by Gerardo Bolong
Contributing Sports Correspondent

TACOMA - The Seattle Christian girls basketball team moved a step closer to regional qualification after their offense carried the load in a 46 - 32 defeat of Olympic 1A League champion Coupeville at the Boosters Court inside the Ignatius Loyola Center of Bellarmine Preparatory High School on Valentine's Day, Tues., Feb. 14.

Next West Central District III action for the Warriors (16 - 2) is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. on Thurs., Feb. 16, on the same court against Nisqually League 1A champion Bellevue Christian which is responsible for the two SC defeats this season.

Guard Olivia Clark displayed a strong overall game for Seattle Christian, scoring 12 points while gaining nine steals and five assists."It was a rough game to get through because it was very very physical," she said.

"Intensity was good." Coupeville stayed in almost hailing range for the first half of the game despite 18 turnovers that magnified to 29 by the end of the game.

Compensating for this deficiency, the Wolves countered by commanding the caroms off the glass on both ends of the court.A 21 - 13 first half rebounding advantage magnified into a 44 - 30 difference for the game.

SC opened up the game with quick, snapping passes that opened up the court for good shot selections.Probing the perimeter until until shot chances manifested themselves, the Warriors ended the first quarter leading 13 - 8 after Ellis matched Kailey Kellner's 3 - pointer with a long distance bomb of her own at the buzzer.

With SC still unable to finish attacks with converted field goals, Coupeville closed within 13 - 12 early in the second quarter before Clark converted on standard 3 - point play ahead of an Anderson cut for a basket.The Warriors later stretched the lead to 25 - 15 and led 25 - 17 at the half.Coupeville' s Wolves found their way for inside shot opportunities often in the third quarter, but could not drain free throws in a game statistic of 2 - of - 17 as the Warriors upped their dominance to 13 points at one moment, finishing with a 36 - 25 lead after three quarters.

Following nearly three minutes of scoreless results by both teams to start the fourth quarter, an Ellis 3 - point goal ahead of two Clark steals that she finished for a collective five points brought a game - high 20 - point lead to the Warriors at 45 - 25.Coupeville flurried at the end to make the score deceptively closer."Our offense carried us," said SC head coach Dave Jansen.

"They adapted well to our press and we didn't adjust. We need to improve our defense and finish on our lay ups." Seri Anderson worked well inside on the way to 17 points while Alex Ellis added 12 points toward the Warrior cause. Maddy Fors collected five rebounds in 11 minutes of play for SC.Other Warrior point scorers were Kelli Ronish (2), Makenzie May (1), Julia Seibel (1) and Anna Whitten (1).For the Coupeville Wolves, Kellner scored 10 points. Mikayla Elfrank and Tiffany Frank had eight points and nine rebounds each.