Half-time adjustments helped the Coupeville High School girls basketball team get back into the game, but visiting Blaine was able to hold on for a 44-39 win Wednesday, Nov. 29.
The Borderites found holes in the Wolves’ zone to jump to 13-5 and 23-13 leads after the first two quarters.
Down 36-24 heading into the final period, Coupeville cleaned up its defense and outscored Blaine 15-8 to make a game of it.
Mikayla Elfrank led the fourth quarter surge with 9 of her game-high 20 points. She also finished with seven rebounds and four steals.
“Mikayla spearheaded our effort the whole game,” coach David King said.
“It wasn’t just Mikayla,” he added. “Lindsey (Roberts) and Kalia (Littlejohn) logged huge minutes. Kalia did a great job running our offense and Lindsey found a spark that I’ve been waiting for.
“Scout (Smith) settled in nicely. Sarah (Wright) and Allison (Wenzel) played well in our post defense. Avalon (Renninger) logged her first varsity minutes and filled in nicely.”
Roberts tacked on 10 rebounds, 5 points and three steals.
Point guard Littlejohn had 9 points, four assists and only one turnover; she and Wright each collected three steals.
Smith scored 5 points.
The Wolves hurt themselves at the free throw line, hitting only four of 15. Blaine connected on 13 of 19.
“Our free throw percentage needs to improve,” King said. “If we could have added to our made total, who knows how this game turns out.”
As the game progressed, the Wolves “did a better job of rebounding and pushing the pace, which turned into fast breaks and layups,” King said.
“We played short-handed tonight, but that didn’t stop or prevent us from putting in the effort we did,” King said.
Mikayla Elfrank puts up a jumper on the way to scoring 20 points for the Wolves. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
Kalia Littlejohn drives by Blaine’s Brynn Hallberg. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
Lindsey Roberts powers a shot up over Blaine’s Tayluyn DePauw. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
Coupeville’s Sarah Wrights rips the ball away from Blaine’s Camryn Vosloh. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
