Coupeville Sports

Jada Heaton heads off to rough up some folks. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The offense went back into the deep freeze.

A season-long struggle to mount a consistent offensive attack resurfaced Friday night for the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad, sending it to a narrow league loss on icy Orcas Island.

Poor shooting in the second half, and a subpar performance at the free throw line, doomed the Wolves, who squandered a nine-point halftime lead before falling 31-26.

The defeat, coming to an Orcas team it beat earlier this season in a “non-conference” game, drops Coupeville to 1-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-7 overall.

Failing to sweep the Vikings also stings for the Wolves as next week may be their biggest challenge of the season.

Always tough La Conner, league leader Mount Vernon Christian, and state juggernaut Neah Bay are all slated to visit Cow Town over a five-day period between Jan. 16-20.

If the Wolves want to survive, and thrive, against a murderer’s row of hardcourt assassins, they will need to generate some offense.

Or at least more than they did on Orcas.

Up 19-10 at the break, CHS was outscored 21-7 over the game’s final 16 minutes.

Not helping things was a disparity at the charity stripe.

While the Wolves got to the line more than the Vikings, they slid most of their shots off the rim, finishing 2-10 while Orcas was a perfect 4-4 on free shots.

Three of those misses came as the game slipped away in the fourth quarter.

Coupeville was still hanging on, by a thread, up 23-22 after three frames, but was outscored 9-3 in the fourth.

That was a change from earlier in the night, when the Wolves were popping their shots.

Snipers (l to r) Mia Farris, Katie Marti, and Lyla Stuurmans combined to score 22 of Coupeville’s 26 points Friday night. (Jackie Saia photo)

Up 6-4 after a defensive-minded opening quarter, Coupeville used a 13-6 run in the second to build a solid lead.

Lyla Stuurmans and Katie Marti were a superb wham-bam duo in the frame, combining for nine points to outscore Orcas by themselves.

Both Stuurmans and Mia Farris netted a three-ball apiece, as they tallied 10 and seven points in the game to lead the Wolves.

Marti knocked down five, while Teagan Calkins and Madison McMillan each chipped in with a bucket to round out the attack.

No JV game:

Orcas started the season with a partial JV squad, but time has whittled its numbers down, and the Vikings called off the remainder of the second squad’s season.

That left Coupeville’s young guns without a game Friday, but they’ll get back at it next week with a pair of home games.