring was balanced, our minutes were balanced, everybody was kind of doing their part and that’s just kind of how we are.”
Fenumiai added nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds for the Pirates.
Smith had nine points, six boards and four assists.
When facing teams for the second time this year, as the Pirates were Everett on Saturday, Crumb is looking for improvement over their previous matchup in each game.
“We just need to prove we are working harder and getting better at a really high rate,” Crumb said.
“I’m not really concerned about beating a team by more points than the first time we played them.
“I just want to see if we are playing better now than we were a month ago.”
So far so good on that mission for the Pirates.
“We’re not a different team than we were a month ago, but we just make less mistakes and we are doing more of what we preach, consistently,” Crumb said referring to the team’s defensive effort leading to transition baskets.
Getting two big home victories this week also helps second-place Peninsula heading into a crucial stretch of games at Olympic on Wednesday and away against league-leading Bellevue (10-0, 19-6) on Sunday.
“You want that confidence going into a really big road week next week,” Crumb said.
“Hopefully we’ve improved more than Olympic and Bellevue.”
Peninsula 92, Everett 62
Everett 35 27 — 62
Peninsula 49 43 — 92
Individual scoring
Everett (62)
Long 20, K. Smith 10, Hagans 9, Shore 8, Rasmussen 8, DuChesne 3, T. Smith 2, Keane 2, Nealey.
Peninsula (92)
Laster 19, Ci. Moss 18, Pilster 17, Fenumiai 9, Smith 9, Staveland 8, Nemelka 4, Schmillen 3, Ch. Moss 3, Criddle 2, Gonzales, Santiago.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.
