The evening began with two displays of class, and then Makana Stone and the Coupeville High School girls basketball team proved, when it comes to the Olympic League, they are in a class of their own.
The Wolves (9-0, 15-4) defeated visiting Klahowya 56-23 Saturday, Feb. 6, to wrap up their second consecutive undefeated conference season and Olympic League crown.
Coupeville now heads to the District 3 1A tournament, facing a yet-to-be-determined opponent at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, at Sumner High School. The Wolves will need to win one of two games to advance to the regional tournament.
Before playing Klahowya (4-5, 7-12), Coupeville celebrated Senior Night, honoring its lone 12th-grader, Stone.
After Stone was introduced and then greeted by her teammates, the Eagles, in an act of sportsmanship, spontaneously walked across the gym floor to congratulate Stone.
Klahowya coach Scott Eberhard said the classy act was not planned and that his players did it without any prompting from him.
In another nice gesture, Jay Long, the public address announcer for Oak Harbor High School football and basketball games, stepped in when Coupeville had no one to call the game.
Long came as a spectator, wanting to see the Wolves play before their season ended. When Coupeville coach David King saw Long enter the gym, he asked Long to help out.
After Long introduced the starting lineups and the game started, Stone, the reigning league MVP, left no doubt she was the conference’s best player and the Wolves were the best team.
Stone finished every regular-season game with a double-double and she put up an impressive stat line in her final appearance in the CHS gym: 27 points, 21 rebounds, five steals, four assists, no fouls and a perfect 7-for-7 at the foul line.
Stone scored eight points in the first quarter and Coupeville led second-place Klahowya 14-6. By halftime, the margin grew to 18 as the Wolves went up 29-11. Stone scored nine points in the quarter.
She added eight more in the third as the lead grew to 44-13.
Ten Wolves played and nine scored. Kailey Kellner and Lauren Grove each scored six points; Lindsey Roberts and Tiffany Briscoe had four apiece; Allison Wenzel added three; and Kyla Briscoe, Mia Littlejohn and Lauren Rose had two each.
Rose’s bucket was her first as a varsity player.
Kellner also had eight rebounds, three assists and two steals; and Littlejohn added four rebounds and three assists.
Grove and Roberts collected five and four rebounds respectively.
“It was a very good all-around game, one of the best of the year,” King said.
The Wolves committed only nine turnovers, which King said, “he believes,” is the lowest by Coupeville in his coaching tenure.
He liked the offensive execution: “Our ball movement really had them moving.”
King also liked what happened before the game.
“It was special, what Klahowya did for Makana,” he said.
Long “didn’t have to help, but he did and we all appreciate it,” he added.
(Left: Makana Stone scores over the defense of Klahowya’s Valerie Salo.
Below: Tiffany Briscoe’s defense stops the Eagles’ Alexis James.
Photos by Jim Waller.)
