Maddie Georges rumbles in the paint. (Morgan White photo)
The mission is simple.
Hit the road this Friday, Island-hop from Whidbey to Friday Harbor, and win the regular-season finale.
Do that, and the Coupeville High School girls’ varsity basketball team is playoff-bound, with the bi-district tourney on their home floor.
However, if the hosts win Friday, the Wolves and Wolverines will immediately turn around and play a tiebreaker game Saturday at a neutral location.
Whichever team comes out on top in the battle for the #2 playoff seed from District 1, it will face District 2’s Auburn Adventist Academy in a loser-out game Feb. 13.
La Conner, the D-1 #1, plays D-2 #2 Northwest Christian (Lacey) in the nightcap of a playoff doubleheader.
The winners Feb. 13 face-off Feb. 15 for the bi-district title and a berth to the state tourney.
The Braves clinched District 1’s top seed thanks to a 48-22 win over Coupeville Tuesday night, hitting 10 three-balls to ease past the feisty Wolves.
The loss drops CHS to 8-9 heading into its regular-season finale.
Playing on Senior Night Tuesday, the Wolves honored the Fab Five — Maddie Georges, Carolyn Lhamon, Gwen Gustafson, Alita Blouin, and Ryanne Knoblich, and were stung by a slow start.
La Conner hit a trio of three-balls in the first quarter, building a 15-2 lead by the first break, and that put Coupeville in catch-up mode the rest of the night.
Knoblich came dangerously close to getting some of those points back, dropping her own three-ball at the buzzer, but the ball departed her fingertips after the buzzer clanged, forcing the refs to wave off the still-splendid shot.
After that, the rims turned fairly unforgiving, with La Conner using mini 6-3 and 9-3 runs across the second and third quarter, respectively, to push its lead out to 30-8.
All of the Braves points in those frames came via three-balls, and the one which stung the most was the one which found the bottom of the net with just a half-second left in the first half.
But, after struggling to score against the Northwest 2B/1B League leaders in the game’s first 24 minutes, the Wolves found their shooting touch late, banking home 14 fourth-quarter points.
It started with Blouin swooping to the hoop for a three-point play the hard way — flipping a shot up with her left hand while being hammered about the neck and shoulders.
Knoblich ended things with a pullup jumper in the paint, and in between those two buckets, Georges put on a sweet shooting display.
The fiery Wolf point guard slashed to the basket for a pair of buckets, hit a short jumper off an inbounds pass, and banked home a three-ball off the glass while staring daggers at her would-be defender.
The late-game rush gave Georges a team-high 13 points on the night and bumped her two slots up on the Wolf girls career scoring chart.
With 357 points and counting, she passes big-timers Tracy Taylor (350) and Amy Mouw (353) and sits #28 all-time for a program launched back in 1974.
Blouin tossed in six points in support of her running mate, while Knoblich (2) and sophomore Mia Farris (1) rounded out the scoring attack.
Katie Marti, Lyla Stuurmans, Gustafson, Skylar Parker, Jada Heaton, Madison McMillan, and Lhamon also saw floor time for Megan Richter’s squad.
Defensive dynamos Gwen Gustafson (left) and Lyla Stuurmans harass the ballhandler. (Bailey Thule photo)
Coupeville Sports 