Everett, WA – The Trojans returned home, riding high after two, one point wins on the road to strong Skagit Valley and Bellevue teams. EvCC hosted the 7-5 Pirates of Peninsula College who were coming off of a close one-point game themselves, but on the opposite end of the win column.
The game began in a furry of up and down action with both teams looking a bit unsettled. By the end of the first quarter Peninsula tallied 7 turnovers, while Everett connected on back to back three pointers to close out the quarter and take a 12-8 lead.
In the second quarter the Trojans stretched the four point lead out to as many as 10 in the first five minutes forcing a Peninsula timeout. After a few buckets were exchanged, Everett closed out the half strong on a 7-0 run to take a 20-32 lead going into the break. Sydney VanNess led the Trojans with 10 first half points.
In the third quarter of action, Peninsula found some rhythm offensively, but the Trojans matched it step for step. Both teams hit a two minute scoring drought before Everett finally connected on a free throw. Peninsula would fail to score in the final five and a half minutes of the quarter and Everett went into the 4th and final quarter with a sixteen point lead at 45-29.
The Pirates started the 4th with a made bucket and went into a full court press with strong ball pressure. A 7-0 run by the Pirates would be answered on a nice pass from Thuyvi Tran to Courtney Perry who finished with a layup to beat the press and get the first points of the quarter for EvCC. Peninsula kept up the pressure, forcing twelve turnovers and cutting the lead to one with just over a minute to play.
With the lead and the ball, Monet Rundle tipped an errant pass from a teammate under pressure to herself and converted on a breakaway layup to go back up three with 52.3 seconds remaining at 51-48. Both teams had several offensive exchanges in the final 50 seconds of play but neither could score and the Trojans held on for the 53-48 win.
Sydney VanNess led all scorers with 16 points and Thuyvi Tran had one of her best games of the year scoring 12. Everett has now won four games in a row and are prepped to play 8-2 Whatcom this Saturday.