Rough night, but better days ahead

Feeds:: Posts; Comments

« “Some good learning moments for our boys”

Rough night, but better days ahead

February 10, 2022 by David Svien

Wolf senior Ja’Kenya Hoskins crashed the boards hard Thursday in a rumble with La Conner. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

On to Saturday.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team tangled with the best squad in the region — and maybe all of 2B — and got stung Thursday, falling 83-17 at La Conner.

But, while the defeat drops the Wolves to 5-4 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-7 overall, the game which truly matters is less than 48 hours away.

Coupeville hosts Friday Harbor Saturday at noon, and a Senior Night win in the regular season finale sends the Wolves to the district playoffs as the NWL’s #2 seed.

If CHS falls to the Wolverines in the weekend rumble, the teams will face-off in a tiebreaker game Monday, Feb. 14, with the winner advancing to play Auburn Adventist the next night in the District 1/2 tourney opener.

Facing off with La Conner, Coupeville ran headlong into a team which is now 19-1 on the season, with its only loss a one-basket affair with 4A power Eastlake.

The Braves force a lot of turnovers, miss few scoring opportunities, and put other teams at a quick disadvantage.

Which is exactly what happened to Coupeville, as the Wolves struggled with La Conner’s press and quickly found themselves in a hole.

By the time Izzy Wells powered through the paint for the first CHS bucket of the night, the Braves had already built a 13-0 lead.

And it didn’t get much closer than that, as La Conner led 21-4 at the first break, then stretched it out to 47-9 by halftime.

The running clock went into use early in the second half, though the Braves still managed to score 24 points in the fourth quarter, thanks to their sudden use of three-balls and a still fairly aggressive defense.

Coupeville fought back where it could, with Izzy Wells pulling off a three-point play the hard way, and Gwen Gustafson knocking down a jumper after swiping a loose ball off the floor.

The lone Wolf bucket in the final frame came courtesy Nezi Keiper, who sliced her way through the defense with authority, rumbling in the paint until the end.

Izzy Wells paced Coupeville with five points, while Audrianna Shaw (4), Carolyn Lhamon (3), Gustafson (2), Keiper (2), and Savina Wells (1) also scored.

Maddie Georges, Ja’Kenya Hoskins, Abby Mulholland, and Lyla Stuurmans all saw floor time for the Wolves, with young guns Mia Farris and Katie Marti leading the cheers from the bench.

In a small, but important, historical side note, Lhamon, a junior, and Savina Wells, a freshman, moved into a tie at #100 on the CHS girls career scoring chart, which stretches back to 1974.

The duo both have 107 points and counting.