The Wolves arrived early, but were forced to cool their heels due to the host site’s team holding a practice — in the one gym on campus. (Amy King photos)
While they waited, they posed for a photo or two hundred.
So far this postseason the 1A Olympic League is 0-6 against the Nisqually League.
The closest anyone from the four-team conference, girls or boys, has come to toppling their big city rivals came Wednesday, when the Coupeville girls roared back in the fourth quarter to nearly erase a 15-point deficit before falling 52-48 to Charles Wright Academy.
The loss dropped the Wolves to 15-5, but they will get a second crack at playoff hoops Friday, when they will return to their new home away from home, Sumner High School.
Coupeville will face Seattle Christian (10-7) at 7:45 PM in a loser-out District 3 game.
Win and they will be one of the final 16 1A girls teams still alive for a state title and will advance to regionals the next weekend.
To do so, the Wolves will need to learn a valuable lesson from Wednesday’s game — Olympic League refs have NOT prepared conference teams for playoff basketball.
It is a simple fact — if Coupeville played during the regular season like Charles Wright did Wednesday, their starting five would have fouled out of every league game.
Probably mid-way through the first half.
Coming from a league where jump balls and ticky-tacky fouls are often called with a startling frequency, the Wolves found themselves face-to-face with a foe who routinely initiated considerably more contact then they are used to, and refs who had little issue with it.
One example: Kailey Kellner scrambled back on defense and planted herself in front of oncoming Tarriers four times, absorbing the collision.
In Olympic League play, it would have likely been four offensive fouls.
Against Charles Wright, Kellner herself was whistled three times for the foul, only garnering the charge on her fourth and final attempt.
Knocked around on the boards — even when they were able to hold on to the ball, the Wolves were routinely roughed-up — and offered few chances at turnovers thanks to strong ball-handling by Charles Wright, Coupeville had trouble finding a reliable rhythm.
The Wolves did start with a bang, dropping in the game’s first five points (a Makana Stone put-back off of a rebound and a gorgeous three-ball from the left side from Kellner).
Three straight buckets from Stone, on which she showed off her superior speed and slashing ability, staked Coupeville to an 11-6 lead, its biggest of the night.
Charles Wright immediately responded, however, knotting things up at 11 before the Wolves capped the first quarter with their best offensive play of the evening.
Racing the clock, Mia Littlejohn shot up the side, dished the ball to Kyla Briscoe, then pumped her fist as Briscoe zinged the ball inside to a cutting Kellner for a lay-in a half a tick before the buzzer.
Up 13-11 heading into the second, Coupeville started to have more trouble stringing together baskets and fell behind midway through the quarter.
Another nothing-but-net trey from Kellner pulled the Wolves to within 21-20, but the Tarriers used a 5-2 run to take a four-point lead in at the half.
As close as the first half was, the third quarter was a disaster in almost every way.
With CWA inflicting major damage on the boards, shoving the younger Wolves out of their way on almost every play, and being allowed to do it, the Tarriers stretched their lead out to 15.
14 of Charles Wright’s 21 points in the third came via rebound put-backs, and they also dropped in several free-throws, something the Wolves never had a chance to match.
Coupeville shot just one free throw on the night — and missed it — while the Tarriers successfully banked home 13.
The lone bright spot in the third was Littlejohn, who started taking the ball right at the hoop, throwing down runners on four consecutive Wolf possessions.
As the fourth quarter began, with things bleak, CHS coach David King challenged his players, daring them to step up and show some grit.
And they almost pulled off a miracle.
Finally showing the rough-house style they are capable of playing, the Wolves held Charles Wright without a field goal in the fourth, slashing the lead all the way down to 50-48 with 46 seconds to play.
A 14-3 run that started with a Littlejohn three-ball ended with a Kellner trey and the Tarriers finally seemed to be cracking.
Coupeville, with all five girls firing at top gear, came within a sliver of forcing a shot clock violation on the next possession, only to have two fluky moments blunt the superior effort.
First, CWA got the shot off, with the ball leaving the shooter’s fingertips right before the buzzer, and, when the shot hit the iron, it took a weird bounce and shot straight down to the floor, where the Tarriers snatched it back away.
Forced to foul, Coupeville needed Charles Wright to miss at least one of the free throws. Which it did.
But, once again, the Tarriers found a way to corral the rebound, absorb another foul and hit one last free throw.
In the end, the Wolves, after fighting back so intensely, were never able to take a shot themselves over the final 46.5 seconds, an agonizing way to end a gutsy comeback.
Stone led Coupeville with 20 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks.
Heading into Friday, she has 388 points in 20 games (19.4 per game), which gives her the third-best single-season scoring total in Wolf girls hoops history.
Kellner knocked down 13 while Littlejohn popped for 11 and dealt out six assists. Lauren Grove and Lindsey Roberts each added a bucket during the fourth-quarter rally.
