Coupeville Sports

Tenley Stuurmans? Too quick for you. (Julie Wheat photo)

They’re back in action.

Returning to the hardwood after a two-week gap between games, the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad opened the three-day, 16-team Trojan Storm Classic Monday in Bellingham.

The Wolves played in the day’s opening game, squaring off with 1A Blaine in a clash where a cold-shooting middle two quarters cost them in a 44-30 loss.

The non-conference defeat drops Scout Smith’s team to 1-5 on the season, but they’ll get right back at it Tuesday and Wednesday with rumbles against yet-to-be-disclosed foes.

Monday’s matchup started as a defensive struggle, with the teams battling to a 6-6 tie heading into the first break.

But then Blaine caught fire for the next 16 minutes, using a 13-4 tear in the second frame, and a 13-6 run in the third, to pull out to a 32-16 advantage.

Coupeville didn’t go down easily, however, rallying to outscore the Borderites 14-12 in a furious fourth, with five different Wolves rattling the rim for points.

Blaine got most of its scoring from two players, with junior Kate Koreski (17) and senior Aaliyah Bowman (15) combining for 32 of their team’s 44 points.

Wolf sophomore Tenley Stuurmans banked in buckets in every quarter Monday to pace her squad with 15 points, while Haylee Armstrong knocked down six.

Kennedy O’Neill (4), Teagan Calkins (3), Ari Cunningham (1), and Danica Strong (1) also scored for CHS, with Capri Anter, Sydney Van Dyke, Adeline Maynes, and Lexis Drake all seeing floor time.

Armstrong reached a personal milestone in the loss, cracking the 150-point club, and currently sits with 154 for her prep career.

Meanwhile, Calkins (284) and Stuurmans (118) are on the cusp of their own achievements.

The former is four points shy of moving into the top 40 scorers all-time for a CHS girls’ program which launched in 1974, while the latter is two points away from cracking the top 100.