Scout Smith, seen here during the middle school season, helped drive Coupeville’s offense. (John Fisken photo)
The future for Wolf girls’ basketball is a bright one.
Both high school squads went undefeated in Olympic League play this year, while the next generation of CHS stars continue to fine-tune their already impressive skills a rung below.
A nine-player squad made up of Coupeville Middle School girls played strongly at the Tulip Tournament in Skagit Valley this past weekend, claiming fifth place out of 12 teams.
The young Wolves opened with hard-fought losses to Anacortes and North Sound Elite, before rebounding to drill Stanwood and Olympia.
Along the way, every team member got the ball in the bucket, and Coupeville coach Scott Hay was impressed with the heart and hustle he saw on display.
“Everyone contributed in many ways,” he said. “Kalia (Littlejohn) and Scout (Smith) did a good job with the point guard duties, Lindsey (Roberts) and Ema (Smith) did great work handling the ball and got better as the weekend went on with the press.
“Tia (Wurzrainer), Avalon (Renninger) and Emma (Martin) all played tough defense and after some jitters started putting up quality shots,” Hay added. “Hannah (Davidson) and Sarah (Wright) fought on the boards all weekend long and were a big part of us controlling the glass in just about every game.”
Despite having a roster split between 7th and 8th graders, who played on different teams during the middle school season, the Wolves quickly jelled.
“These girls were an absolute joy to coach. You would have thought they were all the same grade because there was no separation between them,” Hay said. “They were a tight group who played tough team basketball all weekend long.”
While the first two games were close, Coupeville was stung by flatness against Anacortes and an inability to break North Sound Elite’s press.
Taking what they had learned, the Wolves jumped on Stanwood, beating its 2-3 zone by pounding the ball inside to the posts, then nailing long-range jumpers from the outside.
“I think that was our best game of the tourney,” Hay said. “We had seven girls score and everyone contributed in one way or another.”
Heading into the finale against Olympia, Emma Martin was the lone Wolf not to have scored, so her teammates made it their goal to get her name on the stat sheet.
“All weekend she had come close, only to have the ball roll off the rim,” Hay said. “All the girls made it their mission to make sure she had every opportunity to score.
“She finally had to just swish a high mid-range shot to take the rim out of the picture all together,” he added. “Big moment for her and all the parents and teammates gave a healthy cheer for her.”
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