Lily Leedy was a defensive dynamo Monday, constantly disrupting Sequim’s offensive flow. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The fans got their money’s worth.
Coupeville and Sequim played three middle school girls basketball games Monday, and two of them came down to the final shot.
Unfortunately, for the Wolves, the visitors pulled out both of those bouts by the narrowest of margins, while CMS rebounded to romp to a win in game three.
The games were the home finale for Coupeville, which closes on the road next week against Blue Heron and Forks.
8th grade varsity:
The first time these schools met this season, Coupeville absorbed a rare blow-out loss, falling by 26.
This time around the Wolves mounted a ferocious second-half comeback, riding the hot shooting touch of Anya Leavell, but couldn’t make it all the way back.
A 13-3 fourth quarter run by CMS, with Leavell torching the nets for 10 of those points, cut the margin to 36-33, but Sequim held on thanks only to the clock running out.
While his team suffered a loss, dropping them to 4-4 on the season, Coupeville coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh walked away proud of his player’s inner fire.
“They stood tall and played really, really well in the second half,” he said. “We turned off their offense in the second half and gave ourselves a chance to win. Really good to see.”
Sequim jumped out to a 10-5 lead after one quarter, then stretched it to 24-12 at the break, but the second half was a different story.
With Kylie Van Velkinburgh taking the lead and clamping down on the visitor’s top shooter, Coupeville suffocated Sequim down the stretch.
Leavell took advantage, dropping a long three-ball to kick off the rally in the third, then pouring in buckets left and right in the fourth.
She finished with a game-high 17, while Audrianna Shaw (6), Ella Colwell (5), Izzy Wells (3) and Ja’Kenya Hoskins (3) rounded out the Wolf attack.
While praising his entire team, Dustin Van Velkinburgh offered a shout-out to Colwell, who “was in there fighting and had her best game of the season.”
7th grade varsity:
As wild as you can imagine, and then some.
In a game of epic mood swings, big three-balls and bodies frequently crashing to the floor, free throws decided the fate of the world in a 42-41 Sequim win in overtime.
The loss dropped Coupeville’s young guns to 6-2, with both defeats coming at the hands of the same team.
In a game where the Wolves trailed by nine at the half, then led by six with 90 seconds to play, Sequim found a way to win thanks to #15, a tall, very talented young woman who plays like a young Dirk Nowitzki.
Identified in the book by just her first name, Kendall, she could do it all – handle the ball, run the offense, hit the boards, be disruptive on defense, swish free throws without making the net move, and, this is the biggie, drill the three-ball.
Her biggest one, coming right after a Gwen Gustafson free throw pushed Coupeville’s lead to 36-33, tied the game and punched a hole right through the heart of Wolf Nation.
Did her foot drag across the line? That’s certainly arguable, but, instead of blaming a ref with a bad angle, give Kendall credit.
She wanted the shot, she took the shot, she made the shot.
Coupeville still had a chance to win in regulation, but couldn’t get the ball to drop, and once in overtime, neither team could hit a field goal.
Instead, the extra period was a rough-and-tumble affair filled with whistles and free throws, as all 11 points scored came at the charity stripe.
Alita Blouin, Nezi Keiper and Carolyn Lhamon combined to drain five freebies, but Sequim, which had made just five free throws in regulation, topped that in overtime.
Coupeville finished with a 20-11 advantage on made free throws, with Blouin draining nine.
The game took wild swings, with the Wolves jumping out to a 7-3 lead behind back-to-back buckets from Gustafson, before Kendall and Co. started rolling.
An 11-0 run gave Sequim the lead, and CMS failed to hit a field goal for the final 12 minutes of the first half.
Still, with Blouin driving hard to the hoop, then converting her free throws, the Wolves were somehow just in a single-digit deficit at 18-9 heading into the break.
Cue the madness that was the third quarter.
Maddie Georges broke Coupeville’s long cold streak from the field, draining a jumper from the right corner, and Coupeville was off on an 8-0 run.
Two steals from Kendall and Sequim countered with a 6-0 surge.
Coupeville’s answer?
Gustafson going nuclear, torching the nets for eight points, including two long treys, as CMS threw down 14 straight in a surge that started in the third and ended in the fourth.
Sequim finally stopped the bleeding, thanks to five points (a pair of free throws and a three-ball) from Kendall, but Georges answered with a bomb of her own from behind the arc.
It wasn’t to be, though, as the visitors used a runner in the paint and two free throws to set up the game-tying trey.
Which, again, probably should have been worth two points.
And yet, dang it, gotta give the kid credit for having ice water in her veins.
Gustafson paced Coupeville with 14, while Blouin popped for 11, Georges and Lhamon knocked down seven apiece and Keiper had two.
7th/8th grade JV:
Coupeville didn’t score for the first eight minutes-plus, and still won, riding a big second-half performance from Abby Mulholland en route to snaring an 18-10 win.
The Wolves couldn’t get a thing to drop in the first quarter, but Lily Leedy lit a fuse a few seconds into the second quarter and CMS was off and running.
The speedy ball-hawk knocked down a quick pair of buckets off of steals to knot things at 4-4, then Adrian Burrows gave Coupeville a lead it would never relinquish when she drained a pair of free throws.
While the first half was a low-scoring affair, things got a little spicier after the break, with Mulholland banging down five straight shots.
Two buckets came off of feeds from Leedy, and the capper came courtesy of a rebound and put-back.
Burrows added her own basket off a rebound to close the game and she and Leedy each finished with four points to back up Mulholland’s 10-point barrage.
While they didn’t score, Claire Mayne and Angelina Gebhard had a considerable impact on the game, as the duo were at the forefront of battles for loose balls, terrorizing Sequim’s ball-handlers all game.
