Coupeville Sports

       Haley Marx gets some serious ponytail action going as she hauls in a rebound. (John Fisken photos)

    See? This is what it looks like when Bessie Walstad MOVES. At the end of the game, she was PLANTED.

And there it is, that old familiar feeling of being kicked in the stomach.

In this season of the god-awful ref, an old, familiar face showed up in Coupeville again Tuesday night. He was pompous. He was overly proud of how he explained every last call like he was talking to a classroom full of first graders. He stared down Wolf coaches and fans.

And then, when it mattered most, he stepped in and effectively stole the game.

The words “Bessie Walstad never moved!!” will go down in history along side “Back and to the left” when it comes to assassinations. Because that’s what happened. Coupeville got whacked.

In a girls’ basketball game that, while it wasn’t the most beautifully played game ever, was tense and close and exciting, everything came down to one final play. Coupeville and visiting Lakewood were knotted at 35 after Amanda Fabrizi had hit back-to-back sparkling jumpers (the second off of a Walstad rebound) in the game’s final seconds.

The Cougars brought the ball up under careful pressure (“No fouls!” thundered Wolf assistant coach Brittany Black as Coupeville broke the huddle), looking for a final shot. The Wolves tensed as the ball came inside.

And then Little Napoleon struck, taking the game out of the player’s hands, calling a foul on Walstad, a Wolf senior captain, who had committed the great crime of having the player she was guarding back right over her like an out-of-control semi truck.

To repeat: Bessie Walstad never moved!

But Little Napoleon twirled his imaginary six-shooters, then curled his bad guy mustache and let the Cougars hit one of two free throws with 1.8 seconds to play. Knife still stuck firmly in chest, Coupeville had a desperation half-court shot from Breeanna Messner fall short at the buzzer and staggered off on the short end of a 36-35 referee-aided assassination.

Emerging later from a somber locker room, Coupeville coach David King shook his head softly.

“I never like to blame the officiating…”

And then his words trailed off and he sighed. Deeply.

The final play marred what should have been a fourth quarter to remember for Fabrizi, who hit three pressure-packed jumpers and wrestled a ball away from a Lakewood player in a tussle that ended with the otherwise ladylike Wolf guard inadvertently drop-kicking her opponent in the face.

Her take-down set up what looked like a great ending, as Walstad corralled a rebound, flung it to Messner at the top of the key, then watched as Messner threaded a pass between defenders to Fabrizi, who never hesitated, knocking down the game-tying jumper from the side with mere seconds to play.

Things shouldn’t have been that close, however, as the Wolves were obviously a better team. But they were also weakened by illness (no Katie Kiel, a limited Makana Stone, Lauren Escalle and Haley Marx), had trouble scoring inside and were tripped up by their old arch-nemesis, missed free throws.

Coupeville clanged the rim from the charity stripe, hitting just three of 19. Lakewood wasn’t much better, at nine of 23, but made five in the final period, including the most unkind one of all at the end.

Fabrizi paced the Wolves with 10 points, while Stone  banged away for six, with her best play a rebound she put back up and in at the halftime buzzer.

Messner, Walstad and Jai’Lysa Hoskins popped for four apiece, Escalle knocked down three and Hailey Hammer and Haley Marx dropped in a bucket apiece, with Marx’s basket coming off of a tough rebound and put back in the paint.