Amanda Fabrizi, seen here in a game earlier this season, was deadly from three-point range Friday. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
When it mattered most, the freshman played like a veteran.
Scoring nine of her team-high 11 points in the fourth quarter — including three pressure-packed free throws, Makana Stone lifted the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team Friday night and carried them on her back.
By the time she was done, the Wolves had turned a game-long deficit into a convincing, and very satisfying, 39-33 Cascade Conference win at Granite Falls.
The win, the second in three games for Coupeville, lifted them to 5-6 overall, 3-3 in league play.
“The second half the girls decided this was our game to win and that’s what we did,” said Coupeville coach David King. “Yes, we struggled mightily in the first half, but there is no quit with this team. It was a satisfying come back win.”
Every rampaging force of nature (even one as graceful as Stone) needs a wing-man to open things up for them, and junior Amanda Fabrizi was that gunner, tossing in two three-point bombs in the final quarter to loosen up Granite Fall’s defense.
Fabrizi’s first trey gave Coupeville the lead, and the second was a slap to the face, telling Granite Falls to stay down and accept its impending defeat.
It was a nice turn-around after the Wolves had struggled with Granite Falls’ deliberate style of play in the first half. Utilizing a spread offense, the Tigers ground 20 or more seconds off the clock on almost every possession, and then, when the defense finally broke down, beat Coupeville on back door cuts.
Emily Schneiders nailed three three-pointers en route to outscoring the Wolves on her own in the first half. With Schneiders hitting for 15 before halftime, Granite Falls held a 21-14 lead at the break.
But, as King said, “the game was a tale of two halves!”
“Granite executed their game plan in the first half; they owned us and the game. We went into halftime lost,” King said. “The girls received the halftime message loud and clear! We are a better team than what we brought in the first half (to put it nicely).”
Recharged, the Wolves burst out of the locker room and completely shut down Schneiders in the second half, holding her scoreless while making a 10-5 charge. Hailey Hammer and Breeanna Messner each dropped in four in the quarter to light the fire.
Coupeville also changed up its defensive tactics, and it paid immediate dividends.
“I don’t like getting out of man to man defense, but we had to make that adjustment late in the third or early in the fourth and went into a 3-2 zone,” King said. “Granite all night looked to take the outside shot and this defense really jumped started us and helped carry us to the win. We were more active and able to deflect more passes and get some steals.”
Once they recaptured that lead, with Fabrizi and Stone standing in as Coupeville’s version of a vintage Kobe and Shaq, Granite Falls wilted. Then, unlike Shaq, Stone buried her free throws with the game on the line.
“We have made some changes to her free throw form,” King said. “Right now she isn’t making them with consistency in games. But once she is comfortable with the form, she should be making at least 70% from the line.”
Stone had a splendid game all around, racking up five rebounds, six steals and two blocks to go with her 11 points. Fabrizi and Hammer finished with eight apiece while Messner and Bessie Walstad both chipped in with six.
It was a solid team effort all-around.
“Everyone contributed tonight,” King said. “Katie Kiel, Rhiannon Ellsworth and Haley Marx gave us good minutes and energy off the bench.”
The Wolves have a full week ahead, returning home for back-to-back games against league powers King’s (Tuesday, Jan. 8) and Cedarcrest (Friday, Jan. 11), before traveling to Mount Vernon Christian (Saturday, Jan. 12) for a non-conference bout.
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