Coupeville Sports

   Emma Mathusek pushes the play up-court Monday night during Coupeville’s JV girls win. (John Fisken photo)

One team inadvertently helped another.

With the varsity boys holding Senior Night festivities at the same time the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad was tipping-off across the hallway Monday, the Wolves were momentarily missing starter Ashlie Shank.

But while she helped older brother Brian celebrate his final regular season home game, freshman Avalon Renninger stepped into the starting lineup and immediately lit up the joint.

Hitting three buckets in the game’s first four minutes, she sparked CHS to a lead it would never relinquish.

Then the Wolves, with Shank putting in quality work of her own after rejoining her teammates a minute or two into the game, strolled to a 31-24 win.

Coupeville’s fourth straight win and seventh in its last eight games, the non-conference victory lifts the young guns to 10-3 on the season.

It was a classic example of every quarter featuring a different hot player, with Renninger’s first quarter burst being topped in the second by swing player Sarah Wright, who dropped all eight of her points in her only JV action of the night.

Toss in strong play from Shank, Tia Wurzrainer, Maya Toomey-Stout and pretty much everyone in a Wolf uniform, and CHS coach Amy King enjoyed her hour-plus in the middle school gym.

“Everyone played great games and we know what we need to work on over the next few practices before we meet them on Thursday,” she said.

The two squads will have a rematch, this time in Sequim, when the hope will be Coupeville’s rivals will have learned how to count.

At one point Monday, the visitors had six players on the floor and took a well-deserved technical.

Coupeville turned an 8-5 lead after one to an 18-8 bulge at the half and a 27-11 gap after three, then gave a few points back in the fourth when it hit a brief shooting slump.

Part of that came from the Wolves rotating in their full roster and working on fine-tuning plays.

Throughout the game, CHS came with a strong team-wide defensive effort, with all 11 Wolves snaring at least one rebound.

Ema Smith paced the squad with eight boards, while Wright (6), Wurzrainer (5), Toomey-Stout (4), Renninger (4) and Nicole Lester (4) were hot on her heels.

The Wolves spread out their offense, with Wright and Renninger leading the charge with eight points apiece.

Shank (5), Toomey-Stout (4), Scout Smith (3), Maddy Hilkey (2) and Ema Smith (1) rounded out the scorers.

Emma Mathusek snared two rebounds and Brittany Powers made off with two steals as Coupeville got contributions from every player on the roster.