Breeanna Messner gets mugged. (Shelli Trumbull photos)
Amanda Fabrizi breaks free as Bessie Walstad prepares to trigger in the ball.
Good teams have bad games. It happens.
Unfortunately, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team picked an inopportune time to suffer through its worst performance of the season. Battling for playoff seeding with Island rival South Whidbey, the Wolves traveled down to Langley Friday night ready to assert their dominance.
It didn’t happen.
Missing inside presence Makana Stone (out for the third time in four games as she battles illness), Coupeville was decimated on the boards and the Falcons took full advantage of second, third, even sixth or seventh chances to ring up a 49-25 win.
The victory gave the Falcons (4-6 in league play) a one-game lead with four to play in the race to be the #2 seed among the three 1A schools in the Cascade Conference. The Wolves, who won the first meeting of the two squads, dropped to 5-11 overall, 3-7 in league play.
While tired legs probably isn’t a good excuse, with Coupeville having its shortest bus ride of the season, something was bothering the Wolves, who came out flat in a manner not previously seen this season.
The game’s opening moments set the tone, as South Whidbey grabbed what seemed like 45 straight rebounds before finally getting the ball to drop through the hoop. When they missed the ensuing free throw, presto, another rebound — this one put right back up and in.
The Wolves briefly rallied behind a truly gorgeous mini-hook off the glass by Amanda Fabrizi and a sideline jumper from Breeanna Messner, cutting the lead to 8-4. Then the Falcons reeled off 12 straight points and the game was effectively done.
Coupeville twice rallied to within 10 points — the first coming on a pair of Bessie Walstad jumpers wrapped around a Messner steal and feed to Fabrizi, who beat the pack down the floor for a breakaway bucket.
The second mini-rally came at the start of the third quarter, when a pair of Walstad free throws and a bucket on a power move by Hailey Hammer cut the margin to 24-14.
Then things just sort of fell apart, as South Whidbey started hitting ridiculous shots, banking in three-point bombs, having desperation heaves find the bottom of the net and taking complete and utter control of the rebounding game.
Busting out an 18-2 run, broken up only by Jai’Lysa Hoskins taking the ball and spinning straight up the gut for a bucket to end the third quarter, the Falcons sent the fair-weather fans home early.
The die-hards on both sides saw the most competitive six minutes of the game play out in the final six minutes. Coupeville closed the game on a 9-7 surge, behind a trey by Walstad and a jumper from Lauren Escalle, but even then South Whidbey had the final word, scoring the game’s final basket a second before the final buzzer.
Walstad paced the Wolves with nine points, while Fabrizi banged away for four and Hoskins swished three. Messner, Escalle, Hammer and Haley Marx each collected a bucket while Madeline Strasburg tickled the twine for a free-throw. Rhiannon Ellsworth and Katie Kiel chipped in with hustle and intangibles.
Coupeville Sports 