Two wins over the weekend helped the Coupeville High School girls basketball team to its best start in three years.

The Wolves won a pair of home games, defeating La Conner 39-25 Friday, Jan. 3, and Orcas Island 50-44 Saturday.

The nonleague wins boosted the Wolves’ record to 5-2, the strongest start since they began 6-1 in 2010.
Against La Conner, Coupeville went up 6-0 and set the tone for the game. It led 12-4 at the end of the first quarter and 21-11 at the break.

A 10-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters wrapped up the game and put the Wolves up 33-14 with 6:20 left in the contest.

Bree Messner’s bucket and Madeline Strasburg’s three at the third-quarter buzzer began the run, then steals and layups from Makana Stone and Strasburg ended it.

Strasburg topped the Wolves with 12 points; she also had three assists.
Stone collected nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

Messner added six points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Julia Myers had six points, Amanda Fabrizi four and Hailey Hammer three.

Coach David King said one of the keys going into the game was controlling La Conner’s Katie Novak. The Wolves did just that, holding the normally sharp-shooting guard to zero points.

Coupeville led most of the Orcas Island game but never by more than eight as the Vikings always stayed within striking distance.

Stone scored 10 points in the first quarter to lift Coupeville to a 17-11 lead.

Six points by Strasburg helped the Wolves go into the locker room up 26-23.

Stone, with five points, and Myers, with four, led the way in the fourth quarter as the Wolves kept the Vikings from coming back.

Stone completed the game with 19 points and Strasburg 13.

Messner had six, Myers four, Hammer four, Fabrizi three and Wynter Thorne one.

Coupeville (2-1, 5-2) gets back into Cascade Conference play at 6:45 Tuesday, Jan. 7, at Sultan (1-2, 2-6).