Coach Alison Crumb told her sophomores to shoot away early against Everett because it was their last chance to do it in front of a home crowd.

And one player in particular, Jenilee Donovan, took that especially to heart in the home finale on Feb. 24.

Donovan hit a Peninsula College-record eight 3-pointers and scored 26 points to help lead the Pirates to an 86-51 win, Peninsula’s 16th win in a row.

The Pirates also celebrated their North Region championship after the game.

“I told the sophomores that if ‘you have an open shot, take it — you deserve it.’” She said sophomores Lupe’lani Vaaia, Donovan and Talia Marini hit three straight shots to open up the game as Peninsula jumped to an 8-0 lead.

“Back-to-back-to-back, it was electric,” Crumb said.

Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula News Group Peninsula’s Jelissa Julmist, right, steps into the lane defended by Everett’s Ella Curry on Feb. 24 in Port Angeles.

Peninsula hit six 3-pointers in the first quarter and nine in the first half, opening up a 49-23 lead at the half. Donovan had six 3-pointers before the half.

Donovan is a steady, solid player for the Pirates, but not necessarily a big scorer. Even after Saturday’s outburst, she is averaging 7.9 points a game. The most 3-pointers she hit in a game prior to Saturday was three. She broke a record for 3-pointers previously held by Laura Thompson Knowles and Denise Kerns.

Crumb said Donovan has always had the potential to score like she did Saturday, but has always been focused on being a good teammate and distributing the ball.

“She’s just really unselfish,” Crumb said. “She does need to take more initiative [scoring].”

With the victory, the Pirates improved to 20-2 this season (13-0 in North Region play) and are ranked No. 4 in the Northwest Athletic Conference. Crumb said the 16-game winning streak is the longest one in recent memory.

What is especially amazing about this year’s squad is that it’s a freshman-heavy team (12 freshmen) as the Pirates had to replace North Region MVPs Millie Long and Ituau Tuisaula, as well as another all-North performer in Tati Kamae. The team’s leading scorers are Ciera Tugade Agasiva at 10.8 points per game and Shania Moananu at 10.1 ppg. However, they have six players averaging 7.9 points a game or more.

Photo by Jay Cline/Peninsula College / Peninsula’s Alexa Mackey drives to the basket as the Pirates take on (and beat) Skagit Valley on Feb. 21 at home. Alexa Mackey had five points and eight rebounds in the win.

“I think they’re so inter-connected,” Crumb said. “They really feed off each other’s vibes.”

The Pirates lost their second game of the year, 74-56 to Columbia Basin, which is ranked No. 1 in the NWAC. The team has changed greatly since then, Crumb said.

“They blew us out. We were not ready. I can’t believe how fast they’ve come together,” Crumb said.

Peninsula ended up hitting a total of 13 3-pointers. In addition to Donovan’s huge game, Sequim’s Jelissa Julmist scored 15 points to go with six rebounds and Vaaia had 15 points and seven rebounds. Agasiva scored 10 points and Shania Moananu had six assists.

The Pirates have one final regular season game at Shoreline on Feb. 28. Crumb said the team has nothing to play for, but to keep up its winning streak and momentum going into the NWAC playoffs.

“We’re going to keep it rolling,” she said.

Pirates clinch against Cardinals

A scrappy Skagit Valley squad did its best to prolong the outcome, but in the end, Peninsula earned a 60-57 victory over the Cardinals on Feb. 21 to clinch the Pirates’ third consecutive Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) North Region crown.

It was the sixth overall North title under Crumb and a particularly rewarding accomplishment for the long-tenured coach.

“We have had quite a bit of success in recent seasons, but with a junior college, it’s always a new group of players coming in,” Crumb said.

“And we had 12 freshmen, a whole new dynamic, a whole new story, so it definitely means a lot. So I am surprised. I would have been much more surprised to know this was possible in October [when practices started], but by January, I felt we could win the league.

“I knew we would have the talent but maybe not the chemistry or the maturity. There’s a lot that goes into building trust and relationships, much more than you see on the court, and especially with the interconnected way we play.

With the win, the Pirates secured a No. 1 seed into the 2024 NWAC basketball championship tournament and will take on the No. 4 finisher from the West Region at noon March 8 at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

Photo by Jay Cline/Peninsula College / Peninsula College guard Hannah Bates looks for an open teammate in the Pirates’ 60-57 win over Skagit Valley on Feb. 21.

The contest with Skagit Valley was a tight contest from the opening tip. Peninsula led 35-34 at halftime and went up by as much as 13 late in the third quarter at 53-40. But the Cardinals battled back via a 15-3 run and the Pirates went cold from the floor, going nearly four minutes without scoring.

Agasiva had two important baskets for Peninsula in the final minutes, scoring on a layup after a Donovan steal and later making an impressive ball fake and drive for a left-handed layup with a minute to go to put the Pirates up 60-57.

Peninsula’s defense stiffened down the stretch, shutting down Skagit offensively for the final 1:40, including Grace Nelson’s look at a potentially game-tying 3-pointer with 12 seconds left which hit the front iron.

Agasiva led the Pirates with 13 points and also had two steals and four rebounds.

Lainey Suaava added 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Peninsula. Neah Bay’s Allie Greene scored eight and Julmist added eight points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Pirate men swept at home

The Peninsula College men’s basketball team came back with a furious rally in the second half against Everett on Feb. 24, but the Pirates came up just short in an 87-81 loss that puts Peninsula’s playoffs chances in peril.

After the loss, the Pirates are in a near must-win situation on Feb. 28 night on the road against Shoreline if they want to qualify for the postseason.

Photo by Jay Cline/Peninsula College / Peninsula’s Javon Ervin, left, looks to score as he and the Pirates take on Skagit Valley on Feb. 21. The visiting Cardinals won 86-64, despite Ervin’s 32 points.

Peninsula is 7-6 in the North Region, tied for third with Everett (7-6), behind Edmonds (9-3) and Skagit Valley (8-5). Edmonds and Skagit Valley have qualified for the postseason in the ultra-competitive North, while Peninsula is battling Everett, Whatcom (6-7) and Shoreline (6-7) for the final two spots for postseason.

If the Pirates (14-13 overall) win at Shoreline, they finish either third or fourth in the North and make the postseason. If they lose, they end up at 7-7 in a tie with Shoreline and perhaps as many as two other teams. Everett plays Whatcom on Wednesday, so four teams tied at 7-7 is possible, which would entail myriad tiebreakers.

Everett got up big on Peninsula early in the second half, holding a 59-44 lead with 16:42 to play. The Pirates clawed back to cut the lead to single digits. After a Wyatt Dunning blocked shot, followed by a Dunning basket at 1:21 and an Everett turnover and Javon Ervin layup with 31 seconds left, the Pirates were down just 83-81.

Photo by Keith Thorpe/Olympic Peninsula Daily News / Peninsula’s Ese Onakpoma, left, shoulders into Everett’s Derek Smith on Feb. 24 in Port Angeles.

Peninsula fouled and Everett was able to convert a pair of free throws. The Pirates had a couple of shots in the final seconds, but they didn’t fall and Everett finished the game with another pair from the charity stripe.

Ervin had a huge game, making three 3-pointers and scoring 29. Ese Onakpoma also hit three 3-pointers and scored 22 to go with eight rebounds, six steals and four assists. Patrick Odingo hit a pair from downtown and scored 13 to go with six rebounds and four assists. Dunning (Port Angeles High School) finished with seven points and seven rebounds.