PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women’s basketball team wasted little time Saturday night.
Showing off a newfound knockout punch, the Pirates raced out to a 26-5 lead in a matter of 12 minutes against the Shoreline Dolphins to cruise to a 65-45 victory.
Post Taylor Larson scored 14 of her game-high 21 points in the first half, and guard Jesse Ellis added 14 points and six assists to boost Peninsula to its fourth straight win.
It’s the Pirates’ longest win streak since the 2008-2009 season and one that has them just a half-game back of first-place Skagit Valley in the NWAACC North Division standings.
“We started off the game amazing,” third-year Pirates coach Alison Crumb said. “I’ve never seen such confidence in this team all year as how we started today’s game.
“For some reason they just came out with an agenda, and I was unaware of it until I watched the first five minutes.”
Indeed, Peninsula (5-1 in North, 11-5 overall) unleashed its pressure defense on Shoreline (2-4, 8-7) from the opening tip and never let up.
The Dolphins didn’t have an answer, eventually turning the ball over 23 times in the game.
The Pirates came up with 19 steals as a team, with several leading to easy baskets on the other end.
That was especially true early on when the Pirates built a lead that mushroomed to as much as 23 points in the first half.
“We came out a lot more aggressive than we had in the past,” Ellis said.
“It was something that we needed because we hadn’t had a great week of practice, so it was good to come out real strong.
“We have a lot of potential and we all know we’re just finally starting to put it all together.”
A total of 10 Pirates ended up scoring and 10 also got at least one steal in the game.
Much of the numbers came from Larson and Ellis, however, who shot 10 of 17 and 7 of 13 from the field, respectively.
Each added three steals apiece while Ellis also came up with one block.
“Jesse Ellis had an amazing game; she was on every loose ball,” Crumb said. “She got so many tipped balls out of bounds just protecting our defense.
“She’s quick, she sees the floor well, she anticipates well, she’s just becoming a very mature leader for us and I was really proud of the way she stepped up [Saturday night].”
Peninsula shot 42.6 percent from the field (29 of 68)while also out-rebounding Shoreline 50-30 overall.
Perhaps most encouraging of all was the fact that the Pirates were into the game from beginning to end.
Even with the team up by 21 points in the final two minutes, players were on their feet and off the bench cheering on a breakaway basket from reserve post Jonica Durbin.
That sort of team unity goes a long way, according to Crumb.
“What’s great about our team is that individually they want everybody to succeed and they want everybody to get their opportunities,” Crumb said.
“It helps our practices to have 10, 11, 12 people who really feel a part of the team and really want to contribute their best.”
Peninsula next hosts last-place Olympic (0-4, 0-11) on Wednesday night before traveling to Bellevue next Saturday for a showdown of two of the North’s top three teams.
“If we work as hard as we did in those first five minutes with that type of intensity all week in practice, there’s not a team in our league that we can’t beat,” Crumb said.
“I don’t think that there is [a ceiling for this team]. It’s just ‘can we form the unity to stay at the top and keep going higher.’ ”
Peninsula 65, Shoreline 45
Shoreline 17 28 — 45
Peninsula 35 30— 65
Individual scoring
Shoreline (45)
Hooyman 4, Bergano-Kinney 3, Roussopulus 2, Ciraco 3, Phillips 18, Wilson 4, Voss 11.
Peninsula (65)
Durbin 5, Mason 5, Jones 6, Monfrey 2, Brown 3, Ellis 14, Yarde 4, Smith 3, Larson 21, Manker 2.