Sarah Wright dropped in eight points to pace Coupeville Tuesday in a road loss at Sequim. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
If they only counted two-point shots Tuesday, it’s a Coupeville win.
Unfortunately, the scoreboard operator in Sequim was willing to credit the hosts for free throws and three-point bombs, and that tipped the scale the wrong way for the Wolf girls basketball squad.
Capitalizing on a 24-0 advantage on specialty shots (nine free throws and five treys), Sequim broke open a close game in the second half and surged to a 44-26 victory.
The non-conference loss drops Coupeville to 6-13 as it kicks off the final week of the regular season.
The Wolves have Olympic League games Thursday at Klahowya and Saturday at home against Chimacum, then head to the playoffs.
Tuesday’s game was an odd one at times, mainly whenever the refs decided to be a part of things.
CHS didn’t shoot a free throw until the 4:45 mark of the fourth quarter, but it was when the guys in black and white stripes actually went to their whistles that things got strange.
At one point Coupeville’s leading scorer this season, Mikayla Elfrank, was whistled for a foul.
Only thing is, she was in street clothes, thanks to an ankle injury, doing the books and no one on the floor was wearing her #23 uniform.
After much consternation, the refs changed the call and dinged #24, Lindsey Roberts, even though she was on the opposite side of the floor from where the foul had occurred.
Meanwhile, the real culprit, Sarah Wright (#45), who had ripped the head off of a rival player in a fight for a loose ball — a few inches away from two refs, I might add — got off free ‘n easy and walked away with a huge grin on her face.
Just to make sure no one thought that play was an accident, the refs severely bungled the very next call, as well, trying to give Roberts a foul meant for Ema Smith (#14), then arguing with the scorekeeper’s table after being called on their lack of proper glasses.
To be fair, it was Sequim’s daggers which ultimately killed Coupeville more than the refs.
Specifically, a trio of three-balls to open the second quarter opened a wound which never healed.
Coupeville rolled out of the first break up 10-9, and feeling pretty good about things after capping the quarter with back-to-back scores.
First Roberts slapped home a layup off of a sweet feed from Wright, before it was Ashlie Shank’s turn to slip Wright a picture-perfect in-bounds pass for a quick bucket.
With Wright pounding away down low — she had six of her eight points in the opening quarter — Coupeville looked like it was ready to scrap all night with its 2A hosts.
And then the sky fell in.
Or, more appropriately, the basketball kept falling out of the sky and dropping through the wrong bucket.
Sequim nailed three consecutive shots from behind the arc, with three different players connecting on treys, and a 10-9 lead quickly turned into an 18-10 deficit.
CHS fought back, twice closing within four points, at 18-14 late in the second quarter and 22-18 early in the third, but could get no closer the rest of the night.
The Wolves would put together a mini-run, only to have their surge blunted when Sequim tossed in another string of rally-killing shots.
Whether is was Allison Wenzel banking home a shot off the glass from the right side or Scout Smith singing the net with an elegant running hook shot, Coupeville’s offense was like a candle that starts to flicker to life, only to get promptly blown out by the wind.
Sequim was a precision-shooting team, though matters were helped by the Wolves defense not fully clicking on all cylinders.
“Defensively we didn’t play what I would call our tough, hard-nosed defense,” said CHS coach David King. “We did have moments when we did, and disrupted Sequim’s offense. Caused a few turnovers.”
He pointed to a fourth-quarter defensive stand, when the Wolves forced a shot-clock violation, as a positive sign.
Coupeville spread its offense out, with Wright (8), Kyla Briscoe (6), Ema Smith (4), Scout Smith (4), Wenzel (2) and Roberts (2) all scoring.
Hannah Davidson hauled down a team-high five rebounds, Chelsea Prescott delivered two boards and a blocked shot and young guns Maddy Hilkey and Avalon Renninger saw quality floor time.
JV gets night off:
A lack of refs kept the Wolf young guns, who are 7-10 on the season, from playing.
Instead, they kept up a lively stream of chatter from the stands in support of the varsity and will return to action Thursday at Klahowya.
Coupeville Sports 