By Eric Trent
David vs Goliath, round two.
Last year, Peninsula women’s basketball team had upset perennial powerhouse Lane Community College – who had won four previous titles since 2006 – for their first championship in school history.
This year, Lane was back for revenge, boasting a 30-1 record and looking every bit as impressive as their record indicated.
And this time, Goliath prevailed.
The Pirates found themselves in a first half hole that couldn’t be dug out, and fell 76-59 to Lane in the Northwest Athletic Conference Championship, Sunday, March 13, in Everett.
Lane shot a blistering 76.9 percent from distance in the first half to keep Peninsula at bay, then continued to hit shots when they mattered, quelling any comeback attempt Peninsula threw at them.
Surprisingly Lane’s starting five scored all 76 of Lane’s points in the game, with zero point contribution from their bench, almost unheard of in college basketball.
“Both teams played hard,” Peninsula Head Coach Ali Crumb said. “I’d be upset if I thought it was about effort, or toughness or intensity.”
Lane’s Gabby Heehn buried 6 of her 7 long-range, first half shots to give Lane a 29-16 lead in the first nine minutes of action.
“It’s too good of a team to go down, that early,” Crumb said. “We battled. It could have been so much worse.”
Cierra Moss kept Peninsula in the game, hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter, followed by a 9-3 run for the Pirates which pulled them within four.
But, Lane kept hitting from downtown, getting 3s from Mallory Shields and Shelby Snook to give Lane a 10-point lead at the break.
“They got a 10-point lead,” Crumb said. “And we just were there, were there, were there. They just hit more shots than us.”
The Pirates had also found themselves in foul trouble. At halftime, Jenise McKnight had 3 personals, Anaya Rodisha had 2 and Daijhan Cooks had 2.
With starter Cherish Moss sitting the entire game due to illness, coupled with the foul trouble, Peninsula was forced to play deep into their bench.
This required Crumb to keep Imani Smith and Cierra Moss the entire 40 minutes of the game, while Zhara Laster played 36 minutes.
With zero to little rest from her top-3 players, it took everything Peninsula had just to keep up, leaving no extra gear to ultimately pull ahead.
“They were tough,” Crumb said. “We couldn’t really get over that first quarter. It’s hard to rebound from that.”
Peninsula broke off 10-4 run to start the second half, pulling the Pirates within 4, again.
“We came out strong in the third quarter,” Crumb said. “We just had some people in foul trouble. We couldn’t get our rhythm back.”
Lane started feeding the ball inside to Jordan Kimbrough who continued to connect on inside shots and drawing fouls.
At the end of three quarters, Peninsula still trailed by 10 and couldn’t seem to gain a ground on Lane.
The fourth quarter was all Lane, as the Titans continually pounded the ball inside and either converted on their shots or drew the foul.
Rodisha fouled out with 3:31 left and the score at 68-54; Jenise McKnight, who sat out most of the first half in foul trouble, fouled out with 2:15 left to play.
By then, it was a full-court press, free-throw game, at that point.
Cierra Moss hit a 3-pointer with 2:50 to go, pulling Peninsula within 11, but the Pirates would get no closer as they were forced to take bad shots, then foul on the defensive end.
Lane converted most of their free-throws to give them a 76-59 win, and their league-leading fifth championship.
“The character and the toughness and the quality of your team is what gets you here,” Crumb said. “But you’re not going to be defined by 40 minutes of basketball.”
“34 other teams would rather be here than where they’re at right now,” she said.
Imani Smith led the Pirates with 22 points; Cierra Moss knocked in 21.
Zhara Laster pulled down a game-high 15 boards.
Smith and Moss made first-team all-tournament, while Laster was picked for second-team all-tournament.
For seven sophomores, it was their final game in a Pirates jersey. Imani Smith; Zhara Laster; Cierra Moss; Cherish Moss; Amanda Hutchins; Savanna Gonzalez; and Nika Criddle.
Congratulations to both teams on making it to the championship, and congratulations Lane on your championship. Mostly, congratulations Lane for being classy. Not so much for Peninsula. At the final buzzer, one player headed straight for the locker room, another started the Peninsula handshake line but apparently couldn’t wait 10 seconds for Lane to break its celebratory huddle and she, too, headed for the locker room. Shortly thereafter another one did, too. And then, the topper was during the trophy presentation, the Peninsula player on the bench wearing sunglasses. Your future is very bright indeed.