It’s a good news, bad news situation for the Coupeville High School girls basketball team.
The good news: The Wolves defeated visiting Sultan 48-37 in the opening round of the district tournament Wednesday, Feb. 6, in an elimination game.
The bad news: Now Coupeville has to beat powerful King’s to stay alive in the tournament.
The Wolves (9-9) face the Knights (16-5) in a winner-to-bi-district, loser-out game at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in Shoreline.
King’s whipped the Wolves 50-17 and 59-11 in their two meetings during the regular season.
The Coupeville/King’s winner will play either Nooksack Valley or Cedar Park Christian at 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at Mount Vernon High School to determine the third and fourth seeds to bi-district.
Lynden Christian clipped King’s 65-48 and Meridian thumped Cedar Park Christian 73-25 in their district openers Wednesday.
Nooksack Valley stopped Granite Falls 56-29 in a loser-out game.
Lynden Christian and Meridian square off for the district title and the top two seeds to bi-district at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Mount Vernon.
Coupeville 48, Sultan 37
The Wolves pumped in 22 points in the third quarter to go up by as many as 17 and then held on as the Turks attempted to rally in the fourth.
It took the two teams nearly half a quarter to both get on the board in the opening period.
Ema Smith had 5 points, including starting the scoring with a three-ball, Lindsey Roberts added a trey and Coupeville finished the first quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 10-6 lead.
Five points from Roberts helped the Wolves to a 17-11 halftime lead.
Coupeville then blitzed the Turks 22-11 in the third quarter to go up 39-22.
Five different Wolves scored in the third period, led by Roberts with 7 points. Scout Smith had 6 points, including a three-pointer, and Ema Smith chipped in with 5 points behind a three-pointer.
In the fourth quarter, the Turks got to within 9, 44-35, with 3:02 remaining but couldn’t get any closer.
Coupeville coach David King liked how his club answered every Sultan surge. The Wolves took an early lead and then countered every Turk comeback attempt.
“We definitely made some big baskets,” he said.
He added that Roberts, a four-year letter winner, “had one of her best games.”
He lauded the senior for taking control of the game with her confidence and aggression on offense and her ability to handle the Sultan full-court press.
Roberts finished with 16 points, Ema Smith 10, Scout Smith 8, Chelsea Prescott 6, Hannah Davidson 4 and Avalon Renninger 2.
Roberts also had seven rebounds, Ema Smith six, Scout Smith five, and Davidson and Renninger four each.
Prescott passed for three assists, and Scout Smith and Renninger had two apiece.
King noted his team committed only six turnovers in the second half, and he praised the defense of Ema Smith and Renninger on Sultan’s top scorer, Grace Trichler.
The Coupeville pair limited Trichler to 9 points. Lindsey Fleming led the Turks with 10.
Hannah Davidson looks to outlet after grabbing a rebound. (Photo by John Fisken)
Ema Smith puts up a jumper for Coupeville. (Photo by John Fisken)
Ja’Kenya Hoskins looks to score for the Wolves. (Photo by John Fisken)
Scout Smith launches a three-point shot in the win over Sultan. (Photo by John Fisken)
Chelsea Prescott takes the ball to the basket for Coupeville. (Photo by John Fisken)
Coupeville’s Tia Wurzrainer blocks the path of Sultan’s Lindsey Fleming. (Photo by John Fisken)
Izzy Wells adds to the Coupeville offense. (Photo by John Fisken)
