Girls basketball: Wolves nipped by South Whidbey

South Whidbey squeaked out a back-and-forth game with the host Coupeville girls basketball team 33-31 Tuesday, Jan. 4.

South Whidbey squeaked out a back-and-forth game with the host Coupeville girls basketball team 33-31 Tuesday, Jan. 4.

The win was the first for the Falcons (1-3, 1-7) in conference play and kept the Wolves (0-4, 1-9) winless in league.

Coupeville will attempt to get back on track when Granite Falls (1-3, 1-7) comes to town Friday, Jan. 7, at 7 p.m.

Against South Whidbey, the Wolves held slight leads at the end of each of the first three quarters (9-7, 16-13, 19-18) but couldn’t hold the edge at the end of the game.

South Whidbey took control of the game with a big fourth quarter. The Wolves came storming back, and when Kendra O’Keefe drained a three with 10 seconds left, the Wolves were within one. Coupeville was forced to foul to stop the clock and the Falcons hit both free throws to ice the game.

O’Keefe topped Coupeville in scoring with 10 points. Katie Smith added nine, Cassidi Rosenkrance and Mehgan Metlow had five each and Lauren Escalle finished with two.

Coupeville coach Jackie Bykonen said, “The girls continue to make little mistakes that add up come the end of the game. Such as not blocking out, not seeing the ball and making poor end-of-the-game decisions…I will continue to work with the girls on fundamentals and hopefully things will click.”