Maddie Georges was a beast on offense and defense Tuesday, sparking Coupeville to a home playoff win. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Youth will have its day. Just not today.
Facing off with an Auburn Adventist Academy squad with eight freshmen on its roster, the Coupeville High School girls basketball team bounced the visitors Tuesday, winning 56-37 in its district playoff opener.
The win lifts the Wolves to 9-7 and guarantees they will have two shots to punch their first ticket to state since 2016.
First up is a rumble with La Conner (19-1) Thursday in the CHS gym, with the winner claiming the District 1/2 title.
Tipoff is 5:15 PM.
The loser of that clash travels East, way East, to play Tonasket (15-7) Saturday in a loser-out, winner-to-state game.
Tuesday’s game, the first playoff clash for Megan Smith as a head coach, got off to a great start, hit a momentary pothole, then returned to being covered in awesome sauce.
Harassing their visitors non-stop, the Wolves forced a series of quick turnovers, bolting to a 10-0 lead before the refs could even get their whistles properly wetted.
Maddie Georges buried a three-ball from the left side to kick things off, before Audrianna Shaw and Savina Wells started throwing down points of their own.
Big sis Izzy Wells rejected an Auburn shot, with the ball bouncing right to her sibling, who covered the remainder of the court in several long strides before slapping home a layup.
Coupeville kept the ball moving on offense, with multiple passes on most plays, and finished strongly at the hoop, pushing the lead out to 20-6 by the first break.
Breaking the huddle to start the second quarter, Georges took control, burying a pair of three-balls while also pulling off her copyrighted move of drawing at least one offensive charge per game.
The fiery junior guard once again scrambled to get between the bucket and an incoming player, planted herself, then absorbed a full-body blow without the slightest hint of a flinch.
That sent her big bro (and CHS assistant coach) Alex Evans skyward, pumping both fists as he elevated off his chair, while Maddie offered a small smile of acknowledgement.
The third trey from Georges shoved the lead all the way out to 28-8 and dreams of a rout were in the air.
But then Auburn’s young guns proved to be a resilient bunch.
The Falcons, who had looked flustered all game, finally found a groove and closed the half on a 14-4 run, sparked by two three-balls of their own, plus a three-point play the hard way.
Gwen Gustafson and Shaw hit buckets down the stretch, with Shaw’s jumper moving her past 200 career varsity points, but the feel of the game had changed a bit.
Add in a quick Auburn bank shot to open the third quarter, slicing the lead back down to single digits at 32-24, and there was a slight hint of danger in the air.
Or maybe someone in the stands was eating Flaming Hot Cheetos, because those also smell like danger…
But you know who has no fear? Audrianna Shaw, that’s who.
When she wasn’t smack-talking the refs (with a smile on her face), the senior sparkplug was busy taking Auburn into the back alley and making sure the Falcons never returned.
A Shaw three-ball ripped through the net like a knife, while her razor-sharp dish inside set Nezi Keiper up for a huge bucket in the paint.
Audrianna Shaw, on the rampage.
Coupeville stretched the lead back out to 42-28 by the end of the third frame, before savagely killing all of Auburn’s remaining dreams with 10-0 tear to open the fourth quarter.
The Wolf defense was especially ferocious, with Lyla Stuurmans and Abby Mulholland blocking shots to rile up the CHS student section, while Savina Wells dropped the most-electrifying play of the game late.
Plucking the ball free, the fab frosh roared down court.
Without breaking stride, Wells weaved back and forth between three retreating defenders, spinning them in circles, before sliding through a paper-thin crack at the end, flicking the ball off the glass for a pretty, pretty bucket.
Putting together the kind of balanced attack every coach dreams of, the Wolves had three players in double figures, with eight of 11 scoring.
Shaw knocked down a game-high 13, with Georges (11) and Savina Wells (10) also hitting big.
Gustafson (6), Izzy Wells (6), Carolyn Lhamon (4), Stuurmans (4), and Keiper (2) also scored, with Mulholland, Ja’Kenya Hoskins, and Katie Marti also seeing floor time.
One win from punching a ticket to state.
All the tension, half the jersey:
La Conner’s boys survived a wild one on Coupeville’s court, upending Auburn Adventist 48-45 in the nightcap to a playoff doubleheader.
The Braves scored the game’s final four points on free throws, before the Falcons missed badly on a half-court three-ball at the buzzer.
La Conner (7-12) advances to face Coupeville (15-0) Thursday in the district title game, in what will be the third meeting this season between the teams.
The Wolves won the first two clashes 54-26 and 79-45.
Facing off with a quick Auburn squad Tuesday, the Braves led most of the game, only to fall behind by a point with less than 90 seconds to play.
But La Conner responded, with Isaiah Price netting a pair of charity shots to push his team ahead at the 1:15 mark, before Ivory Damien punched home two final daggers with just 2.3 ticks left on the clock.
The Braves defense came up big at the end, with six-foot-nine post player Josh Denton — the man, the mountain, the myth — rejecting Auburn shots on back-to-back plays.
The full-tilt bout also featured a frustrated La Conner player ripping his own jersey into two pieces — while it was still on his body — as he stormed off the court.
Good times for all.
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