Action heats up in the paint as Juniper Dotson comes flying in to create havoc. (Julie Wheat photo)
Some lessons are painful, some are joyous.
Facing off with a rival from a much-larger school Tuesday, the Coupeville Middle School girls’ basketball teams experienced a wide range of emotions.
Two blowout losses to visiting Lakewood, administered in methodical style, certainly weren’t fun, but the Wolves third squad rallied impressively in the second half of its contest to end the day on a positive note.
How things played out:
Level 1:
You take your opponent’s where you can find them in middle school sports, hence CMS hosting Lakewood, while the high schools they support have a 628-192 difference in student body size.
The visitors boasted a deep roster, and more than that, an obviously experienced one, with every girl to hit the floor highly proficient and deeply committed to their team’s game plan.
Forget about three-balls, the Cougars used old-school tactics — double-teams on defense, strong rebounding, and successful layup after layup — to dominate during a 56-3 win.
The loss drops Coupeville to 1-4 on the season.
Up 24-0 after one quarter, Lakewood stretched the margin to 40-0 by the half, while limiting Coupeville to a mere handful of shot attempts.
The Wolves fought hard, with Zayne Roos and Laurel Crowder refusing to back down on defense, but it was a textbook case of a rout which could have been even worse if Lakewood had wanted to truly push things.
With a running clock in force in the second half, the score was scrubbed from the scoreboard — one of the sillier middle school rules as all it accomplishes is to make fans repeatedly ask the clock operator why baskets aren’t being recorded.
But while the Wolves didn’t see their points pop up on the board, they did get a solid response from the fans when Roos knocked down a jumper and Kaleigh Millison rattled the rim on a successful free throw attempt.
Emma Green, Claire Lachnit, Sabrina Judnich, Finley Helm, Cami Van Dyke, Anna Powers, and Aubrey Flowers also saw floor time for a CMS squad which was still scrapping until the last second ticked off the clock.
Level 2:
This one didn’t turn as fast as the opener, with the Wolves trailing by just a bucket seven minutes into play, but Lakewood eventually powered up for a 39-6 victory.
The opening quarter was largely a defensive stalemate, with Bella Sandlin a fiery standout for CMS, and Annabelle Cundiff popping in a jumper from the side to keep the home squad within 4-2.
Unfortunately for Coupeville the offense dried up after that, with Lakewood using a 27-1 surge across the second and third frames to take control of things.
The Wolves never did hit another field goal after Cundiff’s basket but did get two free throws apiece from Juniper Dotson and Addison Jacobson to round out their scoring.
While the final margin was a bit lopsided, CMS, now 0-5 on the campaign, didn’t lack for effort.
Dotson was a feisty fireball while handling a lot of the point guard duties, and Reagan Green drop-kicked a few rivals with a nice display of rough-and-tumble defense.
That included one emphatic takedown which caused the Lakewood coach to clutch his non-existent pearls and act like he had witnessed the rebirth of the ’80s Detroit Pistons Bad Boys.
Is Green the new Dennis Rodman?
I’m not saying she is, but I am saying if she wants to embrace the enforcer role, I, for one, approve.
Also seeing action for the Wolves were Halle Black, Claire Lachnit, Ava Alford, Arianna Vinson, Daisy Leedy-Bonifas, Abby Hunt, and Emily Rains.
Daisy Leedy-Bonifas, here to get buckets and take names. (Photo courtesy Alysabeth Leedy)
Level 3:
This one was a game of ever-shifting emotions and, by far, the closest battle of the afternoon.
While Lakewood escaped, and that’s the operative word here, with a 20-14 win, the young Wolves made some noise, got the gym rockin’, and ended the day with a bang.
Maybe most importantly they were on the floor in the first place, evening their record at 1-1 after three of Coupeville’s first four opponents only went two squads deep.
Lakewood jumped out to an 8-2 lead through one quarter, but the Wolves bucket was maybe their best of the day, with Nikolette Dunham zipping a pass to Ruby Folkestad, who promptly banked in a line-drive jumper.
From there, the squads battled through a scoreless second frame, punctuated by several dynamic defensive plays from the always-busy Dunham, before returning to scoring buckets in the third quarter.
Trailing 12-2, Coupeville found its groove, closing the third on an 8-2 tear to rile up the fans.
Daisy Leedy-Bonifas went off, raining down three consecutive buckets, one off a sweet hook shot, the other two on coast-to-coast breakaways, before Dunham drained a jumper in the paint.
The Wolves weren’t done, with Ellie Callahan banking in a bucket to open the fourth quarter — on a pass from Leedy-Bonifas — and were back within 14-12 with six-plus minutes to play.
Lakewood settled down after that, however, while a number of CMS shots came dangerously close to dropping through the net before popping back out, giving the visitors just enough breathing room to close out the win.
Leedy-Bonifas finished with a team-high six points, while Folkestad banked in four, and Callahan and Dunham each chipped in with a bucket.
It was the first points this season for Folkestad and Callahan, with the duo becoming the 23rd and 24th Wolf girls to score across the season’s first five contests.
Amira Anunciado, Danielle Halsing, and Abby Hunt rounded out the magnificent seven Tuesday, delivering Coupeville’s top performance of the day.
Up Next:
Three royal rumbles left on the schedule, and they’ll go down in a four-day period next week.
The Wolves host Sultan Monday, Mar. 9, before road trips Mar. 10 to South Whidbey and Mar. 12 to Granite Falls.
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