Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

Needing a big winning streak to gain entry into the NWAACC tournament, the Peninsula Pirates' 2007-08 ship may be all but sunk.

Kayla Bennett led North Seattle 27 points, nine rebounds and five steals as the Storm downed Peninsula 74-61 on Feb. 16.

The loss spoiled solid contributions from Pirate stars Sam Flett (19 points), Brittany Bridges (18 points) and Bethany Holt (eight points, nine rebounds and four steals), but worse for the team, it puts Peninsula (6-7 in NWAACC, 10-12 overall) two-and-a-half games behind Skagit Valley heading into Monday night's home match-up with Whatcom.

North Seattle took a 40-33 lead by halftime and only increased that on solid shooting (12-of-23, 52 percent) in the second half.

Peninsula, meanwhile, saw their shooting go south in the second 20-minute half. After hitting more than half their attempts in the first half, the Pirates only hit one-third (9-of-27) of their field goal attempts in the second.

Flett led the Pirates in scoring for the eighth time in the last 13 games.

Both teams committed 24 turnovers each but the Storm was better at converting those miscues into points, scoring 22 points to Peninsula's 13.

With playoff hopes dimmed, the Pirates finish the season with three games this week: Feb. 18 versus Whatcom, Feb. 20 versus Everett and Feb. 23 at Edmonds.



Cardinals get revenge

With just a handful of games left in the season, the game was a must-have for both teams.

Advantage: home team.

After losing to the Pirates on a last-second play on Jan. 16, Skagit Valley used a strong second-half run to come back and stop Peninsula 81-65 on Feb. 13, gaining a game-and-a-half lead for the NWAACC North division's fourth and final playoff berth.

Alyssa Hendrickson and Corrina Sharick had 17 each for the host Cardinals, who dissolved Peninsula's four-point halftime lead with a 40-20 advantage in the second half.

Brianna Allen led all scorers with 20 points - 18 of those from beyond the three-point line - while teammate Britney Yamane added 19.

The Cardinals kept the defensive clamp down on Flett, who was just 2-of-9 from the floor and finished with five points, eight below her per-game average.

Peninsula shot well in the first half, draining 16 of 31 shots from the field and nine of 19 three-point shots. But that magic ran out in the second half as P.C. shot just 8-of-35 from the field (23 percent) and even worse from beyond the arc (22-percent).



NWAACC North Division Standings

(as of Feb. 17)

Team Conf. Over.

Everett 12-2 19-7

Seattle 10-3 17-7

Bellevue 10-3 15-10

Skagit Valley 9-5 17-8

Peninsula 6-7 10-12

Whatcom 6-7 10-13

Olympic 5-9 8-16

Shoreline 2-11 4-18

Edmonds 0-13 0-22