They were smiling here on Senior Night, but Jai’Lysa Hoskins (left) and Lauren Escalle don’t back down from a fight. (John Fisken photo)
Play through the buzzer.
It’s what all basketball coaches want to see from their players, and Coupeville High School girls’ basketball guru David King got it Friday night from his Wolves.
With the game already decided and Coupeville headed to a loss at King’s, the fight never ebbed. Breeanna Messner busted off a fast-break layup with less than 15 seconds to play, and then Lauren Escalle made off with a steal and beat both the defenders and the buzzer to drop a final basket into the bucket.
Scrappiness like that will give the Wolves a boost as they head into the district playoffs, a double-elimination jamboree which begins with a trip to Lynden Christian, the top-seeded team from the Northwest Conference, Monday, Feb. 4.
If Coupeville and South Whidbey both either win or lose their opening games (the Falcons travel to Nooksack Valley), game two will be back on the Island, a rubber match between Island rivals in Langley Wednesday, Feb. 6.
“We get right back at it today (Saturday) and watching some game film of Lynden Christian and to work on a few things we can correct,” King said. “We will be prepared for Monday and going there with confidence. It all starts on the defensive end and playing confident against the press. If we do that we will compete.”
While the Wolves fell 59-32 to King’s, dropping their season mark to 6-14, Coupeville matched up well for huge chunks of the game with the Knights. In the second quarter especially, when they played them toe-to-toe and started breaking King’s press on a regular basis, the Wolves were more than a match for their hosts.
Not bad for a squad that was a bit hobbled by injury, with Makana Stone (hamstring) and Amanda Fabrizi (big toe) bothered by aches and pains. Toss in some one-sided refereeing (King’s shot 21 free throws to just seven from Coupeville), and it was an uphill battle all night.
The free throw disparity came into play, as Coupeville made virtually the same amount of field goals as the Knights.
“Questionable calls and we went back to rushing on the press break and offensively,” King said.
One call in the third quarter, in particular, seemed to throw Coupeville’s rhythm off. Running off of a rebound, Messner threaded a pass to Hailey Hammer, who caught the ball and immediately banged it home for two, only to have a ref wave it off for a phantom traveling call.
“From there it didn’t get any better,” King said. “In the 4th we just ran out of steam, but we never gave up. We kept fighting and working hard until the final buzzer.”
Fighting through her hamstring issues, Stone paced the Wolves with eight points and eight boards, while Madeline Strasburg erupted off the bench for five points and her usual in-your-face burst of energy.
Fabrizi, Messner and Bessie Walstad each chipped in with four, Escalle, Hammer and Haley Marx added a bucket apiece and Jai’Lysa Hoskins tickled the twines for a free-throw while bringing her patented “toughness throughout the game.”
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