Bellevue Christian used a physical defense to slow the Coupeville High School girls basketball team and hand the Wolves a 50-33 loss in the district tournament at Sumner High School Monday, Feb. 16.

To reach the regional tournament, the Wolves will need to win two straight.

First, Coupeville faces Seattle Christian at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Sumner in a loser-out game.

If they get by Seattle Christian, they will play the loser of Cascade Christian and Bellevue Christian at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at Foss High School in Tacoma for second place and a regional berth.

“Bellevue Christian came to play and had a good game plan,” Coupeville coach David King said. “They ran their offense with precision (and) played a physical defense on us all night that disrupted our offense.”

The Vikings double- and triple-teamed the Wolves’ leading scorer, Makana Stone, King said.

“She had a player draped on her all night.”

The Wolves did not handle Bellevue Christian’s rough play well, King said. The officials let the team’s play, he added, and his squad did not match BC’s effort.

“If the refs allow this type of play, we have to understand this and up our game.”

The Vikings’ offense also gave Coupeville fits, getting open looks and hurting the Wolves with dribble drives, King said.

Coupeville had strong practices leading up to the tournament, King said, but struggled once the game began.

Bellevue Christian zipped to quarter leads of 14-5 and 24-9.

Rachel Berg, who hit two threes, scored eight points for the Vikings in the first period.

The Wolves were also hurt by early foul trouble.

Coupeville more than doubled its first-half output by tallying 10 points in the third quarter, but BC responded by scoring 16.

Things picked up in the final quarter as the Wolves outscored Bellevue Christian 14-10.

Stone scored six points in the period, and Kailey Kellner came off the bench and added five.

“Kellner stepped in and brought us some offense,” King said, including hitting a three-ball.

“I was pleased with the effort midway through the third and through the fourth,” King said.

Stone led Coupeville with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Along with Kellner’s five points, Maddi Strasburg scored four, Julia Myers three, Kacie Kiel two, Mia Littlejohn two and Hailey Hammer two.

Kiel and Strasburg added three assists.

Hammer, who had a strong defense game, King said, grabbed four rebounds and recorded two blocks. Myers took a charge.

Becca Jewett led BC with 16 points, 14 in the second half. Nicole Bloch hit three three-pointers and scored 13 points.

“All is not lost, we still have some fight and will look to bounce back against Seattle Christian,” King said. “It won’t be easy, they aren’t going to hand us the game. We have to play better basketball if we want to come home with a win and advance to the Saturday game.

“We have the players and talent to be a very good team. We have to play with discipline and show patience on the offensive end.

“Defensively we have to play better along with creating turnovers and winning the rebounding battle.”