Kyla Briscoe’s scrappy defense helped kick-start Coupeville to a huge win over powerhouse La Conner Wednesday. (John Fisken photos)
Big sis Tiffany Briscoe was a beast on the boards, snatching seven, including the game’s most crucial one.
The will to win is huge in these ones.
Reaching down deep to find something even they might not have realized was there, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad put together a statement win Wednesday night.
Fighting back from a nine-point deficit, the Wolves used a second quarter run for the ages to stagger hoops heavyweight La Conner, then ferociously clamped down on defense to escape with their fourth straight victory.
The 39-38 non-conference win lifted Coupeville to 6-2 and put the word out on two fronts.
One, if you need a bucket from Makana Stone to ice a game, the stellar senior will deliver.
And two, this Wolf squad can dance with the best and come out on top, even when they don’t have a completely flawless night.
With the game on the line, Stone rose to the moment, scoring all seven of her team’s points in the fourth quarter, including two huge buckets in the final minute.
The first one, on a power move in the paint, staked Coupeville to a 37-36 lead after La Conner had ripped off five straight points to snatch the lead away.
Then, after the Braves immediately responded with a jumper of their own, Stone and her teammates broke La Conner’s press for what would turn out to be the winning basket.
The ball zipped from player to player, threading between defenders, before the most explosive player on the court snatched it, pump faked a defender out of her high tops and shot past her for a layup that sent the home crowd into hysterics.
Even then, La Conner, one of the most patient teams in the land, had two chances to ruin things.
First a lil’ runner in the paint spun around the rim, started to drop and then kicked back out, rejected by the ghost of Wolf players past.
After a second shot banged off the backboard, Tiffany Briscoe ripped the rebound down, clutching it protectively like a baby as Wolf coach David King screamed for a timeout with six ticks left on the clock.
Given a chance to set up a play, Coupeville managed to momentarily evade the inevitable foul on the in-bounds pass, running off a precious three seconds before a Brave could thump a Wolf in front of a ref.
And while Kailey Kellner’s ensuing free throw wouldn’t stay in the basket, it took a gorgeous kick off the rim and shot far to the side.
Though the Braves got their hands on the carom, they had no timeouts remaining and were so buried under the suffocating Wolf defense, they failed to get off a final shot.
The opportunistic CHS defense was the difference, as the Wolves managed to overcome eight three-point bombs by La Conner.
Trailing 13-4 early in the second quarter, Coupeville inserted scrappy sophomore Kyla Briscoe, and what seemed like a small move paid off hugely.
With Briscoe and fellow ball-hawk Lauren Grove relentlessly harassing the Brave ball-handlers, the Wolves started to turn the tide of the game.
Once it started to force turnovers and began to give the La Conner snipers less time to set up, Coupeville kick-started its own offense as well.
Stone rained down 11 of her game-high 22 points in the second quarter and the Wolves went on a 22-9 tear over the final seven minutes of the first half.
And it wasn’t just the big dog who ate, as Kellner drilled a trey and slipped under the defense for a layup off of a sneaky in-bounds pass.
Freshman Lindsey Roberts banged home a pair of buckets as well, with one coming off of gorgeous pass from Mia Littlejohn, who kept La Conner guessing all night as she zigged and zagged while running the Wolf offense.
Having reclaimed the lead right before the half, Coupeville completely shut down the Braves for much of the third quarter, holding them scoreless for nearly six minutes.
While they couldn’t pull away from a smart, veteran squad, the Wolves used two feathery free throws from Tiffany Briscoe to close out the third with a 32-27 advantage.
That set up the fourth, the wild finish and a celebration that included a host of former Wolf greats who were home on winter break.
Stone added 10 boards and three blocks to go with her 22 points, while Kellner (nine points, three rebounds), Roberts (four points, three boards), Tiffany Briscoe (two points, seven rebounds) and Littlejohn (two points, two steals, five assists) all filled up the stat sheet.
After a three-week stretch in which the Wolves played only two games — and won both of them — they will get back to a more consistent schedule with three games next week.
First up is a trip to Port Townsend Tuesday for a conference game which will determine sole possession of first place in the 1A Olympic League.
