Peninsula College’s men’s and women’s basketball squads had not swept Whatcom since 2009, but the Pirates made the long trip to Whatcom County Wednesday night and returned with a pair of North Division victories.

The Peninsula women improved to 2-0 in conference play with a 77-68 win over the Orcas, while the men evened their record at 1-1 with a 62-56 victory.

It also marked the first women’s and men’s sweep over the Orcas going back to Jan. 21, 2009, when the Pirate women won 59-43 and the men won 86-69.

The games were played at Meridian High School while Whatcom’s new gymnasium is being constructed.

Women: Pirates 77, Orcas 68

Miranda Schmillen had the hot hand for the Pirates, hitting on seven of 11 attempts from the field, leading the Pirates with 19 points. Madison Pilster had 14 points and five rebounds, Ciera Moss added 10 points and seven boards and Zhara Laster contributed nine points and also have seven rebounds.

Peninsula gave up 31 points to Whatcom’s Kortney Grattic, who leads the Northwest Athletic Conference in scoring, but the Pirates held her teammates in check to get the win.

Men: Pirates 62, Orcas 56

The Peninsula men, who split with the defending North Division champions last year, went out to a 33-26 halftime lead and held on to win by six.

Ryley Callaghan led all scorers with 21 points, Deonte Dixon hit for 18 and Jahl Deng and Jonah Cook had eight points each to lead the Pirates. Jeremiah Hobbs was Peninsula’s leading rebounder with eight.

Coming up

Next up for the Pirates is a road trip to Everett on Saturday before returning home for Pirate Pete’s Week games against Olympic on Jan. 21 and Bellevue on Jan. 24.