Coupeville Sports

Coupeville’s Makana Stone had a strong season playing basketball in England. (Photo property Loughborough University)

It was a rough ending to a standout season.

Coupeville High School grad Makana Stone finished her first season of basketball in England on the bench after taking a nasty fall while hauling in a rebound during a Women’s National Basketball League semifinal playoff game.

Without its American assassin, who had 11 points and seven rebounds at the time of the incident, Loughborough University couldn’t hang on and fell 64-50 to host CoLA Southwark.

The loss left the Riders with a final record of 13-6, while the Pride advance to the WNBL championship game against regular-season kingpin Ipswich, which nipped Nottingham Trent 75-72.

The matchup between Loughborough and CoLA Southwark was a tense affair, with the Riders trailing just 42-36 when Stone was injured.

The Pride took advantage of the loss, closing the third quarter on a 7-0 tear to salt away the victory.

Playing in London, the two teams opened with a back-and-forth first quarter, with the hosts going to the break up 21-15.

A 13-13 stalemate in the second frame left the margin at six for Loughborough, and the Riders started strongly in the second half, with Stone slashing to the hoop for her final buckets of the season.

The former Wolf, who made the move to England after four standout seasons at Whitman College, played in 17 of Loughborough’s 19 games and was among the WNBL statistical leaders in several categories.

Stone finished with 270 points, 231 rebounds, 33 assists, 58 steals, and eight blocked shots.

While there are no more games on the schedule, she is in line for possible postseason honors, nominated for WNBL Player of the Year, Team of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year.