Julia Felici had plenty to be happy about Tuesday — her team’s epic win and her transformation into a NBA-ready scorer. (Photo courtesy of Nanette Streubel)
“It’s like you’re eating a hamburger and every bite by itself is tasty, and then you get that one perfect bite where everything comes together and it’s the greatest hamburger you’ve ever eaten!!”
Either Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball coach Amy King is just really, really hungry right now, or, like the rest of the folks in the CHS gym Tuesday night, she witnessed the flat-out best game of the hoops season.
I’m going with option B, but if you see her at Wendy’s or Burger King later, let me know.
Epic is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but Coupeville’s 37-34 win over visiting Sultan, its eighth victory of the season, was just that — epic.
It had everything.
Five-foot-seven mad dogs Kacie Kiel and Wynter Thorne elevating with major hops, ripping rebounds off the top of the rim itself.
Six-foot-one center Monica Vidoni suddenly whipping an over-the-head picture-perfect pass to a cutting Kiel for a bucket, seconds before being shoved out of bounds, the kind of thread-the-defenders artistry that might have gotten a nod of approval from Steve Nash himself.
Emily Coulter, Samantha Martin and McKayla Bailey dropping the Elbow o’ Death on everyone in sight, while McKenzie Bailey suddenly became a rampaging offensive threat, stopping on a dime and dropping buckets in her opponents faces.
Madeline Strasburg carrying the team on her back at crunch time, popping six in the fourth quarter to form an outside-inside double threat with Vidoni, who hit for seven, including back-to-back spin-and-bank-the-ball-off-the-glass moves in the waning moments.
Heck, even Miranda Engle, still out recovering from an illness, provided sass and screaming in support of her teammates.
Oh yes, and then there was The Moment.
What moment, you ask? Merely the one that brought down the house, as junior Julia Felici, the last Wolf JV player without a basket this season, suddenly morphed into Chris Paul late in the third quarter.
With her team trailing by four, Felici, a hustler and ball-hawk but not a shooter, suddenly dropped a most unexpected pump fake on a defender, shot by her and buried a one-handed runner in the paint that was nothing but net.
At which point her teammates lost their minds, King’s jaw hit the floor and the blushing Felici had to accept not one, but about 40 curtain calls as the Wolf varsity players and fans poured on the cheers every time she came near the bench.
A classy moment for a classy player, it stands with the best images of the 2012-2013 basketball season.
Oh, and what about the game itself, you ask? That was epic, too.
Vidoni dropped in a bucket at the buzzer to lift the Wolves to a 9-8 lead after the first eight minutes, and then the two squads, who went into overtime the first time they met this season, remained knotted up at the end of the second (16) and third (22).
The defensive struggle then erupted into a offensive free-for-all in the fourth, with both teams surging to leads, then giving back their margins just as quickly.
Down 31-28 after Sultan rained down a three-point bomb and a long jumper, the Wolves refused to bend. Vidoni scored the next five points, then McKenzie Bailey shattered the Sultan press and took the ball hard to the hoop for a game-busting layin.
A silky-smooth jumper from Strasburg, coming off a screen set by the wiry, but unmovable Kiel, and the celebration was on.
Strasburg and Vidoni paced the Wolves (8-8) with nine apiece, while Kiel popped for seven and McKenzie Bailey netted six. Thorne, McKayla Bailey and Felici chipped in with a bucket apiece.
Coupeville Sports 
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