Coupeville Sports

   Wolf JV players listen to coach Amy King plan out strategy during a timeout Friday afternoon. (David King photo)

Win. Survive. Move on.

After spending many a season bunkered down in gyms, dealing with sick or missing athletes, Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball coach Amy King knows the drill.

“Winter time really is a tough time for sports with the holidays, family vacations and sickness,” she said. “Over the winter break, I think we had 4-5 JV girls at practice every day.”

King managed to scrape together nine mostly functioning players Friday, though, and the Wolves, coming off of a nine-day gap between games, savaged host Orcas 39-13.

The non-conference victory sends the Wolf young guns into 2017 boasting a 5-2 record.

Defense was the key for Coupeville, as it used a season-high 19 blocks to thoroughly frustrate the Vikings.

“It took a short time to get our offense going; shots went up and just didn’t fall,” King said. “But we took care of business on the defensive end and got in their heads a little bit.”

Sarah Wright and Ema Smith dominated on the glass, allowing the Wolves to put the game away in the second quarter.

Holding a narrow 6-4 lead after one quarter, CHS pounded away in the second, romping to a 17-7 advantage.

“The second quarter just unleashed all things great,” King said. “Buckets were pouring out of the girls from all sides.”

Maya Toomey-Stout singed the nets with a long three-ball, while Ashlie Shank, Maddy Hilkey, Avalon Renninger, Scout Smith and Ema Smith all chipped in with points during the explosion.

“The quarter was so exciting,” King said. “All of the girls fought for the ball, anticipating passes, grabbing rebounds and fast breaking like crazy down the floor.”

Coupeville’s defense was especially unrelenting in the second half, when the Wolves held Orcas to just a single bucket over the final 16 minutes of play.

King came away impressed with her entire team, heaping extra praise on a few standouts.

“Scout was impressive today. Point guarding and feeding her teammates, but in the second half she found herself with steals and drives too,” King said. “Maya ran the floor all night and whoever she guarded didn’t have a chance.

“She along with her teammates are finding their confidence and it is so awesome to see. I love seeing the excitement of the game in this group. Sweet way to go into the new year!”

Wright paced the Wolves with 10 points, while Toomey-Stout rattled home seven.

Scout Smith (6), Hilkey (4), Shank (4), Ema Smith (4), Nicole Lester (2) and a very ill Renninger (2) rounded out the scoring attack.

Ema Smith snatched a game-high 12 rebounds, while Shank, Wright and Scout Smith had seven boards apiece. Tia Wurzrainer and Lester each hauled down six.

The stats were eye-popping up and down the chart, with Scout Smith pilfering four steals and rejecting seven shots. Wright swatted an additional six shots herself.