Coupeville Sports

   The Mouse is in the House, as Lauren Rose soars in for a bucket. (John Fisken photos)

Brian Shank is too quick for the La Conner defense.

Improvement, every day.

It’s what JV coaches look for, as they shape developing players who will, hopefully, one day run the floor at the varsity level.

So, while both of Coupeville’s younger squads fell to visiting La Conner Wednesday, girls coach Amy King and boys guru Dustin Van Velkinburgh were both able to come away with a fair amount of positives.

For the Wolf boys, it was the fact they stayed close to a talented Braves unit despite only suiting up six players.

Freshman Gabe Eck paced those who were in attendance, dropping in 17 of his team’s 37 points.

Brian Shank added 10, Ty Eck hit for six, Beauman Davis swished a trey and Cameron Toomey-Stout slid a free throw through the twines to round out the scoring.

James Vidoni chipped in with strong work on the boards.

The Coupeville girls also gave La Conner a good run, but were unable to match up with the visitors mix of quick dribblers and sharp shooters.

While they fell 44-33, the Wolves played well in the post and got big contributions from swing players Lauren Rose, Allison Wenzel, Kyla Briscoe and Skyler Lawrence.

“Skyler played a presence in the key as always, ripping rebounds and directing her teammates,” King said. “The posts battled the whole game — Allison, Sarah (Wright), Brisa (Herrera), Lindsey (Laxton) and Nicole (Lester) all worked hard looking for the rebound or intercepting a pass.

“I was happy with the effort.”

King was also thrilled, and a bit amazed, by the foot work of guard Brittany Powers, who pulled off the play of the night on defense.

“Brittany, somehow got in a great position for her legs to steal the ball … yes, her legs,” King said with a chuckle. “She grabbed the ball and passed it ahead up the court to Lauren. Fun to watch.”

Rose, who also saw some floor time in the Wolf varsity win, was on fire.

“Mouse” dropped eight points — tying her for the team lead with Briscoe — while snagging two boards and being a demon on defense.

Ema Smith (6), Wright (4), Maddy Hilkey (3), Lawrence (2) and Ashlie Shank (2) rounded out the CHS scoring attack.

Powers pilfered a team-high three steals, while Wright (7), Lawrence (6), Hilkey (5) and Smith (4) hit the boards with intensity.