Coupeville Sports

      “We’re scoring three baskets for every time you pinch me!!” (Shelli Trumbull photos)

       McKenzie Bailey makes good on her sister’s promise, raining down free throws on the hapless Falcons.

You don’t mess with the best!

The Coupeville High School girls’ JV basketball squad has the best record of any Wolf hoops team this winter and there’s a big reason why — they don’t take any guff.

Try to smack them around, pound on them, or, as was the case Friday night, stand behind them and repeatedly pinch them in the arm (McKayla Bailey has a nice set of bruises now, thank you) and the Wolves will ring your bell. If you’re lucky, it’ll just be on the scoreboard.

Unleashing a rabid, ball-hawking defense and converting turnovers into easy buckets, Coupeville improved to 7-8 on the season by running past host South Whidbey 35-24.

“We came out strong from the start,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “Defense is what won it for us. We fought for rebounds, had our guards and wings harassing their ball handlers and getting steals or causing turnovers.”

The play that broke the game open came right before halftime, as Madeline Strasburg stole the ball, outran the defenders and pumped in a jumper with less than five seconds to go.

Keeping the hot hand in the third quarter, the Wolves poured the ball into Monica Vidoni. She was conducting business in the paint and business was good.

Dropping in eight of her game-high 16 points in the third, Vidoni pulled a Strasburg, hitting a final bucket a second before the buzzer sounded to end the quarter.

“Monica had probably her best all-around game,” King said. “Eight baskets, several rebounds on both ends, at least two steals, put back shots and at least three blocked shots.”

She got help from all directions, as Kacie Kiel poured in eight, Strasburg popped for seven and McKayla Bailey and Emily Coulter each connected on a bucket. It was the first field goal of the season for Coulter, a hard-working freshman.

“Emily contributed with great close outs and tough rebounds and finally got her first real basket of the season,” King said. “She was playing low and snuck in low where Kacie spotted her, making a pass and up it went. Excitement from the Coupeville side was extremely loud!”

While she didn’t net a bucket, Wynter Thorne played a huge role in the victory.

“The big highlight for me, besides Emily’s basket, was Wynter and her go-hard attitude all night,” King said. “She never slowed down, never stopped unless she was out of the game.

“She stole the ball or knocked it away, frustrating the other team, rebounded, drove the ball up the floor,” she added. “She didn’t score but I think made the biggest impact in the game.”

It was the kind of strong team-wide effort a coach loves to see.

“Kacie played hard like always, leading the offensive attack and really pushing our defense. She really stepped up as a leader,” King said. “McKayla played any and every position, just taking it all in stride and working hard wherever she was asked to play.

“Julia (Felici), McKenzie (Bailey) and Samantha (Martin) shut down their players on defense and helped move the ball great on offense,” she added. “They all rebounded and just played so hard. It was an exciting game and the girls fought hard. It was a well deserved victory.”

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Breeanna Messner gets mugged. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Amanda Fabrizi breaks free as Bessie Walstad prepares to trigger in the ball.

Good teams have bad games. It happens.

Unfortunately, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team picked an inopportune time to suffer through its worst performance of the season. Battling for playoff seeding with Island rival South Whidbey, the Wolves traveled down to Langley Friday night ready to assert their dominance.

It didn’t happen.

Missing inside presence Makana Stone (out for the third time in four games as she battles illness), Coupeville was decimated on the boards and the Falcons took full advantage of second, third, even sixth or seventh chances to ring up a 49-25 win.

The victory gave the Falcons (4-6 in league play) a one-game lead with four to play in the race to be the #2 seed among the three 1A schools in the Cascade Conference. The Wolves, who won the first meeting of the two squads, dropped to 5-11 overall, 3-7 in league play.

While tired legs probably isn’t a good excuse, with Coupeville having its shortest bus ride of the season, something was bothering the Wolves, who came out flat in a manner not previously seen this season.

The game’s opening moments set the tone, as South Whidbey grabbed what seemed like 45 straight rebounds before finally getting the ball to drop through the hoop. When they missed the ensuing free throw, presto, another rebound — this one put right back up and in.

The Wolves briefly rallied behind a truly gorgeous mini-hook off the glass by Amanda Fabrizi and a sideline jumper from Breeanna Messner, cutting the lead to 8-4. Then the Falcons reeled off 12 straight points and the game was effectively done.

Coupeville twice rallied to within 10 points — the first coming on a pair of Bessie Walstad jumpers wrapped around a Messner steal and feed to Fabrizi, who beat the pack down the floor for a breakaway bucket.

The second mini-rally came at the start of the third quarter, when a pair of Walstad free throws and a bucket on a power move by Hailey Hammer cut the margin to 24-14.

Then things just sort of fell apart, as South Whidbey started hitting ridiculous shots, banking in three-point bombs, having desperation heaves find the bottom of the net and taking complete and utter control of the rebounding game.

Busting out an 18-2 run, broken up only by Jai’Lysa Hoskins taking the ball and spinning straight up the gut for a bucket to end the third quarter, the Falcons sent the fair-weather fans home early.

The die-hards on both sides saw the most competitive six minutes of the game play out in the final six minutes. Coupeville closed the game on a 9-7 surge, behind a trey by Walstad and a jumper from Lauren Escalle, but even then South Whidbey had the final word, scoring the game’s final basket a second before the final buzzer.

Walstad paced the Wolves with nine points, while Fabrizi banged away for four and Hoskins swished three. Messner, Escalle, Hammer and Haley Marx each collected a bucket while Madeline Strasburg tickled the twine for a free-throw. Rhiannon Ellsworth and Katie Kiel chipped in with hustle and intangibles.

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