Sportsmanship is something Coupeville girls basketball coach Greg Oldham prides himself and his team on. So when the Wolves lost a heart-breaker 39-38, on what could have been considered a controversial play, Oldham experienced no hard feelings.

“I’ve won a lot of close games and I’ve lost a lot of close games but I realize sometimes the basketball gods smile on you and sometime they don’t,” Oldham said.

With 2.2 seconds remaining in the contest and trailing by one, 39-38, the Wolves needed to go the full length of the court and get a shot off to come away with the win.

Senior Erica Lamb threw a perfect inbound pass just over half-court to senior Amy Mouw, who quickly dished the ball off to sophomore Whitney Clark. Clark got an open look at the basket from only a few feet away. She received what appeared to be a heavy amount of contact from the defender, and her shot was just off the mark.

“We ran the play about as perfectly as you can without making the shot or getting the foul,” Oldham said.

Instead of going on a tirade and yelling at the referees, which is seen so often, Oldham made it a point to quickly go over and shake the officials’ hands for a job well done.

A move contrasted by Logger head coach Roger Padgett, who had to be held back by his entire team after screaming at the scorekeepers for starting the game clock late.

“That play at the end didn’t make or break the game,” Oldham said. “There were hundreds of plays throughout the game that could have made a difference.”

Coupeville started the contest out strong due in large part to an aggressive defense. In the second quarter the Wolves held the Loggers to only five points, which were scored in the final minute of the quarter.

Several players stepped up on the defensive side of the ball including senior Carly Guillory, senior Brianne King and Mouw.

“Carly has come up with three or four great games in a row, she has just been steady and played great defense for us,” Oldham said. “Between Amy and Brianne they shut down a prolific scorer in Amy Jones.”

Taking a 22-16 advantage into the half, it looked like the Wolves may have control of the game, but a scoring drought in the third quarter, which carried over into the fourth quarter made the difference for Coupeville. After a Guillory basket with 4:40 remaining in the third, Coupeville did not see another point until Erica Lamb hit a free throw with 5:00 minutes remaining in the game.

Coupeville only hit 4 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, which also turned out to be key to the loss.

“We did go on a really big drought there that hurt us,” Oldham said. “The biggest thing was the missed fourth quarter free-throws.”

King finished the game the leading scorer for the Wolves with 12 points. She was followed by Erica Lamb who had seven points and six assists. Guillory and Mouw both had six points each.

The Wolves are excited to begin league play this Friday, Jan. 3 at 4:30 p.m. at Friday Harbor.

“With the quality of our non-league opponents, we feel we can handle anything our league throws at us,” Oldham said.

Coupeville—11 11 8 8—38

Darrington—12 5 10 13—39

Scoring—CV: King 12, E. Lamb 7, Guillory 6, Mouw 6, Black 5, T. Lamb 2.

D: Jones 12, Padgett 9, Bryson 7, Shillhamer 6, Haywood 4, Nations 1.

Records: Coupeville 5-3, Darrington 5-1