It didn’t take the Coupeville High School girls basketball team long to witness the talents of Cedar Park Christian’s Irena Korolenko in the Eagles’ 48-28 win over the Wolves Tuesday, Jan. 8, in Bothell.
“Korolenko is as advertised,” Coupeville coach David King said. “She got them going early and often.”
Korolenko finished with 25 points as she “looked effortless from a variety of drives, jumpers and at the free throw line,” King said.
Korolenko scored 10 points in the first quarter as CPC went ahead 12-6.
The 5-11 junior tallied just 2 points in the second period, but Coupeville, for the third time in the past six quarters, failed to score, and Cedar Park Christian went up 26-6.
The Eagles (3-1, 6-5) led 44-13 after three periods.
“Normally our defense leads us, but tonight we struggled,” King said. “When our defense isn’t up to par, it takes a toll on our offense.”
The Wolves’ offense finally got going in the fourth quarter, more than doubling its score with 15 points.
“All game long we looked for a line up that would compete,” King said. “We found it starting the fourth. We rode the group of Scout (Smith), Chelsea (Prescott), Tia (Wurzrainer), Izzy (Wells) and Lindsey (Roberts).
“This lineup came out with energy and heart. The effort picked up defensively, and like it does for us, it guided our offense. Four of the five players scored in the quarter, they got steals, rebounded well and had an urgency on both ends of the court.”
Roberts finished with 9 points, Scout Smith 5, Prescott 5, Avalon Renninger 3, Ema Smith 2, Wells 2, and Nicole Laxton 1.
Roberts added 10 rebounds; Scout Smith and Prescott each grabbed 5.
Coupeville hit only seven of 19 free throws in the game; CPC was 5-for-5 at the line.
The Wolves also committed 28 turnovers.
“I thought we scouted them well and had a good game plan,” King said. “I knew this would be a tough game. We seemed to be evenly matched based on scores from games played. Tonight, CPC outplayed us and outcoached us.”
Coupeville (2-2, 4-7) finishes a string of four consecutive road games when it plays at Sultan (1-3, 4-8) at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11.
