Sophomore Scout Smith scored her first varsity basketball points Monday, nailing a three-ball at Bellingham. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Mikayla Elfrank is ready for the spotlight.
With the Coupeville High School girls basketball squad needing to replace four starters from last year, the Wolf senior has moved from a role as an explosive “sixth man” to being a starter capable of carrying the team on her back at times.
And Elfrank went down fighting Monday, filling the stat sheet with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block in her team’s non-conference season opener at Bellingham.
While it wasn’t quite enough, as the 2A Red Raiders jumped to an early lead, then held on for a 43-31 win, a thin CHS squad (injuries and illness left it with only seven players) got stronger as the game developed.
Overcoming early nerves, which left them in a 14-4 hole after the first quarter, the Wolves put together their best runs in the second (9-6) and fourth (13-10) quarters.
Toss out two layups in the final seconds, when Coupeville was frantically pressing, and that final quarter looks even better.
“If we play it safe (at the end) then they probably don’t hit 43, but who likes it safe!,” said Wolf coach David King.
“We still have a ways to go,” he added. “Just need to bring our fourth quarter effort for the whole game. We need to bring aggressive effort and compete on every possession.”
Having seen a bit of Bellingham from a distance during Coupeville’s visit to the Sedro-Woolley Jamboree, King knew the Red Raiders would come out aggressively, and they lived up to his expectations.
“Going in I knew it would be a battle,” he said. “They reminded me of my teams the past three to four years. Hustle, defensive pressure and a never-quit attitude.
“Their shooting is better than ours at this point, so coming into the game we had to play our normal hard-nosed defense along with playing through the extra pressure on our offense.”
It didn’t happen, at least in the first and third quarters.
“We played flat and on many possessions out of position on defense,” King said. “When we closed out on outside shooters, we stood up and got too close. This led to dribble drives and kick-out passes for open shots.”
Coupeville wan’t much better on offense in the early going, taking “some wild shots” and “not settling down until midway through the second quarter.”
A lot of that is likely first-game jitters, especially for a team with a roster in transition.
“It was good to get an actual game played and against a team that plays like us,” King said. “We had some positive moments and there are things we need to get back into the gym to work on.”
With Elfrank getting eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the Wolf defense coming alive, Coupeville ended the game on a positive note.
“Something clicked and we got more aggressive on defense, and that sparked our offense,” King said.
Kalia Littlejohn ran the point for the Wolves, and earned praise for “doing a really good job looking to distribute, then looking for her own shot when needed.”
The speedy junior finished with six points, while Kyla Briscoe popped for five, Lindsey Roberts knocked down three and Scout Smith netted three in her varsity debut.
The sophomore tickled the twines on a trey, narrowly beating the shot clock as it wound down.
Roberts had five rebounds and two blocks, while Smith, Briscoe and Littlejohn chipped in with three boards apiece.
Allison Wenzel and Sarah Wright, who “did a very good job in the post, making it hard for their players,” rounded out the board-cleaning business, each collecting a carom.
Briscoe had the defensive play of the night, with “a great save from under their basket which turned into a fast-break layup for us.”
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