Coupeville Sports

    Jennifer Spark made her season debut a strong one Friday, scoring six to help lead the Wolves to a huge win. (John Fisken photo)

The first half was the warmup. The second half was the show.

Throwing down a killer defense and overcoming a brief brain freeze, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team destroyed host Lakewood after halftime Friday, romping to a 41-19 victory.

Forcing repeated shot clock violations and turning steals into quick buckets, the Wolves were relentless after the break, outscoring their hosts 26-10. Even when they briefly helped the Cougars out by shooting at the wrong basket.

“Early on in the (third) quarter everyone got turned around as Carlie (Rosenkrance) received an outlet pass, everyone flew down the court, Lakewood did their best on defense, we shot and battled for the rebound … only to realize after we got fouled on the shot that we were shooting at the wrong end of the court,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “Talk about confused!

After a brief meeting by the refs, the Wolves were allowed to move to the other end of the court and shoot free throws.

“That mistake didn’t happen again!” King said with a laugh.

With Wolf post Monica Vidoni outscoring Lakewood by herself in the third quarter (8 to 4), Coupeville kept putting the hammer down, and the Cougars crumbled under the pressure.

“Made a few adjustments at halftime with promise of trying our first attempt at a press, inspirational words to get the girls ready to make their move and told them don’t look back,” King said. “The girls knew we needed to pick up the play on both ends.

“Nothing else needed to be said and BAM!!!,” she added. “Headliner rock group entered the gym and blew the roof off.”

And it was a strong team effort all around, as 11 different Wolves scored, while everyone on the floor chipped in with a memorable play or two.

Emily Coulter took a steal coast to coast for a lay up and fellow ballhawks McKenzie Bailey, Lauren Grove, Rosenkrance, Mattea Miller and Jennifer Spark picked Lakewood’s pocket all night long.

Toss in tough rebounding from Vidoni, McKayla Bailey, Sophia Jebrail, Skyler Lawrence and Tiffany Briscoe, and the blowout was on.

“Solid performances by everyone,” King said. “It was exciting to see these girls join together and show what they are capable of.

“After the game all I could say besides great job was welcome to high school basketball girls,” she added. “I think you all just figured it out.”

The Wolf JV, now 2-1 overall, 2-0 in Cascade Conference play after wins over the two biggest 2A programs, was led by Vidoni’s 10 points. Spark, in her season debut, threw down six, while Wynter Thorne added five.

McKenzie Bailey and Lawrence each tossed in four, Coulter rang up three, Rosenkrance, Erin Josue, Miller and Briscoe dropped in a bucket apiece and Jebrail slid a free throw through the twine to wrap up the scoring.

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   Julia Myers, seen here being a beast on the boards in an earlier game, hauled down six rebounds and blocked two shots Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

These are the times that try the patience of a coach.

After a decent start Tuesday night, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team floundered on both ends of the court, expending too much energy at times and not enough at others.

A step slow on defense and unable to properly execute on offense, the Wolves were crushed by a hail of three-point bombs and fell 66-27 at Cedarcrest.

The loss dropped Coupeville to 1-2 overall, 0-1 in Cascade Conference play.

Facing off with the largest school in the 1A/2A league, the Wolves had a game plan going in. They just didn’t, or couldn’t, stick to it, and paid the price.

“I know we are a better team than what we showed last night on both ends of the court,” said Wolf coach David King. “If we allow ourselves to believe that, remain patient and yes, execute our offense, we will minimize turnovers, both forced and unforced.

“The open shots will be there and this group will knock down these open jumpers,” he added. “I have all of the confidence in the world this can and will happen.”

Things started off nicely, with Coupeville winning the opening tip and immediately pressing the action. Intent on breaking the press they knew their hosts would throw at them, the Wolves used a mix of “good spacing, seeing the floor and being strong with the ball.”

On the best play of the early run, Coupeville got a quick layup from Hailey Hammer on a beautiful post-to-post pass that left Cedarcrest flat-footed.

