The Pirates are picking a good time to heat up.

The No. 4-ranked Peninsula women (9-1 in conference play, 18-5 overall) are headed to the NWAC postseason after a pair of big road wins last week and are tied with rival Bellevue (19-4) for the North Division lead heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

Peninsula, the defending NWAC champions, had dropped three of four games in December to Lane, Bellevue and Wenatchee Valley — not coincidentally, the top three-ranked teams in the conference — before rolling to nine wins in the past 10 games.

PC started the week with a come-from-behind, 56-39 win at Whatcom on Feb. 10.

Cierra Moss scored 19 points and Imani Smith added 10 in the win. Zhara Laster chipped in with eight points, nine rebounds, five steals and five assists.

PC out-scored the Orcas 32-12 in the second half.

Lindsey Honeycutt led Whatcom with 22 points and 15 rebounds.

On Feb. 14, Peninsula held an eight-point lead after three quarters before smothering an upset-minded Everett squad, 67-43.

Smith led PC with 19 points, nine rebounds and six steals, while Jenise McKnight and Cherish Moss had 13 points each. Laster had another solid all-around game, finishing with eight points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Jessalyn Reiter paced Everett with nine points.

PC forced 30 Everett turnovers leading to 28 points.

The Pirates host Olympic on Feb. 17 and No. 3-ranked Bellevue on Feb. 20, the latter going a long way to decide the North Division champ.PC then plays at Skagit Valley on Feb. 24 and finishes the regular season at Shoreline on Feb. 27.

The NWAC tourney is set for March 10-13 at Everett Community College.

North Division standings

Team Conf. Over.

Bellevue 9-1 19-4

Peninsula 9-1 18-5

Skagit Valley 8-2 18-8

Everett 5-5 12-12

Olympic 3-7 8-14

Whatcom 3-7 3-18

Shoreline 2-8 4-15

Edmonds 1-9 2-20