Katie Marti has places to be, and ankles to break. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Mia Farris is a killer in crunch time.
Refusing to let her team lose after it frittered away a 14-point second-half lead to a winless foe Wednesday, the Coupeville High School junior responded the only way possible.
By driving the length of the court, slicing between multiple defenders and nimbly slapping home a game-winning bucket with less than 10 seconds to play.
Simple.
Thanks to that basket, and a couple of other superb gut-check plays from her never-say-die teammates, Coupeville rebounded to hold off visiting Orcas Island 42-40.
The win, coming in a non-conference game against a Northwest 2B/1B League rival, lifts the Wolves to 2-2.
Up next is the real league opener Friday on Friday Harbor, then a home non-conference tilt Saturday against South Whidbey on the night when the Wolves celebrate their 50th anniversary.
Wednesday’s game, against an Orcas team now sitting at 0-6 on the season, shouldn’t have come down to the final moments.
But give the Vikings credit, for being scrappy, for hitting a few shots which looked dicey on the way up but beautiful on the way down through the net, and for not panicking when they fell behind 35-21 late in the third quarter.
Coupeville had just scored on three straight possessions, with Teagan Calkins and Jada Heaton sinking soft jumpers around two free throws from Lyla Stuurmans, and the rout seemed on.
Except then the Wolves forgot how to score for the next six minutes or so.
That allowed Orcas to close the third quarter on a 9-0 tear, with three buckets coming off of steals, before opening the final frame with a three-ball and a layup off of a pinpoint inbounds pass.
Suddenly the game was 35-35, the Vikings were seemingly in control, and all the air had sucked out of the CHS gym.
But also give the Wolves credit for not buckling in the moment.
Five juniors, one mission — beating you.
Skylar Parker drained a free throw to push Coupeville back ahead by a point, then she teamed with Farris on a give-and-go play that stretched the lead to 38-35 off a Farris jumper.
From there, things went punch-counterpunch-punch-some-more.
Orcas nailed a three-ball to force another tie, Stuurmans tiptoed through a pack of defenders to hit a driving jumper, then the Vikings cinched things back up at 40-40 on a lob and layup.
Cue Farris, who, small smile playing at the corner of her mouth, sliced ‘n diced Orcas and left all five players to bleed out as her driving layup settled through the bottom of the net.
The Vikings had one final chance to force overtime, and advanced the ball pell-mell up the court, only to run into a stiff wall of resistance.
With all five Wolves clamping down on their targets, Orcas was unable to get a shot off as the clock screamed down to 0:00, and the night ended on a positive note for hometown fans.
Much as it had started, as Coupeville opened the game with a 15-7 run in the first quarter.
Farris was wheeling and dealing early, dropping in seven points before the Orcas bus driver turned off the ignition out in the parking lot.
Marti and Parker were perfect complements, each nailing a three-ball from the right side of the floor, the better to let their shots fly from almost directly in front of the Orcas bench.
Coupeville kept pushing hard in the second frame, with Marti hitting another three-ball, this one off of a kickout pass from Reese Wilkinson, while Madison McMillan banged home a pair of buckets.
Farris led the Wolves with a game-high 11 points, while Marti chipped in with nine and McMillan rippled the nets for eight.
Stuurmans, Skylar Parker, and Heaton each banked in four, while Teagan Calkins hit her first varsity bucket to round out the scoring.
The sophomore becomes the 242nd Wolf girl to score in a varsity game across the last five decades.
Wilkinson, Brynn Parker, and Kayla Arnold also saw floor time for Megan Richter’s squad, to the delight of their fervent fan clubs.
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