PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women’s basketball team showed it can be a formidable force after opening Northwest Athletic Conference North Division play with a blistering 108-45 defeat of Edmonds.
Shaking off a three-week layoff since their last game, the Pirates (1-0, 7-4) got off to a quick start when guard Zhara Laster took the opening tip and zoomed down court for a layup less than 10 seconds into the contest.
“We worked 10 days straight in practice on transition,” Peninsula coach Alison Crumb said.
“We really wanted to let the team loose and make sure that every time we got the ball we were going forward and trying to put the pressure on the defense, and to start league play strong and play with toughness and confidence.”
The Pirates overwhelmed the Tritons by pulling out to a 9-0 start in the first 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the game.
“We knew we wanted to start out in a press for the first 5 minutes of the game, and we have such good athletes that we just need to be able to expose that athleticism and use the full length of the floor and make teams try to adjust to that,” Crumb said.
A 17-2 run fueled by 10 points from Neah Bay product Cierra Moss pushed the Peninsula lead to 32-5 midway through the first half.
Moss came off the bench to pour in 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor to lead all scorers, including cashing in 3 of 5 from beyond the 3-point line. She added six rebounds and two assists.
Quite a few of Moss’ baskets came off of passes from older sister Cherish.
“Cherish had [a team-high] seven assists, so I know who she was passing to,” Crumb said.
“The Moss-to-Moss connection was prevalent today.”
Cierra Moss, who racked up a good deal of experience playing against overmatched teams as part of powerful Red Devils squads in high school, has learned how to approach playing teams of lesser abilities.
“You have to face each opponent the same, focus on sticking to your fundamentals, to not get sloppy or play down to them and continue to make plays regardless of the score,” Moss said.
“It was all about the team tonight. We played well together.”
The Pirates led 54-22 at halftime with that team theme translating to 17 assists on Peninsula’s 20 made baskets in the first half.
“Before the game, we said we wanted to play for one another,” Crumb said.
“It’s always more fun to get your teammates involved and to enjoy others’ success because it just takes the weight off of individual players.”
Other standout performances included 20 points and seven rebounds from Madison Pilster; 13 points from point guard Miranda Schmillen; 10 points, four assists, four rebounds and four assists from Zhara Laster; and eight points and 12 boards from post Gabi Fenumiai.
Imani Smith also had 11 points, five assists and five rebounds for Peninsula.
Peninsula finished the game shooting 42 of 84 from the field and 8 of 17 from 3-point range, and with 29 total assists.
“We have a tough stretch next week so it was good for us to go out, get everybody involved and move the ball really well,” Crumb said.
Peninsula visits Whatcom on Wednesday.
The Orcas (0-1, 5-9) boast two players with North Olympic Peninsula ties, Port Angeles graduate Maddy Hinrichs and Port Townsend’s Gabbi Hossack.
Peninsula 108, Edmonds 45
Edmonds 22 23 — 45
Peninsula 54 54 — 108
Individual scoring
Edmonds (45)
Martin 13, Carpenter 12, Davis 10, Nicolas 9, Butler 1.
Peninsula (108)
Cierra Moss 27, Pilster 20, Schmillen 13, Smith 11, Laster 10, Staveland 8, Fenumiai 8, Santiago 6, Criddle 3, Nemelka 2.
Men’s Basketball
Edmonds 64, Peninsula 54
PORT ANGELES — The Pirates had difficulties adjusting to the physical, in-your-face brand of basketball offered by the Tritons in the first half of Saturday’s NWAC North opener, falling behind 35-21 at halftime.
“They came out in the start of the game and kind of punched us in the face,” Peninsula coach Mitch Freeman said.
“Their physicality and pressure overwhelmed us a little bit and we weren’t able to break that pressure and release some things we wanted to do offensively.”
Edmonds closed the first half on an 11-3 run, fueled by two inside baskets from post Zach Pederson, who finished with game-highs in points (20) and rebounds (nine).
“He’s really good, a high-percentage shooter,” Freeman said.
“He’s a double-double guy.”
After digging itself such a deep hole, Peninsula gamely battled its way back into the contest in the second half, utilizing a blend of zone traps and man-to-man defense to force five second-half steals and multiple missed shots by Edmonds.
“We went with some zone pressure,” Freeman said.
“We wanted to change things up, create some energy, so we did a few different things.
“Typically, we don’t go into too much of a zone, but they aren’t the best shooting team and we had to get something going.”
Deonte Dixon sparked the Pirates offensively, scoring 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, including a one-handed slam dunk.
His output included three straight baskets as Peninsula pulled within four, 49-45, with 7:50 to play.
“Deonte is talented off the basketball,” Freeman said.
“He can get a shot and he was big for us to create some momentum there.”
Dixon quickly picked up his fourth foul and had to spend a few minutes on the bench.
He came back on and got another score to pull the Pirates within 53-50 with 3:57 to go, but fouled out immediately after.
Jeremiah Hobbs scored and was fouled to put Peninsula down one, 53-52, with 2:41 to go, but Hobbs missed his freebie and the Pirates went scoreless in the final 2:01 of the contest.
Hobbs finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots for Peninsula.
Edmonds added a couple of dunks after missed shot attempts by the Pirates to account for the 10-point winning margin.
“I think we showed some competitiveness,” Freeman said of the near comeback.
“The effort in the second half was pleasing, if not the outcome.”
“Domach [Domach] was sick for us so that made it hard, too; we didn’t have much depth at the guard position.
The Tritons held Ryley Callaghan, Peninsula’s second-leading scorer, to just four points, putting a runner on him all over the floor to prevent him from hitting shots and creating scoring opportunities for his teammates.”
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Peninsula (0-1, 7-6).
The Pirates visit cellar-dwelling Whatcom (0-1, 2-10) on Wednesday.
Edmonds 64, Peninsula 54
Edmonds 35 29 — 64
Peninsula 21 33 — 54
Individual scoring
Edmonds (64)
Pederson 20, Fernandez 12, Omondi 10, Kawaka 8, Smith 6, Coulson 4, Tevis 4.
Peninsula (54)
Dixon 18, Hobbs 11, Deng 11, Mayeux 5, Callaghan 4, Ironside 3, Domach 2.
