Kacie Kiel, seen here in a game from last season, scored seven first-half points Friday to pace the Wolves. (John Fisken photo)
There are nights when you could have won, when you should have won, when everything seems headed in one direction, then takes a sickening drop off a cliff at the worst possible moment.
Friday night was that night for the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team.
Letting an 11-point lead slip away over the final six minutes, the Wolves were outscored 17-3 to end the game and fell 39-36 to visiting Lakewood.
Now 6-8 overall, 3-6 in Cascade Conference play, Coupeville missed out on a golden opportunity to stretch its lead over South Whidbey (1-8 in league) to three games with five to play in the race for a 1A playoff spot.
The Wolves can correct that quickly, however, as they travel to Langley Tuesday seeking a season sweep of their Island rivals.
They may be haunted a bit by Friday night, however.
Breaking a 20-20 tie midway through the third quarter, the Wolves used a 13-2 run to take what looked like an unbreakable lead.
Amanda Fabrizi opened the fourth with a breakaway bucket on a gorgeous outlet pass from Makana Stone, then followed it up with a sweet three from the corner on the very next play.
Up 33-22, Coupeville looked primed to coast home with a season sweep of the 2A Cougars.
But then things fell apart in a hazy swirl of rimmed-out shots, wildly inconsistent refereeing (the blatant blown calls went both ways, but stacked up badly on Coupeville at the end) and a brief show of nerves.
A free throw from Madeline Strasburg staked Coupeville to its last lead at 34-26.
After that the ball flat-out refused to get in the bucket for the Wolves, as strong shot after strong shot rolled around the rim, took odd bounces or started to go in, then kicked back out.
Lakewood threw together an 11-0 run sparked by two tough offensive rebounds, a couple of free throws and a layup from a player who got away with the kind of travel where you drag both legs all the way through the paint while staggering like a drunk — in front of a whistle-happy ref who suddenly swallowed her nerve and her whistle.
Coupeville refused to bow and finally broke its shooting curse when Breeanna Messner went one-on-three and shot straight up the middle for a crunch-time layin with 14 seconds on the game clock.
Back within one at 37-36, the Wolves gambled for a steal, and had to foul at the nine-second mark when they couldn’t get it.
Lakewood, which had been having trouble at the free throw stripe in the fourth, as the CHS faithful rattled the rafters with their screams, came through this time, knocking down both charity shots.
The Wolves had a look at a potential game-tying three at the buzzer, but it was rushed and overshot the rim, setting off a celebration on the Lakewood bench.
The same bench that left CHS a reminder of its presence by leaving a play drawn on the hardwood floor — markings that the janitor was less than thrilled to see marring his floor after the game.
Coupeville had taken control of the game originally with a 12-5 run in the second quarter.
With Kacie Kiel and Breeanna Messner combining for nine points in the quarter, the Wolves put together runs of 7-0 and 5-0.
Messner paced the Wolves with 10 points, while Fabrizi banked home eight and Kiel popped for seven. Strasburg (5), Makana Stone (4) and Julia Myers (2) capped the scoring attack.
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