But then a mix of Cedarcrest treys and layups (“very little of a mid-range shooting team”) stretched the early lead to 21-10 and Coupeville’s resolve crumbled a bit.

“Once the lead started to build, our patience, spacing and offensive execution was a thing of the past,” King said.

As it slipped further behind, an old foe — poor free-throw shooting (Coupeville hit just 4 of 14 from the charity stripe) — didn’t help.

The Wolves, who will travel to the other big 2A school in the Conference, Lakewood, this Friday, were led by sophomore Makana Stone, who floated and jabbed her way to eight points.

Hammer dropped in seven while Amanda Fabrizi banged home six, including a three-pointer. Madeline Strasburg (4) and Breeanna Messner (2) rounded out the Wolf offensive attack.

Stone led Coupeville on the boards with 10 (three on the offensive glass) while Julia Myers hauled down six and Hammer corralled five.

Strasburg made off with five steals, Messner handed out three assists and Myers (2), Hammer (1) and Monica Vidoni (1) all chipped in with resounding blocks.

For King, the answer is simple. Get back to practice Wednesday and continue fine-tuning the Wolves’ strengths.

“This group can and will do some very good things this season,” he said. “Last night was one game; we will review what we did well, what we need to improve on and get ready for Lakewood.”

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   Lauren Grove shined when the spotlight was brightest Tuesday, helping spark a fourth-quarter surge for the Wolf JV. (John Fisken photo)

The first win was a big one.

Playing on the road for the first time this season and facing off with the largest school in the Cascade Conference, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team hung tough and rode a fourth-quarter surge to victory Tuesday night.

Sparked by big buckets from Carlie Rosenkrance, Tiffany Briscoe and Lauren Grove down the stretch, the Wolves rolled host Cedarcrest 28-24 to even their record at 1-1.

“I was happy with the game and happy for the girls,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “They all worked hard and deserved this win.”

Down by one at 20-19 entering the final eight minutes, Coupeville responded smartly, closing out the game with a 9-4 run.

Rosenkrance hit for four of her eight points in the quarter, while Briscoe and Grove both dropped in key buckets in the closing moments.

The rally capped a “strange game” that was tied after both the first and second quarters.

With Cedarcrest firing up shots from all angles, most of them far away from the basket, Coupeville remained patient and spread the big plays around fairly evenly.

“Skyler (Lawrence), Sophia (Jebrail) and Emily (Coulter) did great with their strong blocking out and rebounding,” King said. “Carlie and McKenzie (Bailey) did a nice job with ball handling, getting occasional help from Lauren, Wynter (Thorne), McKayla (Bailey) and Mattea (Miller).

“Monica (Vidoni) played solid in the post, blocking a number of shots and sinking a few baskets when we really needed them,” she added.

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Amanda Fabrizi enjoys the moment. (John Fisken photos)

Kacie Kiel gets vertical.

Makana Stone rumbles in the paint.

Julia Myers wants that ball. Now.

Madeline Strasburg prepares to break the press the old-fashioned way, by dazzling Meridian with a one-woman fast break.

Hailey Hammer powers to the hoop for a quick two.

Hours after a hard-fought opening night loss, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball players sacrificed the freedom of a Saturday — by their own choice — showing up early to run plays before taking the court for an afternoon game against visiting Meridian.

The extra work paid off handsomely, as the Wolves endured through a hail of hard knocks from their physical foes, emerging with a sweet 46-34 win.

The rush of victory is captured above in the heady smile of senior co-captain Amanda Fabrizi and in the never-stop-hustling play of her teammates, all captured by traveling photo man John Fisken.

To see more of his work, pop over to: http://www.cascadeathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=4984&league=2&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

Use the coupon code EB49844962 to buy photos from this game before Dec. 21 and you’ll get 15% off your purchase. Plus, part of every sale goes to help fund college scholarships for Wolf student athletes.

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