The Coupeville girls basketball team can start packing for Yakima.
With their 66-28 victory over Bush last Saturday at Mountlake Terrace High School, the Wolves will play in the 1A State Tournament at the Yakima Sundome for the third time in five seasons.
Coupeville needed to win just one tri-district game to assure themselves of a trip to state, as six of the remaining eight squads move on.
“I’ve never been in a district like this before, but hey I’ll take it,” said Wolves head coach Greg Oldham after the contest. The win also marked a personal milestone for Oldham as he picked up his 100th career victory.
Led by Sarah Mouw’s 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, the Wolves’ quarterfinal victory over the Blazers moved them onto the semifinal round where they faced Forest Ridge last night (results will be published in Saturday’s edition of the News-Times). Oldham praised Mouw’s jump shot after the game.
“She made three mid-range jumpers so not all of her scoring came from down low on the blocks,” he said. “That will give the other teams something to worry about.”
The Wolves began the game slowly. Leading just 3-2 midway through the opening quarter, the team ran off a 10-2 stretch to finish the period. They doubled Bush’s point total in the second quarter outscoring the Blazers 16-8.
“We started off a little slowly,” said Oldham. “The nine-day layoff and nervousness contributed to that. After halftime we played our game and took it to them.”
The Wolves pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Blazers 38-15 to wrap up the win. Oldham praised the play of guards Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby, who had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Erica Lamb (7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) afterwards.
“We got great play from our point guards,” he said. “When Ashley and Erica are both on it makes us so much better.”
Oldham and his squad have been preparing for the postseason for the past several weeks. The team has been working on things that he believes will be more and more important as they move on through districts and into the state tournament.
“At some point in the postseason you have to score points in the half-court offense,” he said. “We didn’t have to do much of that during the regular season, so we’ve been really focussing on it at practice.
“The more disciplined and effective teams are going to win in the playoffs,” he added.
Coupeville, which defeated Forest Ridge 46-34 right before Christmas, would face top-ranked King’s in the tri-district championship game on Saturday night if they can get past the Raiders again. Oldham and his team are excited to be heading to state, but they also have a district title in mind as well.
“Our goal from the beginning was not just to win a league championship but to win a district championship as well,” he said. “We’ve been looking forward to districts and the state tournament all year.”
Coupeville 66, Bush 28
At Mountlake Terrace H.S.
Bush – 5 8 6 9 – 28
Coupeville – 12 16 18 20 – 66
Bush: True 4, McDevitt 5, Day 5, Childs 2, Crouch 2, Carpenter 9. Coupeville: Guillony 4, A. Mouw 9, Ellsworth-Bagby 12, Larson 3, E. Lamb 7, King 10, Black 2, Davis 2, S. Mouw 17. 3-point goals: A. Mouw 1, Ellsworth-Bagby 2, Larson 1, McDevitt 1, Day 1. Records: Bush 16-7 overall. Coupeville 20-2.
Class A Tri-District Tournament
Quarterfinal results:
Game 5: Overlake 58, Archbishop Murphy 55.
Game 6: King’s 48, Seattle Christian 26. Game 7: Forest Ridge 42, Cascade Christian 35.
Game 8: Coupeville 66, Bush 28.
Game 9: Archbishop Murphy 53, Seattle Christian 47 (loser out).
Game 10: King’s 68, Overlake 31.
Game 11: Cascade Christian vs. Bush (loser out), 6:30, Feb. 19 at Lynnwood H.S.
Game 12: Forest Ridge vs. Coupeville, 8:00, Feb. 19 at Lynnwood H.S.
