Chelsea Prescott hit a key three-ball Tuesday to spark a 16-0 fourth quarter run which carried the Coupeville varsity to a come-from-behind win in Sultan. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
You could hear the desperation in the announcer’s voices, and it was delicious.
Sultan High School broadcasts many of its home athletic contests across the internet on TurkTV, and the final quarter of Tuesday night’s varsity girls basketball game against visiting Coupeville was right there, live on YouTube, when I arrived home after the Wolf boys finished play in their own gym.
It was, for all CHS fans, eight minutes of brilliantly-scripted television.
For the Sultan announcers, it was, apparently, like taking that moment when you realize you left your parachute back in the airplane, then stretching it out for all eternity.
Playing with fiery intensity, Coupeville’s hoops stars erupted for a game-ending 16-0 run, turning a five-point deficit into an electrifying 39-28 win in their league opener.
Now 6-1 overall, 1-0 in North Sound Conference play, with five straight wins to their credit, the Wolves danced off the floor.
The Turk announcers pleaded for a stop which would never arrive, veered off into a game of “blame the refs” while their team tossed up brick after brick in the waning moments, then went dead silent.
It was kind of beautiful.
And, while he probably didn’t hear the broadcasters, what with being busy on the bench and all, CHS coach Scott Fox was similarly aglow as he headed back to the bus.
“The comeback of all comebacks!” he exclaimed.
On a night when his team couldn’t buy a bucket for long stretches of the game, in a game where the Wolves fell behind almost by double-digits, at a moment when the odds looked long, Fox’s crew came through.
Big time.
“Down by eight with no offense, we turned up the defensive pressure and pulled out a great win,” Fox said.
“Hannah (Davidson) was huge in the middle, Scout (Smith) was big, and Chelsea (Prescott) hit an amazing three to start our run,” he added. “It was awesome to be part of a comeback like that.”
When they stepped back onto the floor to begin the fourth quarter, the Wolves trailed 28-23 and they needed a spark.
Two free throws from Davidson shaved the lead down, but it was the next two trips down the floor, when CHS delivered back-to-back roundhouse punches, which really broke Sultan’s spirit.
First, Avalon Renninger jumped in front of a Turk pass, then fed Smith for a breakaway layup, before Prescott, one eyebrow arched ever so slightly, drilled the bottom out of the net on her three-ball.
As the basketball flipped the net upwards as it dropped through, the Wolf bench went bonkers, while the Sultan crowd (and the TurkTV announcers) wailed and gnashed all of their teeth.
All of them, I said. All of them.
Back in front, the Wolves got progressively nastier on defense, picking off passes and forcing shot clock violations, then coming down and converting off of the extra chances.
Even better, a Coupeville team which has struggled a bit at the free throw line in the early part of the season, seems to have solved that issue.
At least for one night, as the Wolves netted 19 freebies, including nine in the final quarter.
Seven of Coupeville’s final nine points in the game came thanks to well-deserved trips to the charity stripe, with the prettiest make being a Renninger shot which bounced straight up into the sky, touched the heavens, then dropped back through with a happy lil’ plop.
The comeback capped a game which went back and forth in the early going.
Coupeville led 10-9 at the first break, then trailed 21-14 at the half as its offense sputtered a bit in the second quarter.
A 9-7 mini-run in the third, with Prescott leading the way, helped set up what would be a sweet finale.
The Wolves, as they have done all season, spread out the offensive love, with Smith hitting for a game-high 12 points.
The senior captain passed a personal milestone Tuesday, becoming just the 56th girl to score 200 points in the history of CHS girls basketball, which runs from 1974 to today.
With 209 career points and counting, Smith sits #54 all-time, 14 points away from cracking the Top 50.
Tuesday night she was backed up by Davidson (9), Prescott (8), freshman Maddie Georges (4), Renninger (4), and Kylie Van Velkinburgh (2).
Coupeville has two more games this week, but won’t play another league game until January.
The Wolves travel to Port Townsend Thursday, host Nooksack Valley Saturday, then are off 12 days for winter break.
When they return to action, the CHS girls have one more non-conference game Jan. 3 at Chimacum, then play eight straight league games to cap the regular season.
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