PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women found themselves in a deep hole in the second half against Everett, rallied late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get past the Trojans in a 77-71 loss.
Coach Allison Crumb thought her players were too tenative.
“They outplayed us. They came to win. We came to not lose,” Crumb said. “When you play not to lose, you lose.”
Crumb said turnovers really hurt the Pirates, especially during a stretch in the second half in which neither team could score for roughly three minutes. Peninsula had 11 turnovers in the second half.
Alicia Dugan scored 27 points for the Pirates, hitting five 3-pointers, most of them late as Peninsula tried to come back from a 14-point second-half deficit.
The Trojan’s Uju Chibuogwa gave the Pirates all kinds of problems. A big, strong 6-foot post player with a soft touch from outside, she scored 28 points and had 13 rebounds in just 29 minutes.
Peninsula squandered a golden chance in the second half. Chibuougwa, who had scored 12 points in the third quarter, was forced to the bench with three fouls late in the third and Everett holding a 55-47 lead. However, with their leading scorer and biggest threat out of the game, Everett managed to build the lead to 63-49.
The Pirates held the Trojans scoreless for over four minutes in the fourth, but they couldn’t take advantage, turning the ball over on several possessions. The Pirates only managed to cut the lead down to 63-52 during the Trojans’ drought.
“They put pressure on us and we didn’t handle it,” Crumb said.
In the fourth, the Pirates made the game close, thanks largely to Dugan’s outside shooting. She hit three 3-pointers in the last four minutes of the game to give the Pirates a fighting chance.
Dugan cut Everett’s lead to 71-67 with 25 seconds left with her fifth trey of the game. But, the Trojans did a good job at the free-throw line as Peninsula started fouling to stop the clock, hitting six straight free throws down the stretch to ice the game.
Everett ended the game shooting 17-for-20 from the free-throw line.
Jenise McKnight had 10 points and eight boards for Peninsula, while Tiffani Smith scored nine points. Taisha Thomas added nine boards.
Neah Bay’s Kaela Tyler, who had a large contingent of fans that traveled to Port Angeles for the game, hit three 3-pointers, inclouding one right at the end of the first half, for Everett. She ended up with 11 points.
The good news for the Pirates is that Bellevue also lost, so Peninsula is still in first place in the North Division at 7-2, tied with Bellevue and Skagit Valley. The Pirates are 15-7 overall.
Peninsula next hosts Olympic at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Everett 77, Peninsula 71
Everett 14 26 21 16 — 77
Peninsula 18 18 13 22 — 71
Everett (77) — Chiguogwa 28, Biggerstaff 15, Balderas 14, Tyler 11, Edwardson 3, Perea 2, Reiter 2, Fyfe 2.
Peninsula (71) — Dugan 27, McKnight 10, Smith 9, Rodriguez 7, Barnes 6, Yayouss 5, Thomas 4, Rodisha 3.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Peninsula’s Jenise McKnight slips past the defense of Everett’s Claire Fyfe in the second quarter on Saturday in Port Angeles.
