Basketball at Coupeville and Oak Harbor took on an international flavor when the Wolves varsity girls and boys varsity teams and the Oak Harbor varsity boys hosted a touring contingent of high-school age players from Australia for games Friday and Monday evenings.

Girls

Coupeville 52, Aussie Travelers 32

On Friday, what started out as a close game between the Coupevlle girls and the Aussie Travelers turned into a second half rout.

The Wolves held a slim three-point, 26-23, lead at halftime, but held the Aussies to just nine points in the final two quarters and pulled away to a 52-32 victory Saturday night.

The win was Coupeville’s second-in-a-row.

On Friday, the Wolves traveled to Mount Vernon Christian and pounded the Hurricanes 48-21 to improve their preseason record to 2-1.

“We came out really flat after last night,” coach Blake Severns said. “In the second half, we came out with a lot of energy and started executing.”

The Wolves opened the third period with an 8-1 run to build a 10-point, 34-24, lead and were never headed after that.

The Aussie Travelers went on a 6-0 run to shave the lead to 34-30, but Megan Smith hit a 3-point goal with eight seconds remaining in the period to push the lead to 37-30.

Smith hit three straight baskets to open the fourth quarter and the Wolves tightened up on defense and held the Aussies scoreless from the field in the final eight minutes of the game.

“I was just trying to have fun tonight,” Smith, who finished with a game-high 24 points, said. “We weren’t focused in the first half but we talked about it at halftime, and then we came out and played.”

Ashley Manker was the second player in double figures for the Wolf Pack with 12 points.

“It’s still early in the season, so we’re still learning,” Severns said. “We played well in the second half and hopefully we can build on that.”

Frances Clarke scored 17 points for the Aussie Travelers and teammate Layla Paterson had 16.

Boys

Coupeville 74,

Aussie Travelers 60

Challenged for the first time this season the Coupeville High School boys basketball team gave up 60 points Saturday night to a talented group of players from Australia, but still came away with a 72-60 victory to up its season record to 3-0.

Coming off a 53-16 shellacking of Mount Vernon Christian on Friday, the Wolves played as though they were a bit tired in the opening quarter and the Aussies took a 20-17 lead.

In the second quarter, J.D. Wilcox scored all of his 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, as Coupeville battled back with 16 points to tie the score 33-33 at halftime.

“This is the first tough test we’ve had this season,” coach Randy King said.

The Wolves lit up the net in the third quarter knocking down six 3-points bombs, three by Zepher Loesch, two by Alex Evans and another by Geoff Wacker, and poured in 26 points to take a comfortable 59-40 lead.

In the final quarter, King emptied the bench and the Wolves’ were outscored 20-15, but it was too late for the Aussie Travelers to pull the game out.

Coupeville had four players in double figures led by Loesch with 16 points. Brian Miller scored 15, James Smith 12 and Wilcox had 10.

Tom Ellem scored a game-high 26 points for the Aussie Travelers and teammate Josh Thomas had 18.

Oak Harbor 67,

Aussie Travelers 47

Wildcats’ coach Mike Washington summed the game up in four words. “We needed this one,” he said.

Coming off two straight defeats to Anacortes and Squalicum to open the season, things weren’t looking good for the hometown boys after the first quarter of play against the Aussie Travelers Monday night.

The Aussies knocked down four three-point goals in the opening quarter to take a 19-12 lead.

After that, the game belonged to Oak Harbor.

The Wildcats came back with 20 points in the second period to tie the game 32-32 at halftime, and then held the Aussies to 15 points in the second half to notch a come-from-behind 67-47 victory.

Senior guard Bryce Schulle kept the Wildcats in the game in the first half, scoring 20 of his game-high 28 points including four from 3-point range.

Tight defense in the second half was the major factor in Oak Harbor’s victory.

“We were able to press them a little bit in the second half and create some turnovers that we were able to score off of,” Washington said.

Eric McCardle was the second player in double figures for the Wildcats with 13 points.

Thomas scored 21 points for the Aussie Travelers and Dylan Perry had 11, including a pair of 3-pointers.