Coupeville Sports

  Maddy Hilkey was one of nine Wolves to score Friday night. (John Fisken photo)

Put ’em on the court and they will take care of business.

Capturing victories hasn’t been the problem for the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad this season. It’s getting teams not to cancel on them.

Friday night was originally going to be the third time an opponent begged off playing, but at the last minute Chimacum decided it did have enough players to take the floor.

Cue the hungry Wolves, who seized advantage of any chance to play, and promptly rolled their hosts 41-22.

The win lifts Coupeville’s young guns to 6-2 overall, 2-0 in Olympic League play.

Or 8-2, 4-0 if you give the Wolves forfeit wins for the times Port Townsend and Chimacum bailed on them earlier this season…

Friday night, CHS rode a balanced offensive attack — nine girls scored, led by Ema Smith’s game-high 11 — and, other than a third-quarter slow-down, was markedly the superior team.

A 12-4 lead after one became a 22-7 bulge by halftime, then, after a two-point bump in the road in the third, Coupeville closed on a 17-9 surge in the fourth.

“Overall, we moved the ball pretty well on offense,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “Everyone got shots up and kept looking for openings.”

After falling into their third-quarter nap, the Wolves got a wake-up call from Nicole Lester, who all but ripped a Chimacum player’s head clean off her shoulders while retrieving a rebound.

“That seemed to be the spark the JV needed to take a breath and regain our game,” King said.

Ema Smith, who filled up the stat sheet with seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots, set up Emma Mathusek twice for quick buckets, while Avalon Renninger and Tia Wurzrainer were ball-hawks on defense.

Coupeville’s sophomore swing players — Ema Smith and Sarah Wright — were key to the team finding, and holding its groove.

“Sarah didn’t score a lot but always adds an energy to the court that is necessary to keep us going,” King said. “Ema proves every night why she is a leader on and off the court.

“She talks, explains, encourages and shows through example,” she added. “She really stepped up and got the team working together in that last quarter.”

Mathusek and Maya Toomey-Stout each dropped in six points to back Ema Smith’s 11, while Scout Smith rattled home five.

Renninger (4), Wright (4), Ashlie Shank (2), Lester (2) and Maddy Hilkey (1) rounded out the attack, with Lester snatching five boards and Wurzrainer pilfering two steals.