Coupeville Sports

Katrina McGranahan skies for the opening tip in the day’s best game. (Justine McGranahan photos)

         Mia Littlejohn shoots a free-throw as Sage Renninger (14) watches.

Even in foul trouble, McGranahan is all smiles.

OK, technically it was a split.

Playing their final games of the season Wednesday in the spotlight of the big gym, the Coupeville Middle School girls’ basketball teams won two and lost two to visiting arch-rival Langley.

But what everyone will take away from Wednesday is Wolf fans storming the floor after Mia Littlejohn slayed the highly-favored beast from the South, driving the length of the court to cap the 7th grade varsity game with a game-clinching layup under considerable pressure.

The final two of her game-high 17 points, the bucket lifted Coupeville to a 29-28 win, its third straight triumph.

Add in an 8-3 win for the 7th grade JV and narrow losses for both 8th grade squads (25-15 for the varsity and 10-4 for the JV), and the finale was a barn-burner for everyone in the stands.

Which did not include me, as I had to work…

“You missed a GREAT game!,” said an excited 7th grade coach Sarah Stuurmans. “Could have ended terrible, but, for once, we came out on TOP!!!!!!!!

“Can you tell I was excited?!?! It could not have ended better,” she added. “We ended the season with three straight wins and hopefully that motivates the girls to keep going and get some extra time in the gym.”

With Littlejohn juking the Langley players out of their high-tops, pouring in eight points in the early going, Coupeville jumped out to an 11-6 lead.

A tough foe refused to go away, however, turning the contest into a back-and-forth affair. Down by four with two minutes to play, Langley surged and took the lead back at 28-27 after a series of free throws.

Enter the unflappable Littlejohn, who took the ball, bull-rushed the backpedaling defense and threw in the eventual game-winner with six ticks of the clock left.

That actually left Langley with a chance to pull of their own stunner, but a traveling call with 1.1 seconds to go killed their hopes and sent Coupeville fans into a tizzy.

“Geez, you should have been there!” said Stuurmans. “TOTAL upset and the fans stormed the floor. It really was fantastic.”

Despite battling foul trouble, Katrina McGranahan went for six points to back up Littlejohn, while Kyla Briscoe popped for three, Sage Renninger banked in two and Lauren Rose swished a free-throw to round out the scoring.

The key to the win, however, was the team’s defense, Stuurmans said. Renninger continually thwarted Langley’s best scorer, while Rose pilfered six steals in the second half.

Briscoe, Rose, Mckenzie Meyer and Payton Aparicio rotated through numerous positions due to foul trouble and mismatches on the court due to size and all sparkled. Adding a final dimension was Kameryn St Onge, who came up from the JV and “played AMAZING defense on their post,” shutting her down in the second half.

7th grade JV: Dropping some harsh ‘d’ on the visitors, the Wolves bounced their rivals out of the gym.

“There was a lot of physical play, steals, and turnovers,” Stuurmans said. “But we were playing so hard on defense and truly the ball was in our court most of the 14 minutes.”

St Onge paced Coupeville with four points while Hope Lodell and Ashley Smith each dropped in a bucket.

8th grade JV: Rebounding nicely from the first time these two schools met (a 30-4 Langley win the first time around), the Wolves were paced by Erin Josue, who scored all four of Coupeville’s points.

8th grade varsity: Carlie Rosenkrance’s shot-making and scrappy defense helped keep the Wolves close, but a late run by Langley doomed Coupeville. The visitors used a a 10-3 fourth-quarter run to bust open what had been a close game for three quarters.