Led by a sizzling scoring game from sharpshooter Brianne King, the Coupeville girls basketball team set a new school record with their 17th win of the regular season, a 64-40 victory over Orcas Island on Tuesday.
King scored 14 of her game-high 25 points in the first quarter, including going 4-for-4 from behind the three-point arc. She finished the contest with five three-pointers on the night. Not only that, but the 5-foot-7 junior’s outburst left her just two points shy of 1,000 career points entering the fourth quarter.
“Brianne was resting at 998 career points entering the fourth and I asked if she wanted to go back in or get the record at home where we were going to do something nice,” said head coach Greg Oldham. “She still wanted to play and had four shots roll out in the fourth quarter. I went back and did some research and I don’t think she’s ever been shut out so she should reach it against LaConner.”
King was set to reach the milestone last night in the Wolves’ final regular season home game against the LaConner Braves (results will be published in Wednesday’s News-Times).
She’ll be the second Coupeville girl’s hoopster to reach the 1,000-point mark, and will have an excellent chance at becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer next year as a senior, overtaking Zenovia Barron who recorded 1,270 points from 1994-98.
Helping King at Orcas was senior post-player Sarah Mouw, who added 13 points and eight rebounds against the Vikings.
“Sarah scored well again and rebounded well,” said Oldham. “We had a nice combination of Brianne and Sarah. Orcas didn’t have an answer for either one.
“Bree went on another one of those streaks where she just got on fire. Then when they came out on her, she fed it inside to Sarah.”
Behind King and Mouw the Wolves jumped out on the Vikings 25-8 in the first quarter. They led 60-25 at the end of three, before a 15-4 final period run by Orcas made the final 64-40.
“It’s really hard to sustain that kind of effort for four quarters,” said Oldham. “The bottom fell out in the fourth, but we played well for the first three quarters.”
Unlike the Coupeville boys squad which clinched the Northwest A League title with their own victory at Orcas, the girls will probably have to wait until Tuesday when they face Archbishop Murphy in their final game of the regular season to see if they can win a title of their own. As of Friday, the Wildcats were one game behind the Wolves for first place and it should all come down to the final game.
“We still have a week to wait to see if we can win league,” said Oldham. “But it’s nice to see the boys team get some of the accolades. They deserve it.”
If Coupeville can knock off Archbishop Murphy and remain in first, the team will gain a first-round bye in the tri-district tournament and won’t begin play until Feb. 16. Oldham believes winning the league will help his squad in two ways.
“It does two things, it gives us rest and it puts us in the opposite bracket as Kings,” he said. “We want to play Kings, but we want to play them in the championship game.
“It gives us 11 days off if we win. We’re a little beat up, nothing major, but it will allow us to heal. Then our first-round game should be against someone we can shake the rust off of if we have to.”
First the Wolves have to get by LaConner and Archbishop Murphy.
“We need to get by LaConner and then take care of business on Tuesday,” said Oldham. “When you’re winning the season goes by so fast. I can’t believe we’re almost finished.”
Coupeville 64, Orcas Island 40
At Orcas Island H.S.
Coupeville – 25 16 19 4 – 64
Orcas Island – 8 8 9 15 – 40
Coupeville: A. Mouw 2, Larson 3, Lamb 6, King 25, Taylor 6, Davis 2, S. Mouw 13, Clark 2, Lamb 2, Black 3. OI: Tuson-Turner 1, Breslauer 4, Wrightsman 12, Kihlstrom 4, Clancy 19. 3-point goals: King 5, Larson 1. JV score: Coupeville def. Orcas Island. Records: Coupeville 8-0 in league, 17-1 overall. Orcas: 2-6, 4-10.
