EVERETT — The Peninsula College women’s basketball team went down with pride.
“Same thing you say about that team when they win. They’re just tough,” head coach Alison Crumb said of the Pirates.
“We couldn’t really get over that first quarter.”
Peninsula fell short of repeating as the champion of the Northwest Athletic Conference, instead settling for second place after losing in the title game 76-59 to Lane at Everett Community College on Sunday.
Can’t win them all.
“The character and the toughness and the quality of your team is what gets you here. But you’re not going to be defined by 40 minutes of basketball,” Crumb said.
“And 31 other teams that would rather be here than where they’re at right now.
“The fact that we’re here, that’s what our goal was. Obviously, we wanted to come home with a different result, but we’re not going to be defined by that.”
Lane took command of the game early thanks to six first-quarter 3-pointers by Gabby Heehn.
“It’s too good of a team to go down that early,” Peninsula coach Alison Crumb said of Lane.
“We battled. It could have been so much worse. I mean, they can score so easily in so many different levels.”
Cierra Moss kept the Pirates in the game with three early treys of her own, and at the end of the first quarter, Peninsula trailed 29-19.
The Pirates cut the deficit to four points, 32-28, in the third quarter, but by halftime they still trailed by 10 points, 43-33.
They spend much of the third quarter trailing only four or five points, but by the end, they again found themselves down by 10, 57-47.
Peninsula got within seven points in the fourth quarter, but the Titans, who lost only one game this season, put the game away down the stretch.
“We were there and were there and were there,” Crumb said.
“You know, they just hit more shots than us. They didn’t play harder than we did. Both teams played hard. I’d be upset if it was about effort or toughness or intensity, and they never gave up.”
Lane (32-1) claimed its fifth NWAC title, all in the past 11 seasons.
Peninsula beat the Titans in last year’s championship game 85-75.
Smith led the Pirates on Sunday with 22 points. Neah Bay graduate Cierra Moss added 21. No other Peninsula player scored more than six points.
“Her shooting was great,” Crumb said of Moss.
“And then Imani just played like she always does, and just with such fire. Everybody else, I think, was also still a little bit in panic mood, like, ‘What are we going to do?’ And Imani just doesn’t have that button, she is just like go, go, go, go.
“You know, those two played a great game, and you’ve got to give it to them. But we had to have more than two people in the scoring column.”
It didn’t help that the Pirates were shorthanded. Starter Cherish Moss, also a Neah Bay graduate, missed the game due to illness.
Anaya Rodisha started for Moss, and little-used freshman Sephora Yayouss saw a lot of action.
Foul trouble to Jenise McKnight, Daijhan Cooks and Rodisha also hampered Peninsula.
“We had to play a bunch of different people, and they stepped up, you know, our bench players didn’t hurt us,” Crumb said.
“It’s just when you get in foul trouble like that — that’s what we couldn’t have happen, and that’s exactly what happened.”
McKnight and Rodisha both fouled out. Rodisha’s final foul came on a delayed flagrant foul after Lane’s Bri DuBois fell while she was running up the court.
The officials didn’t see what happened, but used the replay of the video feed to determine that Rodisha tripped DuBois from behind.
“I didn’t see it, but apparently they looked back on the film,” Crumb said.
“I’ll look for it — I don’t know, I’m not going to let that be a definition for her. She’s a competitive person. I don’t know what she did. I didn’t see it.”
Lane’s Shelby Snook scored 23 points to lead all scorers. She also was named the tournament MVP.
Peninsula’s Smith and Moss were chosen for the all-tournament first team, and Zhara Laster was picked for the second team.
The Pirates finish the season with a 25-6 record. Three of those losses were to Lane.
“It’s a tough loss,” Smith said.
“We were playing against a tough team. They’re record coming into the game was, what, 31-1, for a reason.
“It sucks, but we left it all on the floor.”
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
