Only a fool gets between Hailey Hammer (34) and the basket. (John Fisken photo)
It wasn’t a pretty game, but style points aren’t everything.
When the scoreboard clicked over to all zeroes Friday night, all that mattered was the final score. And that was beautiful.
Overcoming a rough first half, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team ended up blasting host Port Townsend 58-35 to maintain its hold on first place in the Olympic League.
Now 10-5 overall, 4-0 in conference play, the Wolves are a game up on Klahowya (3-1), while Chimacum (1-3) and Port Townsend (0-4) round out the standings.
The victory, while not always a smooth one, marked the fifth time this season CHS has won back-to-back games.
Though, for a bit, that seemed to be in a bit of danger.
Facing an 0-13 Redhawk squad desperate for a breakthrough and much improved from earlier in the season, the depleted Wolves (spark-plug Wynter Thorne was home with tonsillitis) got a tougher fight than maybe was expected.
Though some of that might have been self-inflicted.
“It was a battle from the opening tip until late in the fourth,” said Wolf coach David King. “We weren’t playing our brand of defense like we had shown the three quarters against Mount Vernon Christian and the whole game vs. Chimacum.
“We wanted to play aggressive man, but stay away from the stupid fouls,” he added. “We just couldn’t get into a good rhythm in the first on the defensive end.”
With its top two scorers, Makana Stone and Julia Myers, hampered by early foul trouble, the Wolves had to drop out of man coverage and go to a zone. Once they did that, Redhawk freshman Kaitlyn Meek, who hit for 20, picked them apart a bit.
“Port Townsend came ready to play and showed no fear,” King said.
The Redhawks actually took the lead at 13-11 early in the second quarter, before Coupeville countered with a show of pure power from post Monica Vidoni.
The senior sprang off the bench and dominated in the paint, pumping home all eight of her points in the quarter.
Twice Vidoni rolled hard to the hoop, threw down the field goal, forced Port Townsend to foul her and went to the line where she calmly completed the three-point play.
On a 14-point run, the Wolves looked like they were breaking the game wide open.
Only the pesky Redhawks wouldn’t go away, scoring the final six points in the half to narrow the lead back to 25-19 at the break.
Having won by 33 the first time the schools clashed, Coupeville needed a spark to get back to that style of play. They found it in the locker room.
“The players took to heart what we needed to fix coming out for the third,” King said. “They upped their defensive effort and returned to the man defense that gets us steals and fast breaks.
“Players were flying around, anticipating passes and tipping or stealing them.”
Back on the court, Myers dominated the third (pumping in eight points) and Stone shredded Townsend’s last bit of resistance in the fourth (dropping nine in the quarter before fouling out).
Coupeville pulled off two coach-pleasing plays in the fourth, both involving Stone.
On the first Hailey Hammer made “a sweeeeeeeeet pass” around a defender that perfectly hit Stone in stride for an easy bucket, while the second was a moment where practice paid off.
Having snagged a board, Stone was pinned under the basket. Instead of kicking it out, she followed King’s lessons and “took one power dribble, backed up and powered the ball up over two defenders for the basket.”
“Julia and Hailey went crazy on the bench,” King said. “I’m pretty sure I turned to anyone who would listen to me and I said, did you see that, we have been working on that exact move!”
Up and down the roster, Wolves made plays that pleased their coach.
McKenzie Bailey had “a great feed” that set Vidoni up for one of her baskets, while Mia Littlejohn, who “has been working hard on her shot,” stepped up and knocked down a sweet 15-foot jumper from the wing.
While Coupeville couldn’t completely slow down Meek, King did move noted ball-hawk Kacie Kiel over to cover her in the second half and the feisty senior “did a good job defensively.”
While the Redhawks were scrappier than expected, and the refs questionable at best (at one point issuing a what-the-heck unsportsmanlike warning to Coupeville because a defender dared to put up a hand in front of her rival’s face while playing her straight up), the Wolves persevered.
“Port Townsend gave us a fight, but at the end of the day, we fought back and kept fighting and working as a team,” King said. “There isn’t any quit with this team and even though we struggled at times, I’m very happy with the effort we are getting every day.”
Stone, even limited by fouls, threw down 20 points, snatched seven boards, doled out three assists and made off with three steals to pace the Wolves.
Myers (12 points), Vidoni (eight points), Hammer (eight points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks), Madeline Strasburg (five points, four assists), Kiel (two points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals), Littlejohn (two points) and Kailey Kellner (one point) all chipped in, as well.
Coupeville Sports 