WENATCHEE — The streak is over.
After 19 consecutive wins, the Peninsula College women’s basketball team suffered its first loss in more than 10 months when it fell on the road against Wenatchee Valley 77-64 on Sunday.
It was the Pirates’ first setback since Jan. 10.
Their winning streak included a four-game run through the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament to claim the program’s first championship in March.
They then won the first six games of 2015-16 and received the No. 1 ranking in the season’s first Alaska Airlines coaches’ poll, which was released last week.
So, the target was pretty big, and No. 4 Wenatchee had Peninsula in its crosshairs. Fish in a barrel.
“They started with a 7-0 run. They just came out really fiery,” Pirates coach Alison Crumb said.
“It was a great environment to play basketball, but it was definitely hostile.
“They were fired up from the beginning. You could tell they wanted to beat us really, really bad. And obviously, they wanted to beat us more than we wanted to beat them.
“Wenatchee’s a great basketball team, they have great players, they played lights out.”
Peninsula never overcame the Knights’ fast start, and by halftime trailed 43-30.
The Pirates — “Road warriors,” Crumb said — were playing the third game of a hellacious three-day road trip.
They traveled from Port Angeles to Walla Walla for the Warrior Classic, where they defeated Columbia Basin 96-91 on Friday, and seventh-ranked Walla Walla 72-65 on Saturday.
Then Saturday evening they went from Walla Walla to Wenatchee for Sunday afternoon’s game.
Crumb said fatigue might have played a small role in the loss, but not nearly as much as how the Pirates handled playing from behind for once and playing against a team that was gunning for them.
The latter is a champion’s burden.
“Every team we’ve played has really wanted to beat us. We’re going to see more of that,” Crumb said.
“We have to play better through adversity and through fatigue. To be a championship team, you have to learn to do that.”
That the first loss of the season came in the last game of a road trip might put a rain cloud over the entire three-game stretch, but winning two of three games against Columbia Basin, Walla Walla and Wenatchee is impressive. The Knights and Warriors are ranked, and the Hawks received a vote in the coaches poll.
Columbia Basin also is two seasons removed from winning an NWAC title of its own.
On the first day of the Warrior Classic, the Pirates and Hawks played a track meet and lit up the scoreboard for a combined 187 points.
Cierra Moss, Zhara Laster and Imani Smith led four or five Peninsula double-figure scorers. (Specific statistics were unavailable.)
Moss went off against the host team, Walla Walla, for 25 points in the Pirates’ seven-point victory Saturday.
The sophomore from Neah Bay made 10 of 20 shots from the field, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range. She also pulled down seven rebounds and had three steals.
“She had a great game against Walla Walla,” Crumb said.
“She’s steeping up, she’s playing great for us. I really like the way she has transformed her game into not being just a shooter.
“She rebounds, she’s running the floor better. She’s not the fastest, but she’s smart.
“And she’s athletic. She’s deceptively strong.
“She’s just competitive and she puts her heart and soul into it.”
Freshman post Jenise McKnight scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots against the Warriors.
Imani Smith had 12 points, five boards and three steals, and Zhara Laster finished with nine points, nine rebounds and five steals.
Walla Walla was led by the 18 points of Kennedy Corrigan and the 13 from Emily Hancock.
Moss had another nice game in the loss to Wenatchee Valley, finishing with 14 points.
Smith, meanwhile, scored 23 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Smith made only ni9 of 24 shots and Moss went 5 for 14. The Pirates, as a team, shot 25 for 72 (35 percent) and 3 for 20 on 3-pointers.
“We shot the ball terrible,” Crumb said. “We couldn’t hit anything.”
Wenatchee Valley, which hadn’t played since Wednesday, had four players score in double figures, led by Rebecca Stevenson with 16 points and Treasure Farmer with 15.
Wenatchee (5-0) is one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the NWAC. Lane (4-0) is the other.
Crumb said the loss should be beneficial in the long run.
“To have that happen to us early in the season, it’s probably the best thing we could have hoped for,” she said.
“But it still sucks. I hate losing.”
Now the Peninsula players have the Knights in the crosshairs.
“They’re not OK with it,” Crumb said. “They want to play them again. We have some competitive players.”
Peninsula (6-1) might get another shot at the Knights this weekend at the Raiders Invitational hosted by Pierce College.
The Pirates open against Tacoma (1-4) on Friday and then face either Wenatchee of Lane on Saturday.
Peninsula opened the season with an 81-59 victory over Tacoma last month.
“I’m excited to see how we respond to losing,” Crumb said.
“I already know how we respond to winning; everybody responds well to winning.
“We haven’t lost in a long time, our returners are a little shaken up.”
Sunday
Wenatchee Valley 77, Peninsula 64
Peninsula 30 34— 64
Wenatchee 43 34— 77
Individual scoring
Peninsula (64)
Rodisha 6, Laster 5, McKnight 2, Ci. Moss 14, Cooks 3, Ch. Moss 7, Smith 23, Thomas 4, Hutchins, Yayouss.
Wenatchee Valley (77)
Sites 2, L. Johnson 3, Farmer 15, Malcolm 7, S. Johnson 11, Carlos 9, Jacobs 10, Swan 4 Stevenson 16.
Saturday
Peninsula 72, Walla Walla 65
Peninsula 18 24 13 17— 72
Walla Walla 23 11 6 25— 65
Individual scoring
Peninsula (72)
Rodisha 2, Laster 9, McKnight 14, Ci. Moss 25, Cooks 2, Ch. Moss 6, Smith 12, Thomas 2, Hutchins, Yayouss.
Walla Walla (65)
Greene 8, Greene 2, Jensen 9, Hancock 13, Corrigan 18, Ferenz 10, Wellsandt 5, Allert, Dennis, James.
