Coupeville Sports

Hayley Fiedler, seen here last spring, is off to a 4-0 start with the Coupeville 8th grade SWISH basketball squad. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Can’t be stopped. Won’t be denied.

Playing two very different types of ballgames Saturday, the Coupeville 8th grade SWISH girls basketball team responded the only way it knows – by winning.

After overcoming a tough South Whidbey squad, escaping with a hard-fought, come-from-behind 28-25 win, the Wolves drilled far-less-competitive Orcas Island, using a withering defense to romp to a 22-9 victory.

The doubleheader sweep, coming on the road at Mount Vernon, lifts Coupeville to 4-0 at the halfway point of the Skagit County Parks and Rec League regular season.

The Wolves have a single game on both Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, each against teams they have previously beaten, then close with a doubleheader Dec. 8.

The league’s postseason tourney is set for Dec. 15.

With two games on the schedule Saturday, Coupeville got its big test out of the way early.

South Whidbey, led by sweet-shooting gunner Madison Knauer, who banged home four three-balls on her way to a game-high 16 points, jumped out to an early lead.

Down by four at the first break, the Wolves responded with an 8-3 run in the second quarter.

Shutting down the Falcon shooters, then pounding the ball inside to Carolyn Lhamon, who knocked down two big buckets, Coupeville reclaimed the lead and control of the game.

What the Wolves couldn’t do was pull away, as a 14-13 halftime lead turned into a 23-22 advantage after a back-and-fourth third quarter.

Coupeville finally put the hammer down in the fourth, thanks to buckets from Alita Blouin and Nezi Keiper, a free-throw from Blouin and another burst of stifling defense.

Lhamon paced the Wolves with eight points and six rebounds, while Blouin (7), Keiper (6), Maddie Georges (4), Gwen Gustafson (2), and Savina Wells (1) also scored.

Keiper led Coupeville on the boards, snagging eight caroms, with Georges glomming on to seven and Wells pulling down four.

The nightcap was much more of a one-sided affair, as the Wolves sprinted out to an 8-2 lead after one quarter, then stretched it to a 14-5 bulge at the half before coasting home.

Wells, a quicksilver 6th grader playing two grades up, tossed in a team-high six points and reeled in five rebounds.

Georges, Blouin and Lhamon added four points apiece, while Lauren Marrs and Keiper both dropped in a bucket.

Lhamon, Georges and Keiper tied for top honors with six rebounds each, and spark-plugs Hayley Fiedler (4) and Ryanne Knoblich (3) helped clean the glass.