The Vashon girls basketball team traveled to Tacoma to take on the Life Christian Eagles on Tuesday, Jan. 18.

Vashon jumped out to a commanding 21-7 lead in the first quarter on the strength of an effective full court press and points off of turnovers. The Pirates never looked back in this game, taking a 28-16 lead to the half on their way to a 56-34 win over the Eagles.

Vashon had a season’s best team shooting percentage of 54 percent for the game. The Pirate effort was led by junior post Charlotte Kehoe, who finished the night with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots. Anya Quig added 11 points, Rachel Hoffman tallied eight points and Jasmine Acosta had eight points and a team high of six steals. Taegan Lynch (4) and Mariya Munsey (2) rounded out the Pirate scoring.

Two nights later, the Pirates took to the court at Cascade Christian in Puyallup. Despite an aggressive full-court press, Vashon kept turnovers to a minimum, played well defensively, and kept the game within reach as the first half ended with the Pirates trailing by seven points, 26-19.

Vashon opened the third quarter with outstanding energy, cutting the Cascade Christian lead to four points. But that was as close as the score would get. The Pirates struggled to continue breaking the Cougar press in the second half, giving up 40 points (mostly off turnovers) on the way to a a 66-34 loss.

While the final score was lopsided, the young Vashon squad played well for much game. “

We had brief lapses in our discipline on the press break, which in turn led to a couple of opportunistic scoring streaks,” said coach Henry Porter after the game.

Vashon’s offense was spurred by Kehoe’s 16 points and Acosta’s nine. Hoffman (4), Quig (3) and Cat Amick (2) also tallied entries in the score book.

In half court defense, the Pirates played well, holding the Nisqually League’s leading scorer Caycee Creach to 10 points.

“We are just a couple of small tweaks from being much more consistent,” Porter told the team after the game. “We will work to get these last wrinkles worked out over the last four games of the regular season. If we do that, we have a good chance to advance in post-season play,” he added.

Vashon played Charles Wright on Tuesday. Friday, Feb. 4, marks the final regular season home game against Orting.

— Gary Means is the assistant coach of the Vashon girls basketball team.