PHS Girls Basketball Beats Gig Harbor, 36-33; Teams Play Again on Saturday in Third Fish Basket

Peninsula guard Grace Richardson scored 19 points, including 11 in the first half, and had 10 steals as the Seahawks girls basketball team overcame a horrible night of shooting to beat Gig Harbor, 36-33 in their second face-off Fish Basket Feb. 1.

With the win, the Seahawks (11-7, 9-5 in the South Sound Conference) and the Tides (12-8, 9-5) are now tied for third place in the conference. Because this was supposed to be the final game of the regular season, the two teams will play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Gig Harbor to determine sole possession of third place. Placement is important for seeding in the district tournament starting next week. Saturday’s losing team will finish fourth in the conference.

Gig Harbor was without leading scorer Taylor Schwab who reportedly tweaked her knee earlier in the week. Schwab scored 28 points in the Tides 53-51 overtime win over the Seahawks Jan. 10 and is expected to be back for Saturday’s game.

Gig Harbor was up 23-20 at halftime, but the Seahawks managed to hold the Tides to only 10 second-half points. Peninsula took their first lead of the game, 25-23, with 4:36 left in the third from a layup by senior Kaylia Heidelberg. They held the lead until Tides sophomore guard Kaliyah Miller knocked down a three-pointer to make it 31-30 with 5:10 left in the game. A pair of baskets in the paint by Richardson and a strong drive by senior Daisy Peay in the final minutes helped seal the win. The Tides had a chance to tie it with 1.2 seconds left, but Richardson intercepted the inbounds pass.

“(This game) was way closer than it should’ve been,” said Seahawks coach Hannah Lekson. “Our shooting was down and we had no offensive flow.”

Heidelberg had eight points for Peninsula. Miller led the Tides with nine points and senior guard Alex Ferrier had eight. All five Seahawks starters played the entire game.

North Thurston finished the season as SSC regular season champions, going undefeated on the year. Timberline took second place with its only two losses coming at the hands of North Thurston.