Coupeville Sports

Wolf hoops hotshot Haylee Armstrong cracked the 100-point career club in Tuesday’s season opener. (Photo courtesy Michelle Armstrong)

The net was unforgiving.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team suffered through a cold-shooting night for much of Tuesday’s season opener, and if you can’t score, you can’t win.

The second quarter particularly stung the Wolves, leaving a new-look CHS squad on the wrong side of a 45-28 score in an Island rivalry rumble with visiting South Whidbey.

Coupeville, which is being coached by Scout Smith this season as Megan Richter takes a leave of absence to deliver her second child, could not get anything to drop in the first quarter.

Haylee Armstrong made off with a steal and slapped home the bucket midway through the frame, but that was it for the Wolves, as everything else slid off the rim, popped back out, or simply refused to fall through the bottom of the net.

Thankfully for CHS, its defense was on point, and the deficit was a modest one at 6-2 when the first break came roaring up on the teams.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, while their own shooting woes continued into the second quarter, South Whidbey found a bit of a groove, dropping in a pair of three-balls during a 19-9 surge.

The second quarter added physical pain to mental pain, as sparkplug sophomore Adeline Maynes, who hit three free throws in her varsity hoops debut, got crunched and spent the remainder of the game with an ice bag on her forehead.

Coupeville pulled off a pair of highlight reel buckets, with Tenley Stuurmans scoring off a ball saved by a major hustle play from Capri Anter, and Kennedy O’Neill converting a bucket set up by a zippy pass from Armstrong.

But the Falcons were scoring in gobs and stretched the lead out to 25-11 at the half and 34-11 late in the third.

Showing a scrappiness reminiscent of the playing style of their acting coach, the Wolves did rally, closing the third on a 7-1 run before battling to a 10-10 stalemate across the final frame.

Coupeville’s leading returning scorer, senior Teagan Calkins, who was held down in the first half, popped in a pair of second half buckets off of stellar set-up passes from Ari Cunningham and Stuurmans.

That allowed “The Red Dragon” to move into the top 50 on the CHS girls’ career scoring chart.

Calkins, who finished with five points in the opener, now has 247 for her varsity career, putting her in a temporary tie with CHS grads Mia Farris and Marlys West at #49 on a chart which began back in 1974.

Stuurmans paced the Wolves with eight points, while Armstrong pumped in six to crack the 100-point club — she has 104 and counting heading into Coupeville’s next game Saturday at home against Eastside Prep.

Maynes (3), O’Neill (2), Sydney Van Dyke (2), and Anter (2) also scored for CHS, with Danica Strong, Cunningham, and Lexis Drake all seeing floor time as well.