Coupeville Sports

   Julia Myers and her squad will get back at it Wednesday with a game against Seattle Christian. (John Fisken photo)

One team. One goal. Not done yet. (Amy King photo)

The bad news first. This one hurt.

Charging into the playoffs on a seven-game winning streak, carrying a league championship banner with them, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad got rocked back on its heels Monday night.

Absorbing a 50-33 loss to Bellevue Christian in a game played at Sumner High School, the Wolves suffered their second worst loss of the season.

Facing a team they lost to by just a single point early in the season, they were out of this one painfully early.

Now, the good news. It ain’t over just yet.

Coupeville will carry its 15-6 record back to Sumner Wednesday to play Seattle Christian in a loser-out game (6 PM tip-off).

Win that and they’ll go to Foss High School Saturday for a 2 PM game against the loser of Cascade Christian and BC.

That game would be for second place in the district tourney and the final slot to regionals.

The Wolves opened district play with a bang, as senior Madeline Strasburg — who was injured and missed her team’s 52-51 loss to BC back in early Dec. — knocked down a three-ball to open the scoring.

But, as quickly as things started, they ended.

“Things went downhill fast,” said CHS coach David King. “We couldn’t stop their dribble drives, they got open looks from the outside and took control of the game after the first few minutes.

“Bellevue Christian came to play and had a good game plan.”

Part of that game plan was to beat the crud out of the Wolves, putting as many as three players on Wolf star Makana Stone in an effort to disrupt her game.

While the sensational junior responded with a 15-point, 13-rebound effort, she had to play through a stifling defense all night and her ability to move was blunted by Bellevue’s physical play.

“The physical part is something we are going to have to get used to and understand for our next game,” King said. “All season fouls were called on the type of physical play (both sides) in the game; last night the refs let them play physical and BC took advantage of that.

“We will have to understand this and match the other teams physicality and play through,” he added. “If the refs allow this type of play we have to understand this and up our game.”

Trailing 15-4 after one, things didn’t get much better in the second (10-4) or third (16-10) quarter.

It wasn’t until the fourth that the Wolves finally seemed to click offensively, closing on a 14-10 run.

“The way we played in the fourth quarter is how we should have played from the first quarter on,” King said.

Sophomore Kailey Kellner stepped up, scoring all five of her points in the final quarter of play, including dropping in a trey.

“I was pleased with the effort midway through the third and through the fourth,” King said. “All is not lost; we still have some fight and will look to bounce back tomorrow night.

“It won’t be easy, they aren’t going to hand us the game,” he added. “We have to play better basketball if we want to come home with a win and advance to the Saturday game. We have the players and talent to be a very good team.”

Strasburg dropped in four points and handed out three assists in support of Stone and Kellner, while Myers had three points and two steals.

Kacie Kiel (two points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals), Hailey Hammer (two points, two blocks) and Mia Littlejohn (two points) also chipped in.

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