With another win in hand, Ryanne Knoblich and friends are off to face Neah Bay. (Helene Strelow photo)
Unleash the piranhas.
Attacking like a pack of flesh-devouring killers, the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball players put on a defensive clinic over the final three quarters Friday night.
Limiting visiting Darrington to just nine points over the final 24 minutes of action, the Wolves romped to a 36-17 win, capturing their first conference victory of the 2022-2023 season.
Now 1-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-5 overall, Megan Richter’s team has a fast turnaround, heading off to Neah Bay Saturday for a non-conference rumble with the Red Devils.
Coupeville will bounce across the backroads of America still flush with the success of a well-executed dismantling of Darrington.
The Loggers actually claimed the early lead, bolting out to a 5-2 advantage, then slipping back ahead 7-5 after Wolf senior Maddie Georges knotted things up with a long three-ball.
But from that moment on, the game changed.
The Wolves began to press much more aggressively, creating turnovers and frustrating the Darrington ballhandlers, who got flustered and chippy once the heat was turned up.
Georges, backcourt mate Alita Blouin and the ever-rampaging duo of Katie Marti and Lyla Stuurmans keyed the defensive effort, while Mia Farris ripped down 11 rebounds in a ferocious performance.
Having one of their best free throw shooting nights of the seasons, the Wolves rippled the nets behind the deadeye shooting of Blouin, closing the first quarter with a 12-8 lead.
The second quarter was a bit of an odd affair, as it felt as if Coupeville was ahead by 20, though it went to the break leading just 20-14.
The Wolves dominated play on both ends of the floor but had a number of shots spin out of the basket, limiting their ability to pull away from the Loggers.
Blouin knocked down a pair of runners, while Stuurmans and Gwen Gustafson both converted buckets off of sweet set-up passes from Georges, who time and again made the smart choice when she had the ball on her fingertips.
Gustafson also came up big in the intangibles department, drawing an offensive foul on an out-of-control Logger, before bouncing back up off the floor with a grin on her face.
And yet Darrington refused to go away, scoring the first bucket in the second half to get within 20-16 and stir hopes of a comeback.
The Loggers, who also now sit at 1-1 in league action, entered play Friday boasting a 7-2 record, and a large part of their success seems to come from their sheer willpower.
Darrington might not be the most talented team in the NWL, but to a woman, they play hard, they play physical, and they don’t back down. Give them credit.
But also pass a lot of credit to the Wolves, who sealed the deal by closing the game on a 16-1 surge over the game’s final 14 minutes.
Buckets from Blouin and Ryanne Knoblich, plus a Stuurmans free throw, pushed Coupeville’s lead back out to 25-16 heading into the final quarter, and the Wolves were brutally efficient in that frame.
Georges and Blouin delivered knockout punches thanks to three-balls which dropped from the sky, barely moving the net as they hit paydirt, while the CHS defense was unrelenting.
Lyla Stuurmans clamps down on defense. (Bailey Thule photo)
Late in the game, swing players Jada Heaton and Madison McMillan provided the final highlights.
First, Heaton slipped a free throw through the twines, then was cheated out of another successful shot by a ref, who, missing his seeing-eye dog, claimed the Wolf sophomore entered the lane too soon.
Whether the second conversion counted or not, both free throws were small works of art, as Heaton has maybe the smoothest free throw shot on the team.
The game’s final roar came for McMillan, who was crashing around, yanking down rebounds and chasing down loose balls.
Georges collected a rebound with mere seconds to play, then fired a bomb nearly the length of the court.
The ball dropped neatly into the hands of her young teammate, who was motoring to the other end of the floor in an attempt to beat the madly ticking clock.
Slapping home a layup right before the game-ending buzzer shrieked, McMillan notched her first varsity points, making her the 240th Wolf girl to score for a program launched in 1974.
Blouin, who paced the Wolves with a game-high 12, also hit a personal milestone, cracking the 100-point club and doing it in just 12 games.
She scored 11 in two games as a junior, then missed the rest of the season after breaking her ankle during pregame introductions.
Back healthy and back on the floor, Blouin has tallied 99 points in the first 10 games of her senior campaign, and now sits with 110 career points and counting.
Georges popped for eight Friday to support her running mate, while Gustafson (6), Knoblich (4), Stuurmans (3), McMillan (2), and Heaton (1) rounded out the attack.
Farris, Marti, and Skylar Parker also played, while injured starter Carolyn Lhamon made her presence felt while rooting for her teammates from the bench.
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