One lull in an otherwise solid performance cost the Coupeville High School girls basketball team as it lost 41-33 in a bid to upset visiting King’s Tuesday, Jan. 8.

The Knights (5-2, 8-5) went on a 17-2 run that began just before the end of the first quarter, and that one spurt was enough to hold off the inspired Wolves.

Coupeville coach David King said, “The girls came ready to play. We came into this game with confidence and knowing we could compete with King’s if we could handle the press we knew King’s would throw at us.”

Coupeville had little trouble with the Knights’ press, getting easy buckets and good looks to build a 12-10 lead.

Bessie Walstad had five points and Makana Stone three to pace the solid start.

At that point, King’s went on the decisive run.

King said, “We started rushing and getting away from what was working.”

The Wolves continued to break the Knights’ press but were hurt by turnovers in their half-court offense. When they did execute, King said, the shots wouldn’t fall and Coupeville scored only two points in the second period.

King’s led 27-14 at halftime.

King said, “We went into halftime knowing if we handled our emotions after breaking the press and got some shots to fall we would cut into the 13-point deficit.”

The Wolves used an aggressive man-to-man defense, crashed the boards, got after loose balls and executed on offense, King said, to trim the gap.

Stone scored six points and Walstad four in the third period as Coupeville trailed 35-26 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Wolves battled all quarter and Bree Messner scored five points, but Coupeville could get no closer than eight.

The game came down to turnovers during King’s run and missed free throws.

Coupeville hit only 10 of 26 fouls shots, including only six of 17 in the first half.

King said, “Defensively, this was our best game for a full 32 minutes.”

He added, “The second half was hard fought and we played with passion throughout the whole game. We talked after the game: if we play like this every game we will give ourselves a chance against anyone in the league.”

Walstad, Stone and Messner each scored nine points, Lauren Escalle three, Jai’Lysa Hoskins two and Amanda Fabrizi one.

Stone added 11 rebounds and Walstad 10.

The Wolves (3-4, 5-7) have another tough test at 7 p.m. Friday when they host Cedarcrest (6-1, 11-2).