KENNEWICK — The Peninsula women’s basketball team drowned top-ranked Umpqua in a rain of 3-pointers to advance to its first ever Northwest Athletic Conference championship game.
The fourth-ranked Pirates had six players score in double figures and rode a deep bench to stymie the speedy, physical Riverhawks and pull off an 84-70 upset in the semifinals Monday night at the Toyota Center.
Peninsula faces a familiar Lane team tonight at 5:30 p.m. The Titans are the only team to beat Peninsula twice this season, having done so twice in December.
“These girls are tough. I just believe in them. I believe they can do anything they want to do,” Pirates coach Alison Crumb said.
“They support one another and they support me. They’re becoming winners, but we’re not done yet.
“They weren’t afraid to make plays. These kids are tough and they’re getting better and better. Their best basketball is yet to come.”
The Pirates had trouble early on containing Umpqua’s speed and size, falling behind 13-6 in the opening four minutes.
Peninsula didn’t have an answer for Riverhawks guard Romanalyn Inocencio, who continuously blew past Pirate defenders and connected on inside shots.
Peninsula began to climb back in it during the final 15 minutes of the half with precision long-range shooting, hitting at a 40 percent clip on 3-pointers in the first half.
The Pirates had 18 points off treys in the first half to only three for Umpqua.
Cierra Moss and Whitney Nemelka each drained two 3s for Peninsula, and Miranda Schmillen and Madison Pilster each hit one as the Pirates re-took the lead by one halfway through the first half.
Zhara Laster was especially effective in blanketing South Region MVP Ashli Payne, the former Olympic High School star, who averaged 17.3 points per game in the regular season but was held to eight points in the first half.
Umpqua found other ways to score as Inocencia put up 18 points in the opening half and continued to sink baskets, helping the Riverhawks regain the lead and head into the locker room with 39-37 advantage.
The Pirates came out of the locker room scorching hot. As Umpqua was stalling on offense, Peninsula was busy taking over.
Pilster knocked down back to back 3-pointers to start the second half, sparking the Pirates’ 30-8 run in the first 11 minutes after the break that turned a two-point deficit into a 20-point lead.
“We were passing the ball really well. We’d kick it to the open guy, shoot when we were open and they were falling,” Pilster said.
“Tonight we played a lot more team ball. Everyone was touching the ball and giving it to the open shooter. No one was selfish.”
Bench play was the game-changer in the second half, as Peninsula doubled Umpqua in points off the bench, getting 24 points from its reserves to only 12 by the Riverhawks.
“Whitney was huge off the bench, Cierra’s always great, Jonelle [Staveland] and Amanda [Hutchins] gave great minutes as well,” Crumb said.
“Everyone’s just there for each other. Whatever we needed them to do, they did it.
“There’s this feeling that we always have someone who’s going to pull us out of our funk. It’s always somebody different.”
Umpqua finally regained composure and made a comeback attempt with eight minutes remaining in the game.
Inocencia, Payne and Anna Mumm began attacking Peninsula’s interior defense, cutting the lead to 12 with 6:18 remaining.
But Umpqua would get no closer.
Nemelka hit back-to-back shots and Laster threw a full-court pass to Gabi Fenumiai for a basket to help the Pirates put the game away.
The Pirates were exceptionally effective in ball-handling, committing only five turnovers and pressuring Umpqua into 16.
Peninsula finished the game with 33 points off 3-pointers, hitting 11 for 26 (42.3 percent).
Laster flirted with a triple-double, recording 14 points, 12 rebounds and eight assist to go along with a team-high three steals.
Fenumiai also had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Madison Pilster topped Peninsula in scoring with 18 points, including 4 of 11 shooting from 3-point range, while Whitney Nemelka, after being held scoreless in the first two games of the tournament, came off the bench to score 13 points and making three of her four 3-point attempts.
Cierra Moss and Miranda Schmillen also put in double-digits scoring efforts with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Inocencio scored a game-high 24 points for the Riverhawks, while Payne finished with 16. Bremerton’s Sawyer Kluge, Umpqua’s second-leading scorer who like Payne is a former Olympic League MVP, was held to two points on a late basket.
Next up is sixth-ranked Lane, and the Pirates feel like they have a score to settle.
“We feel like we played two of our worst games against Lane,” Crumb said.
“To get an opportunity to go through a super-talented team like Umpqua and come through and play a team that’s knocked us off twice — it’s important for us to take care of business.
“We believed we were going to be here from the very beginning. Now we are. We just have to finish it.”
