The Vashon Pirates girls’ hoopsters notched wins over Nisqually league 2A foes Fife and Eatonville last week.

On Wednesday the Pirates hosted the stubborn Fife Trojans at home, emerging with a hard-fought 51-38 win. Fife tallied 23 offensive rebounds in the game — 18 came in the first half — which kept the Pirates from pulling away until midway through the fourth quarter.

One of two keys to the Pirate victory was 16 team-wide assists.

The other key was that while the Pirates did not go to the foul line very often, they made their rare opportunities count, shooting a perfect seven for seven from the stripe. Fife shot nine for 17 from the line.

Vashon traveled to Eatonville on Friday for a final preseason game prior to league play, and beat the Cruisers 54-47.

Early in the match the Cruisers featured an aggressive full-court press, but Vashon’s ability to get lay-ins off the press break led to a first quarter lead that the Pirates never relinquished.

Sophomore Charlotte Kehoe had a breakout game with her first career triple double (21 points, 12 rebounds and 15 blocked shots). Chrissy Swope and Kelly Costello added a combined 11 boards.

Late in the third quarter, Eatonville abandoned its slashing offensive sets in favor of a switch to dependence on three-point shots.

The Cruisers scored 12 points from beyond the arch and added free throws to pull to within two of the Pirates late in the fourth quarter, but a 24-foot trey from senior point guard Kiki Means set the lead back to five with 1:08 to play.

With time running short, the Cruisers were forced to foul in order to get the ball back. Means’ two free throws with 29.7 seconds left took the lead to five, and free throws from Swope with eight seconds remaining on the clock provided the difference in the final score: Vashon 54, Eatonville 47.

The Pirates began Nisqually League play at Chimacum on Dec. 15; the team returns to Vashon for its home league opener versus Cascade Christian at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18.

— Gary Means is a basketball dad.