PORT ANGELES — Go with what works.
Peninsula College sophomores Brooke Helpenstell and Brittany Bridges couldn’t be stopped coming off a high post pick on Saturday night.
Pirates women’s basketball head coach Julie Stewart had no problem milking it all the way to a 63-57 victory over NWAACC North Division rival Bellevue.
“We were running something that was working and we just kept doing it,” Stewart said.
Helpenstell shredded the Bulldogs for 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line, while Bridges added 17 in a showdown of the North’s second and third-place squads.
“The help defense wasn’t on, so we just kept on going for it,” Helpenstell said.
The victory puts the Pirates (8-2 in North, 13-8 overall) a full two games ahead of the Bulldogs (7-4, 14-9) in second place in the North, and two games behind first-place Skagit Valley.
The Cardinals (11-0, 19-1) come to Port Angeles to face the Pirates next Saturday.
“We’re really starting to connect, and we’re getting better every game,” Helpenstell said.
“This was a huge win for us. This was probably, for us, the biggest game of the season. I think we’re only going to get better.
“Bring on Skagit.”
Krystal Tolliver added 10 points for the Pirates, while Sam Flett stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
The Pirates jumped out to a 34-29 halftime lead, then held on as Bellevue kept it close throughout the second half.
It wasn’t until Bridges sank a pair of free throws with less than 40 seconds to play, putting the score at 63-57, that Peninsula had any breathing room.
“The intensity was very good,” Stewart said. “We knew this was a big game. So it’s just a really good win for the girls.
“We’re meshing as a group, which is making us better.”
The Pirates travel to Olympic on Tuesday with the big home game with Skagit Valley following on Saturday.
Peninsula 63, Bellevue 57
Bellevue 29 28 — 57
Peninsula 34 29 — 63
Individual Scoring
Bellevue (57)
Landdeck 2, Francis 12, Nabors 4, Brooks 3, Palmer 4, Grau 3, Rochowiak 9, Harms 11, Love 9.
Peninsula (63)
Tolliver 10, Flett 9, Bridges 17, Baumstark 5, Helpenstell 22.
Men’s Basketball No. 7 Bellevue 63, Peninsula 41
PORT ANGELES — The Pirates (5-5, 8-13) owned the first seven minutes of Saturday night’s North Division tilt.
The rest of the game belonged to the division leaders from Bellevue (9-2, 20-4).
Peninsula jumped out to a 10-0 lead seven minutes in to Saturday’s nightcap only to see Bellevue finish the half with on a blistering 29-5 run from which it would never recover.
“Bellevue is very good, and we just didn’t do the things we’re supposed to do,” Pirates coach Peter Stewart said.
“We just didn’t play well. Now we’ve got to battle to get in the playoffs.”
The Pirates dropped into fifth place in the North with the loss, with a poor shooting night against Bellevue’s pressure defense the culprit.
Peninsula hit just 26.3 percent of its field goal attempts in the game (15-of-57), while Bellevue rebounded from an 0-for-14 start to hit 43.1 percent of its shots (25-of-58).
“They guard the thirds[of the court] very well, and we didn’t handle it at all,” Stewart said. “We just turned the ball over.
“The basketball game is made up of runs, and we made ours, and they started to make theirs, and we just didn’t respond.”
Jesse Bean was the lone Pirate in double figures, scoring 14 points, while Cody Smithson added six as the next highest scorer.
Bellevue was led by Sam Cartnell’s 14 points, which included a trio of 3-pointers.
Bellevue 63, Peninsula 41
Bellevue 29 34 — 63
Peninsula 15 26 — 41
Individual Scoring
Bellevue (63)
Maddock 6, Singleton 3, Brensdal 2, Lapasin 13, Austin 4, Cartmell 14, Harris 5, Day 2, Pankow 4, Marere 10.
Peninsula (41)
Bean 14, Green 2, Pappuleas 4, Killian 3, Smithson 6, Antoinne 2, Manzanza 5, Worley 2, Collins 3.
