Balanced scoring, beautiful win

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Balanced scoring, beautiful win

January 8, 2024 by David Svien

Ari Cunningham is a lock-down defender. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Now that’s some depth.

With 10 players scoring Monday night, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team blitzed visiting Auburn Adventist Academy from every angle.

Leading from start to finish, the Wolves grounded the Eagles, rolling to a 37-18 non-conference victory in their first game in almost a month.

Now 3-4 on the season, CHS has nabbed back-to-back wins — with the first of those coming way back on Dec. 19.

After that win over Forks, the JV sat, with only Coupeville’s varsity making trips to Eastern Washington for holiday tournament play and then to Darrington.

And now, basking in another win, the young guns will sit again for eight days, as the next foe on the schedule, Orcas Island, only has a varsity squad this season.

Kassie O’Neil’s squad is slated to return to action Jan. 16 with a home rumble against La Conner, and hopefully their coach will be able to join them.

She was out sick Monday, but fellow Wolf coach Lark Gustafson stepped in and led the team to the win.

What he got was extremely well-balanced scoring, with four different players tying for top honors with six points apiece.

“Good team game,” Gustafson said. “Lots of good hustle and able to get everyone some playing time.”

He praised his roster of rock ’em, sock ’em warriors, with a special shoutout to one of Coupeville’s key scrappers.

“Ari (Cunningham) might not have had a lot of points,” Gustafson said. “But she had great steals and rebounds and hustle.”

Coupeville edged out to a 6-2 lead after a defensive-orientated first quarter, before stretching the margin to 12-6 by the half.

The third quarter was where the Wolves really brought the heat, however, going on a 14-4 rampage to blow things wide open.

Five different CHS players scored in the frame, with 8th grader Adie Maynes leading the way, as she torched the nets for all six of her points.

Haylee Armstrong, Brynn Parker, and Lexis Drake matched her total on the night, with Tenley Stuurmans banking in four points.

Bryley Gilbert (2), Capri Anter (2), Taylor Marrs (2), Chelsi Stevens (2), and Cunningham (1) rounded out the attack, with Ava Lucero clamping down on the defensive end of the floor.