Coupeville Sports

   Erin Josue, seen here in an earlier game, and her teammates rallied in the second half Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

Call it a split.

After badly losing the first half Tuesday at South Whidbey, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team responded to a halftime talk from coach Amy King and came out and convincingly won the second half.

Unfortunately, when both scores were added together, the first-half deficit was too much for the Wolves to overcome, as they fell 30-21. Still, the second half rally was a positive.

“I guess my stern motherly tone did something to them at halftime,” King said with a laugh. “Because we came out and played a much better half!”

Trailing 22-6 coming out of the break, Coupeville turned up its defensive heat, keyed by freshmen Lauren Grove and Mattea Miller.

“They did a great job on defense – Lauren put pressure on the ball and Mattea picked them up when they got past Lauren,” King said. “Mattea, Tiffany (Briscoe) and Kailey (Kellner) came up with some key stops and steals later in the game.

“We settled down a little on our offense and actually ran the plays, making better and stronger passes and better choices,” she added. “The girls who often forget to look at scoring started looking at the basket.”

Kellner and fellow frosh Skyler Lawrence controlled the boards in the second half, as the Wolves put a little bit of fear into the Falcons.

“Skyler had great rebounds and proved that when she wants the ball, just stay out of her way,” King said. “Kailey also went in for some hard-fought rebounds.

“A South Whidbey player made the mistake of trying to grab onto one that Kailey had and paid the price with landing on the floor. Hard.”

The second-half intensity made up for a “pretty flat” opening 16 minutes, and bodes well for Coupeville as they prepare to face off with Friday Harbor in a non-conference game Wednesday.

Miller paced the Wolves against South Whidbey with seven points, while Carlie Rosenkrance drained all six of her points in the fourth quarter. McKayla Bailey popped for four and Grove and Kellner each chipped in with a bucket.