Pirate boys and girls dominated Charles Wright tonight. Final scores were almost identical: girls – Vashon 64, Charles 26; boys – Vashon 64, Charles Wright 24.

The Pirate girls ran off 19 unanswered points from near the end of the first quarter to near the end of the second quarter and led 29-12 at halftime.

Sophie Nespor knocks the ball away from a Charles Wright player in a display of Vashon's tight defense.

The boys led 47-13 at the half. With a 30-point lead in the second period, coach Andy Sears began playing the reserves. The fourth quarter was almost all Pirate reserves.

The Pirates play Chimacum at home Friday, starting the second half of the season. The boys play first at 5:30 p.m. followed by the girls at 7 p.m.

After yesterday’s big boys basketball win over King’s it’s back to the Nisqually League for the Pirates. Pirate fans have a lot to look forward to the rest of this month.

I’m only listing the home games here. If you can travel with the teams, check the high school Web site for time and location of away games.

Basketball is home tomorrow, Jan. 20, Jan. 22 and Jan. 29. Get there early if you want a seat for the boys game. In fact, plan to watch both games, the girls are ranked top-10 in the News Tribune rankings and I think they could be a sleeper team at state.

Wear green and gold and join the Green Tide, if you can find a seat.

Wrestling is home the next two Thursdays, Jan. 21 and 28. From recent results it looks like the coaches are doing their usual good job of preparing the squad to peak for the post-season. Vashon hosts the sub-regional tournament on Saturday, Feb. 6.

And don’t forget the Mustangs. McMurray wrestling and girls basketball starts Feb. 8.

The Pirate JV didn’t have any miracles to pull out like their varsity teammates did. Steilacoom’s JV took control early and went on to win 49-27.

The Pirates were even with the Sentinels, 6-6, in the second quarter and outscored them 10-7 in the fourth quarter, but Steilacoom’s 21-5 third period sealed the Pirates’ fate.

Ben Reoux gets off a pass in the first quarter.

Daniel Ridgeway, 45, fights for a defensive rebound.

Nick Fox-Edele, 4, puts up a shot in the fourth quarter

Vashon's John Gage and Steilacoom's Kelvin Penn reach for the tip-off to start the game.

Tonight’s Vashon/Steilacoom boys basketball game lived up to the classic rivalry between the two schools.

Vashon, ranked #1 in the state in 1A, and Steilacoom, ranked 8th in 2A, played a game reminiscent of the days when both were in the same division and, for several years in a row, fought it out for the last slot to State, alternating years winning.

Alex Wegner puts up a shot in the second quarter.

The Pirates pulled out a 47-44 win in the final 48 seconds after trailing the whole game. Matt Amick hit a buzzer shot at the end of the third quarter and the Pirates came back on the floor for the final period fired up.

Vashon slowly closed the gap and, with 48 seconds and change showing on the game clock, John Gage sank a layup to give the home team a 45-44 lead. The defense shut the Sentinels down, forcing them to foul to try to regain possession.

Alex Wegner hit two of four free throws for the final margin.

Late score from the Sundome Shootout: Boys: Vashon 56, Colville 32.

I just found the score on the Pirate team Web site; no stats yet.

Our Pirate boys out-scored their opponents by a cumulative score of 123-73, a pretty impressive performance.

I haven’t found the girls’ score from today’s game yet.

Vashon’s basketball boys continue to own the Sundome in Yakima while the Pirate girls appear to still be fighting a Sundome jinx.

In the first day of the Sundome Shootout yesterday the Pirate boys crushed Cashmere 67-41. Two Vashon players, John Gage with 27 points and Alex Wegner with 14, equaled the entire Cashmere team. The win extends the Pirates’ Sundome win streak to five games, starting with last season’s state championship run.

Vashon’s boys play Colville at 3 p.m. today. Colville lost yesterday to Naches Valley 51-40.

The Pirate girls, almost invincible elsewhere, can’t seem to get going in the Sundome. Yesterday they were 48-28 victims of Granger.

While our girls have made several trips to State in the Sundome, they have yet to win a game.

Today’s game is 1:30 p.m. v LaSalle, 34-32 losers to Burbank yesterday.

Todd Beamer won the Rock Tournament  on Monday with four wrestlers earning individual championships. I was unable to attend and don’t know how Vashon’s grapplers placed.

While it may be a down year for the Pirate team several individual wrestlers are making their marks on the mat. See this week’s Beachcomber for Marian Easton’s report on the Tri-State Tournament.

The Pirate wrestlers are at Lake Stevens today. Next home meet is Jan. 21 v Cascade Christian.

