“I’m so impressed with the game these players put together tonight,” Coupeville High School girls basketball coach David King said.
So was everyone else as his Wolves defeated Seattle Christian 49-33 Friday, Feb. 19, in the third-place game of the West Central District 3 1A tournament at Sumner High School.
The victory landed Coupeville (16-5) in the state tournament for the first time since 2006. It also helped ease some of the sting from last year’s overtime loss to the same team in the same game.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association will announce Sunday who, where and when the Wolves play next in the regional round of state tournament. The eight regional winners will travel to Yakima March 3-5 for the final run to the state title.
In the win over Seattle Christian, it didn’t matter that it took six minutes for the Coupeville offense to get going. The Wolves’ defense was stellar all night.
After Wednesday’s opening round loss to Charles Wright Academy, Coupeville had only one day to prepare for Seattle Christian (10-8). King was impressed on how well his club used what little time it had to get ready for the Warriors.
“We took a serious look at our offense and what ailed us on Wednesday and corrected it,” King said. “Then we incorporated our defensive strategy and brought our A+ game and had our best defensive game all year.”
That standout defensive started with Lauren Grove and Kailey Kellner.
Grove had “one of the most impressive defensive efforts I’ve seen at a high school girls basketball game,” King said. “It was fun to watch.”
Kellner got the call to handle a Warrior wing who liked to shoot threes..
“We made a strategic move and instead of putting Makana (Stone) on one of their best offensive players, we moved Kailey into that spot. All game Kailey frustrated and held No. 33 (Serianna Anderson) in check.
“It doesn’t end there. Kyla (Briscoe) took turns on both players and didn’t miss a beat and matched the intensity that the other two had on defense.”
The strong defense went beyond Grove, Kellner and Briscoe, King said.
“Makana, Tiffany (Briscoe), Lindsey (Roberts) and Mia (Littlejohn) brought great help defense that really made us play defense as one,” he added. “The whole team was outstanding.”
King also noted that Tiffany Briscoe battled through a sprained ankle and Roberts played although she was sick all week.
It took awhile for the Coupeville offense to match the success of its defense, but when it did, “the floodgates just opened up for us,” King said.
The Wolves first-quarter offense consisted of a bucket off an offensive rebound by Stone with two minutes left in the period, and Coupeville trailed 6-2 after one quarter.
Littlejohn sparked a second-quarter resurgence with seven points, including a momentum swinging three-ball late in the half, and Coupeville led 19-13 at the break.
The Wolves continued to roll in the third quarter, pushing to lead to 29-16. Back-to-back three-pointers by Seattle Christian narrowed the lead to seven, then the Wolves pulled away for good.
Stone scored 12 points in the third period, and the Wolves took a 37-25 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Wolves aided their superb defensive effort by dominating the boards and the paint.
Stone pulled in 20 rebounds, Kellner 10, Grove six and Kyla Briscoe five. Stone and Kellner added four blocks; Kyla Briscoe had two.
Stone poured in 24 points, Kellner 12, Littlejohn nine and Grove four.
Coupeville also had 13 assists, led by Kellner with five. Stone and Littlejohn had four each and Kyla Briscoe two.
The Wolves committed only 11 turnovers.
Alex Ellis led SC with 14 points.
“This was a true team effort from top to bottom,” King said. “Every player was engaged the whole game and wouldn’t settle for anything other than a win.”
(Kailey Kellner grabs one of her 10 rebounds in the win over Seattle Christian as Makenzie May (23) and Lauren Grove (3) look on. Photo by John Fisken.)
