The Coupeville High School girls basketball team fell 78-42 to first-place Archbishop Murphy Friday, Jan. 25, in Everett, but not all was a loss for the Wolves.
Coupeville coach David King said, “Despite the score and loss, this is a game we can take a lot of positives from and help us finish the season strong.”
He added, “The girls received a great compliment from the ATM coach after the game. He…was impressed with our effort and never-give-up attitude. He also said they couldn’t take the press off any earlier because we were able to maintain the point spread in the second and third quarters.”
Coupeville jumped to a 6-2 lead with the help of four points from Makana Stone, then the Wildcats (11-1, 14-3)finished the quarter on a 22-2 run thanks to 16 points from Beth Carlson.
Carlson is considered by most as the best player in the Cascade Conference, and King was impressed: “She is a great talent and if she doesn’t have a shot she makes the right pass to a teammate.”
Carlson finished with 33 points.
King said Hailey Hammer, Jai’Lysa Hoskins and Stone played Carlson “tough all night and made her work for her shots, and we had good help defense.”
Stung by 23 turnovers, Coupeville trailed 42-24 at the half, but was outscored only 18-16 in the second quarter.
In the second period, the Wolves used Archbishop Murphy’s “aggressive pressure against them and started creating fouls,” King said.
Amanda Fabrizi hit five free throws and scored seven points and Hoskins made four foul shots and scored six points in the quarter.
Coupeville kept its composure against ATM’s press, trap and tough man-to-man defense in the third quarter and was outscored by only five, 20-15, in the period.
The Wolves lost Hoskins midway through the third quarter when she was forced to leave the game with a chipped tooth after an elbow to the face.
“This was a big loss,” King said. “She brings a toughness to our team.”
King praised the play of Bree Messner who has “really elevated her game at both ends of the court.”
He added, “Despite not scoring, Bessie (Walstad) had another good game.”
Stone returned after missing several games with an illness, and her return “was a big boost,” according to King.
Lauren Escalle missed the game because of a sprained ankle suffered in practice Thursday.
The Wolves had one of their best days of the season at the foul line, making 16 of 26 (62 percent).
Fabrizi scored 13 points, Stone nine, Hoskins six, Hammer six, Messner five and Madeline Strasburg three.
Coupeville (3-9, 5-13) plays its final home game at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, with Granite Falls (0-12, 1-17). The Wolves have dropped seven straight and have not won since defeating Granite Falls 39-33 Jan. 4.
