Coupeville’s defense slows Falcons / Girls basketball

By Jim Waller • January 21, 2019 1:30 am

For the second time this season, the stingy Coupeville defense put clamps on South Whidbey’s offense as the Falcon girls lost 37-16 at Coupeville Friday, Jan. 18.

The Wolves also held South Whidbey under 20 points earlier this season, limiting the Falcons to 15 points Dec. 12.

Farris Jokinen scored the game’s first points, and that would South Whidbey’s only lead of the game.

Coupeville led 7-4 at the end of the first quarter in the midst of a 12-0 run that bridged the first two periods and gave the Wolves a 19-4 advantage.

The Falcons went over nine minutes without scoring.

Arianna Briggs finally hit a hoop with 46 seconds left in the half for South Whidbey’s only second-quarter points.

“I thought we did a good job finding their shooters in the first quarter,” coach Jeff Hanson said. That changed in the second period when the Wolves knocked down a trio of three-point shots.

The Wolves led 20-6 at halftime.

Lexi Starets-Foote scored 4 points in the third period to help the Falcons more than double their score, but the Wolves kept pace and led 29-13 after three quarters.

Briggs finished with 6 points to lead South Whidbey. Starets-Foote had 4, Jokinen 2, Ella Wood 2, Emma Hodson 1 and Sammi Daly 1.

The Falcons hurt themselves at the foul line, connecting on only two of 15 tries, and with turnovers.

“We worked so hard trying to break the press,” coach Jeff Hanson said, “we would panic a bit trying to run our half-court offense.”

“We played harder than we have the past few games,” he added. “I like how hard the young girls played at the end of the game.”

The Falcons (0-7, 2-14) are still winless in North Sound Conference play, but Hanson is encouraged by his team’s attitude.

“The girls aren’t giving up,” he said.

The game also served as the annual Coaches versus Cancer event. The Falcons honored Judy Bertolin-Huber, aunt of Falcon freshman Ali Johnson, and Rick Simmons, Langley High School grad, before the game.

South Whidbey hosts Chimacum (8-5) in a non-league game at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, then plays Granite Falls (2-5, 4-12) in the final home game of the season at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25.