Coupeville rallies in fourth but falls in overtime / Girls basketball

Coming from 7 points down in the fourth quarter, the Coupeville High School girls basketball team forced overtime but couldn’t snare the win as visiting Orcas Island held on for a 47-44 non-league victory Friday, Dec. 29.

The Wolves (0-1, 2-8) will try to shake off the tough loss as they hit the road next weekend. Coupeville plays a non-conference game at North Mason (5-5) at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5, and goes to Klahowya (0-1, 2-6) for an Olympic League contest at 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 6.

The Orcas Island game was close throughout as each team answered every run.

The clubs were tied at 8 after the first quarter and then 19-19 with 2:01 left in the half. Sarah Wright’s third hoop of the second quarter, all off assists from Mikayla Elfrank, and a three-ball from Ema Smith gave the Wolves a 24-19 halftime lead.

With 5:24 left in the third quarter, Lindsey Roberts stole a Viking pass and raced down the court for a bucket, giving Coupeville the biggest lead of the game, 28-21. However, just seconds before Roberts’ hoop, Elfrank, the Wolves’ leading scorer on the season, left the game for good with an ankle injury.

Orcas Island (4-4) followed with a 16-2 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to take its own 7-point lead. The Vikings got to within 3, 30-27, by the end of the third period and led 37-30 with 5:37 remaining in the game.

Although its biggest weapon was on the bench, Coupeville responded.

Allison Wenzel scored off a nice pass from Roberts, Kyla Briscoe sank a three-ball and Roberts hit a hoop to clip the lead to 2, 40-38 with 3:28 left.

After Orcas scored, Smith tallied off an assist from Briscoe and Wright converted an offensive rebound into a hoop that knotted the game at 42 with 2:01 remaining.

A steal by Briscoe led to a Scout Smith score, and Coupeville led 44-42, but Orcas Island’s Jessie Nichols sank a put-back to even the game with 39 seconds on the clock.

Coupeville had two more possessions and Orcas one in regulation, but neither could sink the game winner.

The Vikings’ Portia White hit a hoop and free throw in overtime for the only scoring in the extra period.

Coupeville fired up two three-point shots in the final seconds but both skipped out.

There were some positives in the stinging loss, according to Coupeville coach David King.

After committing 16 turnovers in the first half, he challenged his team to cut that total to eight in the second half, and the Wolves met that goal.

His team also properly ran the in-bounds plays he charted at the end of regulation and overtime to set up the potential game-winning and game-tying shots. That execution enabled the Wolves to get open looks; unfortunately, both shots failed to fall.

King also liked how his team bounced back after losing Elfrank and scored 44 points, the second highest total this season.

Elfrank finished with 9 points, four steals and three assists.

Roberts grabbed a whopping 15 rebounds to go along with 9 points.

Briscoe added 3 point and a career best six assists.

Wright (8 points), Ema Smith (7), Scout Smith (6) and Wenzel (2) rounded out the Wolves’ balanced scoring attack.

Nichols scored 15 points for Orcas; Katy Minnis had 13.

Coach David King instructs the Wolves from the sideline. On the bench are Avalon Renninger, left, Sarah Wright, Lindsey Roberts and Ema Smith. (Photo by John Fisken)