By Oly Archibald

Voice of the Pirates/KONP Newsradio

In the world of basketball, it’s a long way from Spartan Gymnasium in Forks to Peninsula College in Port Angeles—and not just in miles. High school basketball is fun; college basketball is work.

Nobody knows that better than former Forks Spartan Kadie Wood, who decided to walk on to the Peninsula Pirates, NWAC powerhouse basketball team.

From Allison Crumb’s hell week of conditioning—a regimen the Marine Corps would be proud of—to the long bus rides, endless hours in the weight room, and the balancing act of study time and homework, college ball isn’t for everyone.

Especially not for a walk-on like Kadie Wood, who, in her freshman year, played just 42 minutes across 45 games, scoring 9 points and grabbing 6 rebounds for the season.

Many walk-ons give up hoops after their freshman season, but not Kadie Wood.

To her credit, Wood put in the time, the blood, sweat, and tears to enter the 2024–2025 season as a college basketball player Head Coach Allison Crumb could trust to play at a high level when the game was still on the line. In fact, Wood’s playing time increased from 42 minutes to 143 minutes in her sophomore year, averaging 10 minutes per game.

She saved her best for last, showing her growth as both a basketball player and athlete by scoring 8 points and pulling down 6 rebounds in a Pirate blowout win over Everett.

In her final home game—a 91–19 victory over Shoreline—Wood scored 10 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and tallied 4 steals.

This was on a Pirate team that went 14–0 in conference play, 24–3 overall, and earned a trip to the NWAC Final Four.

Wood’s Pirates starting five hailed from Hawaii, Australia, Sequim, Neah Bay, and Michigan.

Her “Do not give up the ship” attitude and unwavering loyalty to her teammates, without question, came from her grandparents, Lowell and Sue McQuoid, and her parents, Clint and Amy Wood, who more often than not followed the Pirates across the Pacific Northwest on game nights.

Kadie Wood, after two years at Peninsula, will not be going into the Pirates Hall of Fame or show up in the record books. But more importantly, she dribbles off into the sunset as a role model for other student-athletes—someone both Spartan and Pirate Nations are deeply proud of.