Coupeville Sports

Lauren Marrs netted a three-ball Wednesday, scoring five points in a narrow loss at Sultan. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Aby Wood and friends get a chance to return to action almost immediately, with a trip Thursday to Langley.

Best thing is, they get to play again in less than 24 hours.

While Wednesday’s trip to Sultan didn’t go the way the Coupeville Middle School girls basketball squads wanted, the Wolves can flip the script right away.

CMS heads to Langley Thursday to face its next-door neighbors, and all three of its hoops teams will get to see hardcourt action.

Sultan only went two teams deep, forcing Coupeville’s #3 squad to sit out Wednesday’s trip.

How the day played out:

Team 1:

One more minute.

Coupeville stormed back from an early deficit, but ran out of time and fell 32-29 in a nail-biter.

The loss drops the Wolves to 1-2 on the season heading into their Island rivalry showdown.

After keeping the game knotted at 6-6 through one quarter of play, CMS ran into foul trouble, which kept some of its deadliest players locked to the bench for chunks of time.

Trailing by 10 headed into the fourth, the Wolves came out ferociously, carving most of the deficit away before the Turks barely escaped with the win.

Savina Wells got CMS within two points with 50 seconds to play, when she scorched the nets for her second three-ball of the fourth quarter.

But Sultan, with a little assistance from a home town ref who ignored a double-dribble and a travel on the same play, got a huge bucket in the waning moments to ice the game.

Middle school teams play seven-minute quarters, while high school squads go for eight minutes.

Give the Wolf young guns — four of their top eight players are just 7th graders — that extra 60 seconds, and things might have ended differently.

Those 7th graders accounted for 24 of Coupeville’s 29 points, with Wells (14), Lyla Stuurmans (8), and Madison McMillan (2) forming a dangerous trio.

Lauren Marrs upheld 8th grade honor by knocking down a three-ball en route to five points.

Also seeing floor time were Mia Farris, Allison Nastali, Brionna Blouin, and Desi Ramirez.

Team 2:

An ice-cold third quarter derailed the Wolves in a 26-14 loss.

Take away that one frame, when Coupeville was outscored 14-0, and the game ends in the win column for CMS.

But, we have to count all four quarters, so the Wolves fall to 0-2 on the season.

Coupeville came out strongly, getting buckets from Issabel Johnson, Taylor Brotemarkle, and Skylar Parker in the first quarter as it battled to a 6-6 tie.

With Reese Wilkinson heating up in the second frame, tossing in four of her team-high six points, the Wolves carried a 12-10 lead into the locker room.

Unfortunately, when they returned to the floor, they ran head long into a brutal full-court press which changed the flow of the game.

Wilkinson (6), Parker (4), Brotemarkle (2), and Johnson (2) carried the offensive load, while seven other Wolves saw floor time in the road game.

Jada Heaton, Kayla Arnold, Chloe Marzocca, Grey Peabody, Katie Marti, Aby Wood, and Kaitlyn Leavell all chipped in with hustle and hard work on the defensive end of the floor.