Every time the Coupeville High School girls basketball team played King’s this season, the game was more exciting than the previous one.
During the regular season, the Wolf Pack beat the Knights 42-37 on their home floor Jan. 5 and Kassie Lawson’s 3-point shot gave Coupeville a 32-31 overtime victory at home on Jan. 18.
Saturday’s loser-out matchup at the 1A Sub-district tournament in Mount Vernon was no exception.
Coupeville put together a big second-half rally to defeat King’s 35-28 and advance to this week’s Bi-district tournament in Mountlake Terrace as the Northwest’s No. 3 seed.
“In the last game we played them, we struggled in the first half and did OK in the second half,” coach Blake Severns said. “Today, we really responded in the second half.”
Early in the game, it appeared that the third time would be the charm for the Knights.
King’s held a 7-4 lead after the first quarter and were up 16-10 at halftime.
Neither team shot the ball well in the first two quarters of action. King’s was 6-for-19 from the field while the Wolves were a dismal 4-for-20.
In the second half, the Wolf Pack pulled things together in a big way.
Sophomore Megan Smith nailed a 3-pointer to open the third quarter and after Jana Jack gave the Knights a 21-13 lead, Coupeville’s defense took the game over.
Back-to-back steals and baskets by Smith and Lawson shaved the
lead to 21-17.
A Smith free throw and a basket by Shawna West cut the lead to a single point and when Lawson drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer, Coupeville was ahead for the first time, 23-21.
“I was real nervous before the game knowing it might be our last, but I started to calm down towards the end,” Smith said. “I started to believe in my team and we were able to come through.”
Laura Thompson hit a 3-point basket for King’s at the beginning of the fourth quarter for a 24-23 lead, but that was the last time the Knights would have the upper hand.
The Wolf Pack began hitting a lot of 1-of-2 opportunities from the charity stripe and Ashley Manker’s basket at the 4:31 mark gave the Wolves a 27-24 lead.
Fouls caught up with Coupeville when starting players Hayley Ebersole and Lawson went out of the game with five each, but Kayla Lawson and Smith kept the Wolf Pack in front.
Lawson hit a 3-point goal late in the contest and Smith scored five points from the free throw line to put the game away.
“We were kind of worried there for a little while, but we came out strong in the second half,” Lawson said.
The Wolves scored 25 points in the second half while holding King’s to just 12.
“We’ve been giving up in the low 40-point totals in every game and today we held them to 28,” Severns said. “We made some big shots when we needed them and it was a good win.”
Smith led Coupeville with a game-high 11 points and Manker scored seven points.
Seniors Shawna West, Ebersole and Paige Mueller summed things up best.
“It feels really good. King’s has gone to the state for I don’t know how many years, but we knocked them out,” West said.
“We’re going all the way this year,” Ebersole said.
“We want it,” Mueller added.
Jack and Makenzie Taylor scored eight points each for King’s.
Coupeville 35, King’s 28
King’s 7 9 5 7 — 28
Coupeville 4 6 13 12 — 35
King’s (28) — Jana Jack 4 4-7 8, Makenzie Taylor 3 2-2 8, Laura Friar 0 1-5 1, Kelli Cutright 2 0-1 6, Morgan Krannitz 0 0-0 0, Christina McCormick 0 0-4 0, Heather Westbrook 1 0-0 2, Laura Thompson 1 0-0 3. Totals 9 7-19 28.
Coupeville (35) — Megan Smith 2 6-13 11, Ashley Manker 3 1-5 7, Hayley Ebersole 1 0-0 2, Kassie Lawson 2 0-0 5, Shawna West 2 0-0 4, Paige Mueller 0 0-0 0, Kayla Lawson 1 3-4 6, Sarah Vass 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 10-22 35.
Three-point goals — King’s 3 (Cutright 2, Thompson); Coupeville (3 Smith, Kas. Lawson, Kay. Lawson). Turnovers — King’s 19, Coupeville 20. Total fouls — King’s 14, Coupeville 21. Fouled out — Ebersole, Kas. Lawson.
