Coupeville Sports

CHS volleyball sensation Valen Trujillo (in scarf) and family root on the Wolf JV basketball team Friday. (John Fisken photo)

The long winter break couldn’t cool off Carlie Rosenkrance’s red-hot shooting touch.

Bouncing back strongly after a 17-day gap between games, the Coupeville High School freshman singed the nets for a team-high 13 points in Friday night’s girls JV basketball game.

Unfortunately, visiting La Conner got hot themselves, banging home a string of three-point bombs late in the game to eke out a 39-31 non-conference victory.

Now 2-3, the Wolf JV will sit out today (as Orcas Island doesn’t have a JV squad), before jumping back into Cascade Conference play Tuesday at Sultan.

Facing off with a scrappy Brave team fond of long range jumpers, Coupeville came out strong. With Rosenkrance pouring in six quick points, the starting five were ready to rumble.

“Our starting group played pretty aggressive defense, with Lauren (Grove) really using her quickness against their ball handler,” said Coupeville coach Amy King. “Emily (Coulter) moved well and helped her teammates with a lot of communication.”

Trailing by four at the half, the Wolves turned things around with their strongest quarter, outscoring La Conner 11-5 in the third.

Sophia Jebrail and Tiffany Briscoe each banged home a pair of buckets, while a ramped-up defense resulted in quick scoring opportunities for Coupeville.

The fourth quarter was an old-fashioned toe-to-toe slugfest, as the squads traded leads down the stretch. La Conner finally snatched victory away when it began to rain down treys, nailing three from long range in a very short span.

Despite the long gap between games, the Wolves showed little rust, something King was pleased to see.

“We came in with a lot of energy, all 13 girls contributing,” she said. “We are scoring a lot of points and some girls are great at getting aggressive on defense in spurts.

“Our focus moving into the rest of this season has to be getting the entire team on the same page with being more aggressive with defense, working together on the press and being stronger with the ball on offense,” King added. “Once we accomplish these things, we will win and be very hard to stop.”

Rosenkrance topped the scoring parade with her 13, while Briscoe (5), Jebrail (4), McKayla Bailey (4), Monica Vidoni (2), Wynter Thorne (2) and Coulter (1) all chipped in to the effort.