Ever the optimist, McKayla Bailey was back to all smiles by the time she was in the stands, doing homework during the boys’ varsity game. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
La Conner equals pain.
That’s the life lesson the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team may take away from Thursday night’s trip off the Island. If a 35-14 loss wasn’t bad enough, five different Wolves suffered injuries and ended up missing part of the game.
Team scoring leader Madeline Strasburg suffered a badly jammed finger (which prevented her from seeing any minutes in the varsity game) and then things got bad, quickly. McKenzie Bailey hurt her fingers in a fall, Wynter Thorne hurt her knee, McKayla Bailey took a hard fall like her lil’ sis and Monica Vidoni took a shot to the face.
With all the injuries coming in a rough and tumble game that saw La Conner draw a flagrant foul for slapping and cussing, things went downhill. Unable to get their offense flowing, the Wolves struggled for the first time this season and saw their record drop to 2-1.
“We didn’t run our offense, just had a hard time moving the ball and getting open shots,” coach Amy King said. “Defense worked as hard as they could, but the other team mostly stood outside and threw up shots, rebounded and had put-backs.
“With our team struggling with all the injuries as well as key players having to be out of the game, we just couldn’t find a groove at all,” she added.
McKayla Bailey paced the Wolf attack with four points, while Vidoni and Thorne each pumped in three. Miranda Engle added a bucket and Strasburg and Kacie Kiel each chipped in with a free-throw.
The upside is that Coupeville immediately jumps right back into play tonight with another game.
“We will, of course, in Coupeville tradition, think about the game but not dwell on it, and move forward,” King said. “The girls never gave up and I’m very proud of them for that. Cedarcrest tonight and I expect us to turn it around and play like we did in our first two outings.”
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