Carlie Rosenkrance, driving here in a game earlier this season, scored three Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)
A complete and utter second-half collapse doomed the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad in a rough-and-tumble game Tuesday at Sultan.
After taking a five-point lead into the locker room, the Wolves came unglued when they returned to the hard wood, scoring just three points over the final 16 minutes.
Unable to buy a bucket of any kind, Coupeville fell 32-21 in a contest Wolf coach Amy King classified as “a Jekyll and Hyde sort of game.”
The start was as beautiful as the finish was ugly, however, as Wynter Thorne dominated in the early moments.
The Wolf junior pumped in the first eight points of the game — on three baskets and a pair of free-throws — while the Coupeville defense was her equal.
“Our defense was able to slow them down and stop them mostly,” King said. “We put a lot of pressure on the ball which resulted in steals or turn overs.”
Picking apart Sultan’s defense, the Wolves got most of their buckets off of finding holes and driving in for a shot. The few times they missed, they banged home their second chance shots.
Up 18-13 at the break, things looked good. Then they just plain got bad.
“I’m not sure what happened to the girls at halftime, but they came out a completely different team,” King said. “Our defense was scattered and not too effective; on rebounding we couldn’t seem to grab the ball at all and I know we work on blocking out all the time in practice … you wouldn’t know that by watching this game.”
Coupeville picked up a technical foul after a player slammed the ball on the court to punctuate their unhappiness over a call, and things degenerated from there.
The roughness of the game picked up soon afterwards, with McKenzie Bailey heading to the bench and an ice pack after being mauled in a battle for a rebound. Sultan later got their own technical when several Turks thumped on Wolf Emily Coulter.
“It was a physical game and sometimes you just need to work through the pressure and hold your own despite what the other team is doing,” King said. “The girls did not give up – they kept fighting. I was happy with our aggressive effort for most of the game.
“I threw out a challenge after our last game and most of the girls stepped up to that challenge,” she added. “Changes will be made for playing time and starters come Friday. Nobody’s spot is set in stone and if the girls put on the court don’t step up, I’m putting somebody else in who will.”
Thorne’s eight points paced Coupeville, while Jennifer Spark popped for four, Carlie Rosenkrance tickled the twine for three and Lauren Grove, Monica Vidoni and Coulter chipped in with two points apiece.
Vidoni’s bucket came off of an offensive rebound, while Grove and Coulter notched their points at the free-throw line.
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