You don’t mess with the Messner (center). “I got this, ladies!” (Shelli Trumbull photos)
Makana Stone, center, prepares to launch in pursuit of a rebound.
They’re too good.
That’s why the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team has to play seven of its first eight games this season on the road.
Because if you let them play in their own gym for one night, as the schedule-makers actually did Friday evening, the Wolves will go crazy, play stifling defense, shred visiting South Whidbey, bring the fans back to the CHS gym, get the place rockin’ and basically cause people to scream like maniacs every time Amanda Fabrizi goes upside someone’s head and rips the ball free or Breeanna Messner nails a running jumper and then quietly smiles to herself as she heads back up court.
Can’t have that, so back on the road the Wolves will go.
But it was fun for one night, as Coupeville backhanded their Island rivals 39-24, using an 18-0 run to send the nearly-full stands into hysterics not previously seen at any point this basketball season.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Wolves fell behind 15-10 early in the second quarter. That was when the fireworks went off, and they went off team-wide.
Jai’Lysa Hoskins, she of the deadly elbows down low in the Rebounding Zone, kick-started things with a short jumper and then the floodgates opened. Clamping down on every South Whidbey possession, with Fabrizi and Lauren Escalle terrorizing the Falcon ball-handlers, the Wolves scored the final 16 points of the half.
The buckets came from every direction, with Hailey Hammer asserting her presence in the paint, Messner tickling the twine for two picture-perfect free throws, then sticking a dagger in with a jumper from the top of the key and Fabrizi swishing a long-range shot just inches inside the three-point line.
The only momentary glitch in the game came in the third, when the Falcons put together a brief 5-0 run and the Wolves missed two consecutive layups on breakaways. But no worries on this evening, as Makana Stone and Messner immediately restored order with back-to-back jumpers.
Messner, who rang up a team-high 12, closed out the game with a pair of beautiful buckets — one a shot that hit the bottom of the net just as the shot-clock went off and the other a one-hander that arced right over the outstretched fingertips of a defender.
Toss in a “get off my lawn!” block by Stone, as the freshman acted like a grizzled veteran, and the party was on.
The victory gave Coupeville back-to-back wins, evened its season mark at 3-3 and lifted its Cascade Conference record to 2-1 (the Falcons are 0-3). The Wolves travel to Sultan Tuesday, Dec. 18 and Friday Harbor, Thursday, Dec. 20, before we’ll get to see them at home again on Saturday, Dec. 22. That night they’ll be thrashing Orcas Island.
Against South Whidbey, Hammer and Bessie Walstad each popped for seven points in support of Messner, while Hoskins hit for six, Stone dropped in five and Fabrizi netted two.
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