NWAC WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT: Pirates come through in the clutch to hold off Chukars

Published 3:45 pm Saturday, March 7, 2026

PASCO — The Peninsula College women’s basketball team overcame a bad start to its game against Treasure Valley, then held off a late charge from the Chukars with a clutch basket and free throws in the final minute to win its NWAC tournament opener 70-66.

It wasn’t an easy win for the 23-4 and No. 1 seed Pirates, who appeared to be in deep trouble against the No. 4 seed Chukars midway through the second quarter.

Peninsula got down big at 31-17 with 5:30 left in the first half, as the Pirates started the game 1-for-9 from the free-throw line. The Pirates got two straight 3-pointers from Neah Bay’s Ryana Moss, who scored eight points in the second quarter and four straight free throws from Aspen Fraser to cut the lead to 35-33 at the halftime break.

Peninsula finally took the lead with a 3-pointer by Kimberlee Brown to make it 40-37 with 6:55 left in the third quarter.

Alecsis Smith had a huge second half and took over the game after that. She scored two straight baskets and Brown hit another basket to make it 55-47 Peninsula with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. At this point of the game, the Pirates were in the midst of a 38-16 run over 19½ minutes and it appeared Peninsula had all the momentum.

Treasure Valley didn’t go down with a fight, however, suddenly waking up and scoring 19 points over the final six minutes of the game. The Chukars, who had shot just 3-for-20 from beyond the arc up to that point, hit a basket, then made two straight 3-pointers to tie the game at 55-55 with 4:33 left in the game.

The teams tied five separate times over the final four minutes as both squads kept hitting clutch shots, highlighted by a Patrick 3-pointer with 1:50 left to give the Pirates a 62-59 lead. The Chukers responded with a 3-pointer at 1:15 to tie the game again at 62-all.

With the score tied yet again at 64-64 with 19 seconds left in the game, Smith was double teamed and hit Patrick on a backdoor cut for a basket to take a 66-64 lead. Treasure Valley couldn’t get a score on its possession and was forced to foul. The Pirates struggled with their free throw shooting all game, but Patrick and Moss made four straight free throws in the final 10 seconds to seal the victory. Patrick was 1-for-9 at the line before hitting her free throws.

Peninsula at one point was 10-for-24 with its free-throw shooting but finished the game 14-for-28.

Smith led the way with 25 points, 17 of them coming in the second half. She also had nine rebounds and four assists. Fraser had 15 points and Moss 10 points with four assists. Patrick finished with seven points, six in the second half, and 13 rebounds.

Peninsula survived to play No. 3 seed Umpqua (22-8) in the Elite Eight at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Peninsula 70, Treasure Valley 66

TVCC 22 13 9 22 —66

PC 15 18 14 23 — 70

Peninsula (70) — Smith 25, Fraser 15, Moss 10, Patrick 7, Brown 7, Garcia 4, Ostrander 2.