Coupeville girls down Darrington

"They scored the first seven points of the game and never looked back.The Coupeville girls basketball team got its league season off to a great start Tuesday with a 45-24 win over visiting Darrington.“We were just so ready to dominate tonight,” Coupeville senior Tina Lyness said. That was apparent from the start, when Lyness (the game’s top scorer with 13 points) poured in a basket and a free throw and Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby (12 points for the game) made her first two shots to get the Wolves rolling.Two more baskets apiece by Lyness and Ellsworth-Bagby, plus six first-half points from Yashmeen Knox helped Coupeville build a 27-12 lead at the end of two quarters. The Wolves shot a hot 12-for-23 in the first half, while limiting Darrington to 6-for-17 shooting and forcing 13 Darrington turnovers.After playing mostly 2A and 3A opponents in the first five games of the season, and losing all five, Coupeville appeared to be playing in a higher gear than the overmatched Loggers.“We’ve had a lot of competition. That’s helped us out a lot,” Lyness said. “After all the close games, this was good.”As good as the Wolves played in the first half, Coupeville coach Willie Smith noticed his players weren’t hitting the boards as hard as he would like to see, which he told them.“We focused on rebounding in the second half,” he said. “We need to make sure we do that from the tip.”The Wolves outscored Darrington 12-7 in the third quarter and the Loggers never mounted a serious threat the rest of the way.For Smith, the win was a much-needed boost.“The girls are happy and relieved,” he said. “We’re 1-0 in league, and we just need to keep it going.”COUPEVILLE 45, DARRINGTON 24Coupeville: Lyness 13, Ellsworth-Bagby 12, Knox 10, King 2, Taylor 4, E. Young 4. Darrington: Nations 3, Cumming 2, Bryson 5, Meece 8, Olson 2, Perrault 4. 3-pointers: Nations 1. JV score: Coupeville 37, Darrington 18.Darrington 6 6 7 5 — 24Coupeville 13 14 12 6 — 45"

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