David King has the Coupeville girls flying high at 13-3, winners of nine straight. (John Fisken photo)
No quit in these Wolves.
Overcoming fatigue, a short-turnaround and the danger of overlooking a cellar-dwelling team they had just drilled four days prior, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad took care of business Saturday afternoon.
Playing methodically, and turning up their vaunted defense to a higher level in the second half, the Wolves romped past visiting Klahowya 37-19 to pull within a win of completing their third straight undefeated league season.
Now sitting at 8-0 in Olympic League play, 13-3 overall, Coupeville has won nine straight.
The Wolves have a unique home-and-away non-conference series with Sequim Monday and Thursday, then close the regular season at home Feb. 4 against Port Townsend, where they will make a bid to improve to 27-0 all-time in Olympic League play.
After that comes the playoffs, which don’t start until Feb. 14.
Coupeville, as a #1 seed, will begin in the double-elimination portion of districts, needing two wins to return to the state tourney.
Saturday, the Wolves were playing their second game in less than 24 hours, having knocked off Chimacum Friday night.
Many of the Wolves were back in the gym at 8:15 Saturday to coach and ref youth basketball, before taking the floor for an early 12:30 tip-off.
Fatigue seemed to catch up to CHS in the early going, as it weathered crisp shooting from Klahowya’s Amber Bumbalough and held just a 9-7 lead after the first quarter.
“The first quarter was a struggle,” said Wolf coach David King. “Many of our jump shots were short (tired legs); we just didn’t have the lift needed in the legs, even though the mind told us differently.
“What kept us in the quarter was our offensive rebounds and put backs.”
Things began to take a turn for the better in the second, as Coupeville shied away from long jumpers and attacked the basket en route to a 12-6 advantage.
Despite being up 21-13 at the break, the Wolves rallied together as a team in the locker room, pledging to put the game away.
“The great thing at halftime was the whole team wasn’t satisfied with our halftime lead or our effort,” King said. “They knew we could play better in the second half.”
And they did, using a 14-2 surge in the third to take the last bit of fight out of Klahowya.
Key was going to a press on defense, which triggered a number of easy buckets off of turnovers.
The Wolves were quick to back each other up on defense, something which brought a smile to their coach’s face.
Whether it was Lindsey Roberts alertly moving to pick up a player after a teammate slipped, or Tiffany Briscoe sliding over to shut-down Roberts original rival, the Wolves were firing as a group, five players working as one.
That carried over to the offensive end, where several players stepped up to have one of their better shooting performances of the season.
Junior Mikayla Elfrank pumped in a game-high 11, while speedy Kalia Littlejohn knocked down eight and Roberts banked in seven.
Briscoe (3), Mia Littlejohn (3), Kailey Kellner (3) and Sarah Wright (2) rounded out the offensive attack.
“Every game we have players stepping in and up to help with the scoring,” King said.
Roberts also hauled down 10 boards, while Lauren Grove added four rebounds and three steals. Both Littlejohn sisters doled out three assists apiece.
While he would like to work on cleaning up some areas (free throws and minimizing turnovers), King likes the grit he sees from his players.
“This team never quits,” he said. “Never thinks they are out of a game if down or if our lead starts to shrink.
“They are unflappable! They refuse to lose.”
