Kiara Contreras, wrecking ball unleashed. (John Fisken photos)
Lily Leedy makes the pass before the Sequim defender completely chomps her head off.
Chelsea Prescott takes the ball strong to the hoop.
Having picked a pass out of mid-air, Genna Wright flies towards the other end of the floor. Spoiler alert: she scored on the play.
The first quarter was a killer.
The Coupeville Middle School girls’ basketball squad played two games Monday and slow starts crippled any chances the Wolves had of upending visiting Sequim.
Stung 15-2 in the 7th grade game and 13-1 in the 8th grade follow-up, Coupeville eventually fell 39-20 and 33-11, respectively.
The losses dropped the younger team to 1-2, while the older squad tumbled to 0-3.
Coupeville found an unforgiving basket in the early going of the 7th grade game, falling behind 13-0 before Audrianna Shaw broke through with a bucket off a nice drive to the hoop.
Once they escaped the first quarter, the Wolves settled down, essentially playing Sequim even until the final two minutes of the game.
From the start of the second quarter, when Anya Leavell banked home a shot, until the 2:05 mark of the fourth, when Kylie Van Velkinburgh popped a little runner in the paint, CMS was edged just 19-18.
Sequim tossed in the game’s final five points to stretch the final margin out, but, for almost three quarters, Megan Smith’s squad went toe-to-toe with a much-bigger school.
One key was the Wolves ramping up their aggressiveness, exemplified by Kiara Contreras, who went head over tail several times — once narrowly missing smacking her head on a door — chasing after loose balls.
Unfortunately, one of the other times she hit the floor, she didn’t get back up, and had to be helped out of the game, spending the rest of the night with a large ice pack on her leg.
Before she went out, Contreras rattled home four points to tie Leavell for second-best on the Wolves.
Shaw knocked down a team-high eight off of plays where she lowered her shoulder and charged into the fray for buckets, while Samantha Streitler and Van Velkinburgh each popped for a bucket.
Adair DeJesus, Alana Mihill, Lily Leedy, Katelin McCormick and Katelyn Painter also saw floor time, with Leedy especially scrappy on the defensive end of the floor.
In the 8th grade game, the Wolves, who play three 7th grader since they would otherwise have only four girls in uniform, struggled mightily with their shot selection in the first half.
Down 13-1 after the first eight minutes, getting just a single free throw from Chelsea Prescott, CMS added only a Izzy Wells jumper in the second.
Facing a 17-3 deficit coming out of halftime, the Wolves got their offense to work a little better in the second half.
Ja’Kenya Hoskins was their primary weapon, scoring a pair of buckets — one off of a rebound, the other on a breakaway where she slammed the layup home with considerable emphasis.
Coupeville’s best play of the night came from rampaging warrior Genna Wright, who jumped the play like a football safety, speared a pass out of mid-air, then beat the pack to the other end.
Flying a little out of control, she still managed to slam on the brakes at the end of the breakaway, pulled up and knocked down a sweet jumper.
Hoskins paced the Wolves with four, while Prescott (3), Wells (2) and Wright (2) rounded out the attack.
Mollie Bailey, Isabella Velasco and Heidi Clinkscales all chipped in with hustle and hard work.
To see more photos from this game (purchases fund college scholarships for Wolf student/athletes), pop over to:
http://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/20162017-Coupeville-BB/MSGBB/20170227-vs-Sequim/
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