Boys basketball hosts Steilacoom Saturday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. Boys and girls travel to Orting Jan. 5 and host Seattle Christian Jan. 8.

Wrestling returned to the Vashon High School gym this week.

Last Saturday the Rockbusters hosted their only home competition of the season and Islanders got a look at some future Pirates.

Rockbuster Seamus Spring works over his Eatonville opponent in an exhibition match Saturday.

Then last night the Pirates hosted Steilacoom in a dual that was typical of most Vashon/Steilacoom events, intense and not decided until the last match, when the Sentinels pulled out a 42-40 team win. Vashon won seven matches on the mat to Steilacoom’s six, but a forfeit at 103 pounds game the visitors the two-point final edge.

Several of Vashon’s varsity wrestlers also wrestled JV or exhibition matches before the varsity competition began.

Vashon's Iris Spring, 125 pounds, scores a near fall on Steilacoom's Elle Billman, 130 pounds, at the end of the second round. Spring pinned Billman early in the third round of the JV match.

The shortest match of the night was at 285 pounds. Geran Webb, wrestling up from 215, pinned Sentinel Jack Newhouse in 27 seconds. Pirate Aaron Bomber came back to pin Electra Duclos with just one-half second left on the clock in the 119-pound match.

Sjors Steneker, wrestling up from 145, is just seconds from pinning Steilacoom's Zach Flynn in the 152-pound match.

The Pirates’ next home action is the Monday after Christmas, Dec. 28, when Vashon hosts the prestigious Rock Tournament. Some of the best small-school wrestlers in the state will be on the Rock and the finals are often previews of state championship action. Action starts about 9 a.m. and continues all day as wrestlers compete to take home genuine Vashon Island rocks, the unique trophies for this annual competition.

The Pirates’ other home meets are Jan. 21 against Cascade Christian and Jan. 28 when Orting comes to the Island.

Despite the huge target on their backs this season, the Pirate boys and girls continued to win with victories over the Fife Trojans last night.

Abby Dolmseth, in white, runs into a little opposition as she tries get off a shot.

With the boys ranked number one and defending state champions and the girls top ten, both Vashon basketball teams are wearing targets big enough to qualify for corporate sponsorship by a well-known retail chain. Maybe there would be enough money to fix the nagging problems with the scoreboard controls and the shot clocks.

The Vashon girls looked a bit tired in the first half, after three games in three days last week, but still dominated the visiting Trojans, leading 23-17 at the break. Fife made it a game in the third quarter before the Pirates shut them down, holding Fife to only 7 points in the final period.

Kelly Costello scored 20 for the home team and Charlotte Kehoe had her best game so far this season with 12 points.

A surprisingly scrappy Fife boys team stayed with the Pirate boys for the first half before Vashon took over for a 58-43 victory.

The 2A Trojans didn’t seem to be over awed to be playing the defending 1A state champions. the lead changed hands several times in the first half with Vashon ahead 27-25 at the break. The Pirates started fast in the second half but the Trojans came back before Vashon took control for good, out scoring the visitors 17-11 for the third quarter.

Vashon held Fife to just 7 points in the final period, while the Pirates made 14.

John Gage had a couple of superb dunks on the way to 24 points. Alex Wegner, with 13 points, showed that he too can dunk. Corey Holert had 11 points.

From the Port Townsend Leader Saturday night:

Boys basketball: Vashon 70, Port Townsend 32

Vashon                  12  13  20  25

Port Townsend    11    7    7     7

Girls basketball: Vashon 57, Port Townsend 23

Vashon                  10  13  21  13

Port Townsend    10    2    1  10

After taking care of 3A West Seattle on Thursday, Vashon’s girls came back to destroy 2A North Mason on Friday.

The Bulldogs scored the first points, but the Pirates had a 13-10 lead by the end of the first quarter then wore down the visitors through the second and third periods.

Vashon shut down the Bulldogs completely in the final quarter while scoring 17 points of their own to win 52-25. Kelly Costello, Chrissy Swope and Elisa Wendt all scored in double figures and Swope pretty much owned the boards. Rebound figures weren’t available until after the coaches review the film, but Swope must have been well into double figures.

The Pirate JV had a big comeback in the second half but ended 1 point short of the Bulldog JV. With only six Pirate players available and the visitors having 12, Vashon dropped behind early and never had a lead.

The closest the Vashon JV came was a 30-30 tie when Jazmine Acosta sank a three-pointer with 1:35 left in the game. In the last minute and a half the Bulldogs got one free throw to win 31-30.

Alyson Laing, 30, and Jazmine Acosta, 4, fight for a loose ball in the JV game.