CENTRALIA — Who can beat the Peninsula Pirates?
The Peninsula College women’s basketball team won its 17th consecutive game by defeating the Centralia Blazers 69-55 on Monday.
Tuesday marked 10 months since the Pirates’ last loss, a 67-62 setback to Bellevue at home Jan. 24.
Along with 17 straight victories, Peninsula has won 16 consecutive games by 10 points or more. (The streak began with a two-point victory over Skagit Valley.)
The Pirates finished 2014-15 by winning four games in four days away from home to claim the Northwest Athletic Conference championship in March. They have started this season doing the same, going on a Friday-to-Monday road trip and defeating Highline, Tacoma, Lower Columbia and Centralia.
The fourth win was the toughest. The Pirates didn’t pull away until the fourth quarter, during which they outscored the Blazers 22-12 to turn a four-point lead into a 14-point victory.
“[Monday] was the most challenged that we’ve been,” Peninsula coach Alison Crumb said.
“It was good for our girls just to see how they respond.
“They powered through and showed their toughness. They ended up making plays and came out with the ‘W.’”
Zhara Laster led the Pirates with a monsterous 19-point, 19-rebound performance in Monday’s win. She also had a team-high four assists.
“She’s such a baller,” Crumb said.
“She really is. She’s 5-foot-9 but she can jump out of the gym.
“She has one of the best feels for the game.”
Laster made 7 of 12 field goals, including 2 of 5 from 3-point range.
“Right in their crowd’s face,” Crumb said of the treys. “It was awesome.
“It was a pretty rowdy crowd.”
Crumb said that after the game, a few of Centralia’s fans approached Laster after the game and complimented the way she played.
As a team, the Pirates outrebounded the Blazers 62-32. Twenty-five of Peninsula’s rebounds came on the offensive end.
Imani Smith and Tai Thomas each grabbed seven of those rebounds and scored 14 and nine points, respectively.
Cierra Moss finished with six rebounds and 17 points, nine of those points coming from 3-pointers.
Moss also only had one turnover, which was significant because as a team, Peninsula turned the ball over 21 times.
“That’s one of the things that we didn’t get better at over the weekend,” Crumb said
“I do think that our team, as athletic and talented as we are, we can sometimes take plays off offensively.
“But I’d rather have those mistakes now than a team that’s afraid to make plays. We’re not afraid to make plays.”
Crumb said that while part of reason for the turnovers is the Pirates’ aggressive style of play, Monday being their fourth game in four days also was likely a factor, because there were turnovers such as fumbling the ball out of bounds and double dribble calls.
“I think we started to see a little bit of the fatigue,” Crumb said.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever had Cierra ask me to come out. She didn’t actually ask me to come out, she just kind of looked at me weird.”
Peninsula also had a shorter bench because Cherish Moss suffered an injury in the early minutes and sat out the remainder of the game.
That meant more time that the other guards needed to play at a nonstop uptempo pace for longer stretches than usual. Imani Smith played 37 minutes, Cierra Moss played 35, Laster was in for 32 and freshman Anaya Rodish put in 24 minutes off the bench.
“The way we play is physically exhausting,” Crumb said.
“They’re used playing at that pace 20 to 25 minutes. We had to do it for a lot more minutes than we’re used to.”
While Peninsula’s bench had less players available, Centralia only used six players in the entire game. Sydnie Cole-Vogler paced the Blazers with 15 points.
The Pirates have the rest of this week off, and Crumb said many are going back home for Thanksgiving.
When they reconvene next week, they’ll be preparing for what might be an even more difficult road trip than the one they just finished.
They face Columbia Basin on Friday, Dec. 4, in Walla Walla, and then stick around to play Walla Walla the next day.
They finish by playing at Wenatchee Valley on Sunday, Dec. 4.
Peninsula swept that same road trip last season.
“We won all three of those last year, but we were tested every time,” Crumb said.
“These are championship-type teams that just don’t take possessions off.”
The Pirates (4-0) will then play at the Pierce Holiday Invitational the following weekend and then host their first home games of the season at the North Region Crossover on Dec. 17-19.
