Coupeville Sports

   Kyla Briscoe, seen here in an earlier game, scored three points Monday night. (John Fisken photo)

Skyler’s back.

That was the best takeaway from Monday night for the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad, which fell 33-16 at Mount Baker.

Getting back Skyler Lawrence, who missed the first week of the season with an illness, provides the Wolves, both JV and varsity, with a ferocious defensive player who has never met a rebound she can’t rip out of a rival player’s hands.

“Skyler was back and saw her first time on the court,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “She led the team with her defensive strength and ball handling – even dribbling out of pressure to get the ball to our guards.”

Lawrence combined with freshman Ashlie Shank, who is learning to play the point on the fly, to lead Coupeville’s offensive attack, as both players dropped in four points.

“Ashlie continues to get better with her confidence, which will be a major plus for this team the rest of the season,” King said.

The loss dropped the Wolf JV to 0-3, but, with huge turnover from last year’s 14-5 squad, the slow start has not been a total surprise.

Not that Coupeville wouldn’t like to fix that soon.

“This young group continues to work hard on defense and talking on the court – getting to know each other and each others skills and strengths is a big part of team sports,” King said. “We are in that process right now. I have every confidence that one of these games everything will click and it will be magical.

“Despite the losses, I know these girls just want it that much more,” she added. “Lots of determination, which means everything.”

Coupeville was stung by Baker’s full court press, but, when they could beat it, played well.

“When we got down to our end of the court and moved the ball around, we got scores or at least good shots,” King said. “The problem was that once again, we struggled getting the ball past half court.”

Lauren Rose and Kyla Briscoe each popped for three in support of Shank and Lawrence — with Rose’s points coming on a long trey — while Ema Smith added a bucket.