By Michael Carman

Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — A rough third quarter doomed the Peninsula College women in a 76-67 loss to Lower Columbia College that saw the hometown return of Port Angeles product Nizhoni Wheeler.

In front of large rooting section of family and friends, Wheeler scored 14 points on 7 of 11 shooting to tie teammate Tywanna Abbott as the Red Devils’ high scorer.

Ten of Wheeler’s points came after halftime as Lower Columbia erased a 33-24 deficit at intermission.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well from the floor in the first half (34.5 percent for the Pirates and 31.4 percent for the Red Devils), but Jamellia Clark and Tiffani Smith provided some scoring for Peninsula with 11 and 10 points apiece.

But the Pirates’ advantage quickly evaporated as Lower Columbia opened the second half on a 13-0 run in the first 5:07 of the second half to take control.

“They started hitting shots and we started turning the ball over,” Peninsula coach Alison Crumb said.

Wheeler said the second-half surge came about after shaking off the effects of a long trip north.

“We just needed to play our game,” she said. “We had just come off the bus after a 4-hour drive, and coach [Chad Meadors] said don’t make excuses, so we just came out and ran and played well in transition.”

The Red Devils lead grew to as much as 61-47 with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter but the Pirates hung around, led by 21 second-half points from Ashlynn Sharp.

Sharp led all scorers with 30 points while playing with a heavy heart.

“She found out about 20 minutes before the game that her high school coach died, so I think this was kind of a tribute to her relationship with her coach,” Crumb said. “It’s such a strong bond, that player-coach relationship, we told her you have to be every coach’s dream tonight on the floor if you want to really honor her the best way you can.

“Thirty points, nine rebounds, five assists, that’s not a bad outing.”

In her first game with Peninsula, newcomer Payton Caci contributed eight points and three rebounds at guard.

“She’s still a little raw, but she’s only had four practices with us,” Crumb said. “To be able to come out and hit a couple of big shots was good for us. She played fearlessly. She made some mistakes, but I think that’s to be expected and I think we will be able to use her more as she gets more comfortable.”

The loss wrapped Peninsula’s (1-10) nonconference schedule. Crumb saw some promising signs for North Division play going forward.

“I liked that we were in it,” Crumb said. “Lower Columbia is a great team and I see them going far in the playoffs. We’ve struggled, and we had one player playing her first game today. So to just be able to compete with a quality team was a good sign. I think we might have even been able to be closer in this game if we had stayed out of foul trouble in the third quarter.

“You have to take your positives from this one. It’s a nonconference game and I think it showed we are moving in the right direction.”

Peninsula will host Everett in the Pirates North Division opener at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Lower Columbia 76, Peninsula 67

LC 8 16 23 29— 76

PC 11 22 9 25— 67

Lower Columbia (76) — Wheeler 14, Abbott 14, Daugherty 13, Niles 10, Dotson 9, Lorton 8, Crews 6, Howard 2, Bailey.

Peninsula (67) — Sharp 30, Clark 13, Smith 10, Caci 8, Moore 4, Geberyesus 2.