North Region men’s standings (final)
Shoreline* 10-4 17-8
Peninsula* 9-5 18-8
Bellevue* 8-6 18-11
Whatcom* 8-6 17-9
Everett 8-6 16-12
Skagit Valley 7-7 14-11
Olympic 4-10 7-20
Edmonds 2-12 5-22
* — Advances to NWAC tournament
North Region women’s standings (final)
Skagit Valley* 12-2 22-6
Peninsula* 10-4 18-9
Bellevue* 10-4 18-9
Everett* 10-4 14-12
Shoreline 6-8 9-15
Whatcom 5-9 9-14
Olympic 3-11 9-15
Edmonds 0-14 0-25
Despite getting swept by the Whatcom Orcas on March 1, Peninsula’s Pirate men and women are headed to the NWAC tournament with No. 2 seeds from the North Region.
The PC men finished alone in second place with a 9-5 record, one game behind 10-4 Shoreline. The Pirates — literally — open tournament play in the 16-team single-elimination men’s tournament March 9 at Everett, against Portland, the South Region’s No. 3 seed, at 8 a.m.
The winner advances to the Elite Eight at 9 a.m. on March 10, taking on the winner of the Tacoma-North Idaho (No. 1) matchup.
The Pirate women finished in a three-way tie for second place with Bellevue and Everett, all at 10-4 in league play, but will go as the No. 2 seed by virtue of North Region tiebreaker rules. Bellevue will be the No. 3 seed and Everett No. 4.
The first round of the 16-team, single-elimination women’s tournament is March 11 at Everett Community College. Peninsula will open against Tacoma, the West Region’s No. 3 seed, at 8 a.m.
The winner takes on either No. 1 Umpqua or Yakima Valley/Treasure Valley at 2 p.m. on March 12.
Men: Whatcom 96, Peninsula 84
Had the Pirates won last week, they would have captured a tie for the league championship — but Whatcom’s Orcas were on fire in the first half going up by 12, and held on to win by that same margin.
Cole Rabedeaux led Peninsula, ranked No. 5 in the second-to-last regular season NWAC poll, with 17 points. Alex Baham had 14, Darrion Daniels 13 and Omar Lo had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Leif Anderson led Whatcom with 17 points.
Women: Whatcom 78, Peninsula 73
Despite being short-handed, the Whatcom Orcas jumped to a nine-point first half lead and held on to upend PC’s women last week.
Peninsula’s Jenise Mc-Knight had 28 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out. The Pirates were whistled for 20 fouls to Whatcom’s 12 and the Orcas scored 20 points at the line, compared to Peninsula’s four.
In addition to McKnight’s effort, Alicia Dugan finished with 20 points, Tai Thomas had 10 points and nine rebounds, and Yamilei Rodriguez had 10 points and seven boards.
Linsey Honeycutt led Whatcom with 23 and Bella Nigretto had 22.
The Orcas had just six available players for the regular-season finale.
Peninsula, ranked No. 6, placed second at last year’s NWAC tournament and won the title in 2015.
PC stat leaders
Peninsula big man Kevin Baker led the NWAC in regular season field goal percentage, hitting 73 percent (111-of-152) of his shots. Alex Baham was fourth in 3-point shooting (47.5 percent, 67-of-141) and teammate Jalon McCullough was ninth (66-of-150). PC’s Trent Warren placed ninth in free throw percentage (86 percent, 50-of-58). Guard Darrion Daniels was 19th in assists per game (3.88).
The Pirate men did not have a player in the top 20 in scoring, rebounding or steals. Daniels led PC in scoring at 16.8 per game while Omar Lo snatched 6.3 rebounds per contest.
On the women’s side, Alicia Dugan was 13th in the NWAC in steals (2.33 per game) while teammate Sephora Yayouss was 16th in assists (3.59). Jenise McKnight was sixth in free throw percentage (83 percent, 95-of-115) while Dugan was 11th (80 percent, 68-of-85). Dugan led the Pirates in scoring this season with 13.9 points per game. McKnight led the team with eight rebounds per contest.
