Audrianna Shaw pumped in nine points Saturday as Coupeville squared off with Forks. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
This time, the late-game rally fell short.
Three days after upending Granite Falls, the Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team looked like it was on a repeat course Saturday.
Playing their strongest ball late in the third quarter, the Wolves stormed back and put the fear of God into visiting Forks.
But perhaps the Spartans are atheists, as they drilled a three-ball at the buzzer, then clamped down in the fourth frame en route to a 53-42 win.
The non-conference loss evens Coupeville’s early-season record at 1-1, with the first Northwest 2B/1B League game on tap for next Friday, Dec. 10.
Facing a hard-nosed, rebound-happy Forks team which featured a rampaging force of nature in the middle named Kyra Neel, the Wolves struggled at times to hold their own on the boards.
By the end of the game, CHS point guard Maddie Georges had fouled out, with her final whistle coming on a phantom offensive charge.
Meanwhile, glass cleaners Carolyn Lhamon and Savina Wells were in foul trouble most of the game, as they tried to combat Neel, who crashed through the paint with a wild glee.
Forks repeatedly gave itself second and third chances, thanks to its players patrolling the boards with intensity, and that made life tough for Coupeville.
The Wolves responded by drilling their share of outside shots, with Izzy Wells a particular highlight as she drained a series of jumpers under pressure.
Georges knocked down an early three-ball, while Audrianna Shaw beat the pack to the hoop on a breakaway, and CHS trailed just 17-15 at the first break.
Shaw’s bucket was set up by a smart move by Savina Wells.
A long rebound landed in front of her, and, instead of pulling the ball in, the fab frosh reached past a rival to poke the ball, redirecting it on the fly to her teammate, who immediately made the defense pay.
While Coupeville continued to make smart plays, its offense dried up a bit in the second quarter, allowing Forks to stretch the margin out to 11 points.
Between a second three-ball off the fiery fingers of Georges and a soft jumper late from Savina Wells, the Wolves couldn’t get a shot to drop for nearly six minutes in the frame.
CHS fixed that coming out of the break, however, with Shaw slapping home a layup off of a dish from Georges.
A 6-0 run late in the third, with Gwen Gustafson, Lhamon, and Shaw scoring, pulled the Wolves to within 36-34, sparking hopes of a comeback win.
Forks was visibly frustrated at that point, as well.
Their otherwise-unflappable point guard was whistled for a technical foul after she hit the floor, then popped up and blatantly tried to hip-check Coupeville’s Lyla Stuurmans into the stands smack dab in front of the ref.
The Spartan floor leader was having trouble dealing with the defensive heat being brought by the Wolf fab frosh, who calmly smiled and strolled away in the aftermath.
Everything was breaking Coupeville’s way. And then, it wasn’t.
With the clock running down, Forks guard Janessa Ramos tossed up a prayer from the right side, and had it answered, her three-ball banking off the glass and through the net just as the buzzer sounded.
A dagger, it sucked a fair amount of air out of the gym, and made Coupeville’s fourth quarter prospects suddenly a little dimmer.
Cue the rampaging Neel, who owned the glass in the final stages, with the Wolves unable to put back-to-back buckets together at any point during the game’s final eight-minute stretch.
The loss of Georges, Coupeville’s deadliest long-range markswoman, barely a minute into the final frame, hurt badly.
That she was sidelined by a foul which simply never happened, called by a ref out of place, didn’t help to make the punch-out any easier to digest.
Coupeville kept fighting until the end, even getting Neel to foul out in the final seconds, but it was too late by that point.
Izzy Wells paced the Wolves with a team-high 14 points, while Shaw and Georges knocked down nine apiece in support.
Lhamon (5), Savina Wells (3), and Gustafson (2) also scored, while Ja’Kenya Hoskins, Stuurmans, Abby Mulholland, and Nezi Keiper all saw solid floor time.
Wolf coach Megan Smith responds to a positive play.
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