A miserable second quarter haunted the Coupeville High School boys basketball team in its 46-36 loss a La Conner Friday, Jan. 2.

Coupeville led 8-5 after the opening frame, then the Braves outscored the Wolves 17-6 in the second period to go up 22-14 at halftime. From there, the margin stayed about 10 for the remainder of the game.

“We had the opportunity to win,” coach Anthony Smith said, “but we didn’t take advantage of it.”

The Wolves had 18 turnovers, many off unforced errors, according to Smith.

“La Conner tried to press us twice,” Smith said, “but we broke it.”

The Braves settled into a 2-3 zone and Coupeville shot poorly (30 percent, 13-for-43), including missing several layups.

The Wolves compounded the problem by hitting only eight of 19 free throws.

One positive this season, Smith said, is that opponents haven’t been able to contain the Wolves with a man-to-man defense. However, his club has to shoot better if it is going to exploit zone defenses, he said.

Wiley Hesselgrave and Aaron Trumbull each scored 10 points for Coupeville; Dalton Martin had seven; Risen Johnson three; and Joel Walstad, Matt Shank and Aaron Curtin two each.

Shank added nine rebounds; Curtin had seven rebounds and three steals; and Walstad had six rebounds and two steals.

Although the Wolves are 3-6 for the year and 0-1 in Olympic League play, they “control their own destiny,” Smith said, with eight conference games still on the schedule.

Coupeville returns to league action when they travel to Port Townsend for a 6 p.m. game Tuesday, Jan. 6.

All three of the Wolves’ league foes are struggling this year. Chimacum is 1-7, Klahowya 1-8 and Port Townsend 0-7.

Coupeville will be fine “if we trust each other,” Smith said. “Good things happen when you believe in each other.”