Women’s basketball: PC’s postseason hopes take hit in loss to Bellevue

By Sequim Gazette Staff • February 21, 2018 1:30 am
Women’s basketball: PC’s postseason hopes take hit in loss to Bellevue

North Region standings

Team Rec. Over.

Bellevue 8-2 18-8

Skagit Valley 7-2 13-11

Everett 7-3 18-6

Olympic 5-5 8-13

Peninsula 3-6 5-16

Edmonds 2-7 5-19

Whatcom 1-8 6-16

Time is running short on Peninsula’s postseason hopes.

The Pirates couldn’t hold on to a lead late against the visiting Bellevue Bulldogs Saturday night, falling to a game-and-a-half behind Olympic for the North Region’s fourth and final berth to the NWAC tournament.

Brenda (16 points, 13 rebounds) and Melinda Akoto (14 points, 12 rebounds) posted double-doubles for the Bulldogs, whose 64-57 victory on Feb. 17 put them atop the region standings at 8-2.

Ashlynn Sharp had 26 points while Jamellia Clark added 18 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

PC had a strong second quarter to take a 32-28 lead by halftime and still held a four-point lead (45-41) going into the fourth quarter. A Clark free throw with 5:54 left pushed PC’s lead to nine (51-42) before Bellevue went on an 11-0 run.

Peninsula battled back, with a Yamilei Rodriguez layup and Clark free throw, but a Sierra Cole 3-pointer with 1:02 on the clock put Bellevue up two possessions at 58-54. The Bulldogs hit five of six free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

The Pirates (3-6 in conference, 5-16 overall) started the week strong with a 64-51 win at home against the Olympic Rangers.

Peninsula got 29 points from Sharp — one off her season-high — plus eight points and 17 rebounds from Clark in the win. Tiffany Smith had a big game all-around with eight points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

PC jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the first quarter, with 10 coming from Sharp in the opening period.

Olympic trimmed the gap to 31-24 by halftime but PC held a 46-37 lead after three quarters and held on for the victory, as Sharp had eight points and Kayla Alvarez sank a pair of 3-pointers in the final frame.

Lexi Ioane led Olympic with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Looking ahead

Peninsula travels to Mount Vernon for a conference match-up with Skagit Valley Feb. 21 before closing out the regular season with two home games against the region’s bottom two squads: Feb. 24 versus Edmonds, and Feb. 28 against Whatcom.

The NWAC tournament is March 10-11 and 17-18 in Everett.