Coupeville Sports

Alita Blouin leads Coupeville’s varsity girls in scoring through the first two games. (Morgan White photo)

One bad stretch.

A span of five minutes and change — that’s what killed the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad Saturday night.

Take away that segment, when visiting Lakewood went on a 28-3 run to end the first quarter, and it was a much different, far closer contest.

But they count every point, so the 2B Wolves ultimately absorbed a 70-37 loss to the 2A Cougars.

The non-conference defeat evens Coupeville’s early-season record at 1-1, with a week to work on things before Sultan visits Whidbey Island Dec. 10.

CHS coach Megan Richter and her players will be able to look at the game film from Saturday’s tilt and pick out a lot of positives.

Though they may want to fast forward through the second half of the opening quarter.

Things were looking pretty good, with the score knotted at 5-5 after Alita Blouin plucked a steal and beat a pack of defenders down court for a layup.

Gwen Gustafson opened the night’s scoring with a pullup jumper, before Carolyn Lhamon added a free throw, and the Wolves were aggressive on both ends of the floor.

But then the roof fell in.

Lakewood ramped up its defense and stifled Coupeville, holding it without a field goal for the remainder of the first quarter, while scoring quickly and efficiently from multiple angles.

The Cougars splashed home a trio of three-balls during the 28-3 run, but it was a string of steals and breakaway lay-ins which really stung.

Then things went back to almost normal.

The scoring across the final three quarters of the night still came out in favor of Lakewood, but only to a 37-29 tally.

The Wolves, who were being hacked and pummeled all game, hit the majority of their free throws, while also breaking out some well-run plays to crack Lakewood’s press.

A 7-0 surge midway through the second quarter, with Lhamon slapping runners off the glass on feeds from Gustafson and Maddie Georges, was quality work.

As was Katie Marti’s debut as a WWE wrestler, on a play when the rough ‘n rowdy defensive dynamo flipped not one, but two Lakewood players end-over-end while battling for, and winning, control of a loose ball.

Lhamon and Mia Farris both pounded home multiple buckets in the paint in the second half, while Georges flipped the net on a long, low three-ball, but the deficit ultimately proved too much to overcome.

Still, Coupeville fought until the end, with its players still crashing the boards and pestering Lakewood ballhandlers even as the final buzzer loomed.

Blouin paced the Wolves in scoring for the second-straight game, rattling home 10 points, while Lhamon backed her up with a season-high nine.

Georges (6), Farris (4), Ryanne Knoblich (3), Marti (2), Gustafson (2), and Lyla Stuurmans (1) also etched their names in the scorebook, as all eight Wolves to see floor time scored.

With her six points, Georges moves into 40th place all-time on the CHS girls’ hoops career scoring chart, which dates back to 1974.

The senior guard sits with 265 points, passing program legends Madeline Strasburg (261) and Carly Guillory (260) Saturday night.