Mikayla Elfrank dropped in nine of her game-high 20 points Wednesday in the fourth quarter. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
“We didn’t win the score, but we won the game.”
With his team drawing energy from a vocal, enthusiastic home crowd Wednesday, David King’s Coupeville High School girls basketball squad almost pulled off a stunner.
Rallying from 15 points down, the Wolves, playing with a very limited bench, gave themselves a chance to tie the game in the final moments against 2A Blaine, a big school boasting two big six-footers.
And while the Borderites hit their free throws in the waning seconds to slip away with a 44-39 non-conference win, King walked away a happy coach.
His undermanned squad — CHS suited six players, plus picked up swing player Avalon Renninger for two quarters — never gave up or gave in.
“I was very proud of the team effort and how well they played together,” King said. “Tonight is why I coach.”
The loss, coming on the heels of one to 2A Bellingham, drops Coupeville to 0-2 headed into back-to-back games this weekend.
The Wolves host Mount Vernon Christian Friday, then travel to Langley Saturday morning to play Flinders Christian, a traveling team from Australia.
After opening the season with two straight tilts against bigger schools, the next two games will be a welcome change of pace.
Coupeville struggled in the early going against Blaine, unable to stop its bigs from slashing to the hoop.
The Borderites opened a 13-5 lead after one quarter, before eventually stretching the lead out to 14 late in the second quarter.
Up to that point, the Wolves hadn’t been able to get much going on offense, other than a three-point play the hard way from Mikayla Elfrank.
That changed in the final two minutes of the half, as sophomore Scout Smith knocked down two long jumpers (both shots were inches away from being three-balls).
Add in a gorgeous floater from Kalia Littlejohn and CHS was back in business, trailing 23-13 at the break.
Blaine was having none of this comeback business, however, and came out of the locker room ready to drive a stake through Coupeville’s heart.
A trey from the right side and two free throws to start the half stretched the lead out to 15, and it would have been easy for the Wolves to roll over and accept defeat.
Instead, after a few reassuring words from their coach, they came out of the huddle shoulders high, heads thrown back and eyes full of flame.
Battling the bigger Borderites for every board, and getting into frequent scraps on the floor while fighting for, or creating, loose balls, the Wolves ramped up the intensity and sent a bolt of electricity through the stands.
A couple of driving layups from Elfrank and a sweet turnaround jumper in the paint from Lindsey Roberts, who backed down her taller defender before spinning and firing, kicked things off.
Coupeville cut the lead to eight, gave some back, swapped three-balls, then kept on coming, finally causing Blaine to crack a bit.
With the Borderites on their heels, CHS used a 14-5 run in the fourth, with Elfrank dropping in nine of her game-high 20, to get all the way back to within 41-38.
The final bucket came courtesy Littlejohn, who banked in a runner off of a note-perfect in-bounds pass from Elfrank.
The game’s final 50 seconds were a war, as both teams clamped down on defense, the ball was knocked loose approximately 237 times and Blaine hit three of four free-throws to ice things.
Even at the end, Coupeville kept coming, though.
A final three-point shot from Elfrank skidded off the rim, but Littlejohn, all five-feet-four-inches of her, sliced between Blaine’s twin towers and ripped the rebound down, then went right back up with a roar.
Knocked silly by multiple elbows, she barely flinched, turning and striding to the free-throw line, where she calmly sank a final free throw just to let Blaine know she remained unbowed.
Elfrank topped the stat sheet, snatching seven rebounds and handing out four assists to go with her season-high 20 points.
Littlejohn chipped in with nine points, four assists and four steals, while Smith and Roberts banged away for five points apiece.
“Kalia did a really good job of being our floor general and Mikayla and Lindsey stepped up big in the second half,” King said. “They found their spark and took the ball hard to the hoop and made Blaine work for what they got.”
Coupeville’s hoops guru had praise for all seven of his players, noting the defensive intensity Allison Wenzel and Sarah Wright brought, while being matched up with taller rivals.
“They both got their hands on a lot of balls, and were in there fighting on every play,” King said.
His two sophomores, Renninger and Smith, were in their first and second varsity games, respectively, but betrayed no nerves common to younger players.
“Scout handled herself really well and looked for her shot,” King said. “Avalon, for being in her first game, showed she will learn quickly. It was good to see her be able to make the proper corrections as she played.”
