2nd half shooting drought puts game out of reach for the Dolphins

Shoreline - Peninsula
Photo by Wilson Tsoi

By Drew Raher

After a closely contested first half in which neither team led by more than five points, the Peninsula College Pirates pulled away for a 76-56 victory over the Dolphins of Shoreline. While the score ended up lop-sided, the game was tight for the first twenty-five minutes as Shoreline used timely defense and clutch three-point shooting to give the Pirates everything they could handle.

The opening half saw the Pirates reach the free-throw line a total of 20 times thanks in large part to twelve Shoreline team fouls. Peninsula converted on 16 of those attempts to shoot 80%. Madison Pilster led the way going eight of ten from the charity stripe. Besides consistent free-throw shooting, the Pirates were determined to throw the ball inside to first-year post Gabi Fenumiai who controlled the paint scoring 10 points inside.

The Dolphins, on the other hand, used hot perimeter shooting to keep themselves within reach as Breyana Dutro (Fr, Kalihi, HI) came out on fire. She scored the first five points of the game for Shoreline on a nice driving lay-up and a long distance three-pointer from the wing. She finished with 11 in the opening stanza on 3 of 4 shooting from outside.

Bianca Benavides (So, Tukwila, WA) also had herself a productive first half knocking down two of three from long distance en route to nine first half points.

With the teams coming out of the locker room all knotted at 34, both teams traded baskets for a while until Madison Pilster took over the second period. The forward scored from the free-throw line, in the lane on pull-up jumpers and even drained a three pointer. The Dolphins zone defense kept her in check for the majority of the night, but Pilster was lethal in the open court. On the occasion Pilster would miss, Fenumiai was there to clean up the put-back.

Shoreline, though would continue to fight and showed great energy and resolve for the whole forty minutes as head Coach Darnellia Russell continues to mold this team as the season goes along.

Playing without starting forward Jordan Mahowald (Fr, Nine Mile Falls, WA), who was out with an ankle injury, provided some of the Dolphin reserves to see more action. Megan Lloyd (Fr, Salt Lake City, UT) and Sheree McDaniel (Fr, Seattle, WA) both contributed off the bench for Coach Russell and her staff as Lloyd finished with five points and two rebounds while McDaniels scored nine points in only 10 minutes.

The Dolphins were led by Dutro’s 18 points on four of six shooting from behind the arc, while Benavides chipped in 14 on 50% shooting from outside.

Peninsula (7-9, 4-2) got a season-high 26 points from Madison Pilster and Gabi Fenumiai tallied a double-double with 22 points and 15 rebounds.

Shoreline Community College (3-11, 1-5) will travel to Bellingham, WA to face off with first place Whatcom Community College this upcoming Saturday. The Dolphins will return home next Wednesday January 29th against Northwest Indian College in a non-conference tilt.

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