Alana Mihill banked home five points Friday, her first at the high school level, as Coupeville’s JV thumped host Concrete. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Things started with a jolt, and ended in a sea of smiles.
Playing second Friday night, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team found itself down a coach, but never blinked.
With JV guru Amy King at the Concrete hospital, riding shotgun on injured Wolf varsity player Chelsea Prescott, her husband, David, got to pull double duty.
Coupeville’s varsity coach promptly made it 2-for-2 on the night, guiding the Wolf young guns to a 46-20 win.
The JV’s third-straight victory, it evens their record at 3-3.
Just don’t try and add the W to David King’s career record.
“Amy gets the win; I get an assist,” he said with a laugh. “Coach King girl does such a great job with the JV team that it made my job easy tonight.
“Thank goodness she had everything already prepared well in advance.”
Coupeville’s second unit came out just like its first unit, runnin’, gunnin’ and shredding Concrete’s defense.
Sparked by the surprise use of a 1-2-2 press added to the mix by David King, the Wolves forced the Lions into constant mistakes, then took advantage of said turnovers.
“I think I surprised the JV’ers when I drew it up for them to run,” David King said. “They worked at it and at times got some good things out of it.
“Kiara (Contreras) was a master at harassing their ball handlers all game.”
Mollie Bailey, normally the queen of the set-up game while running the point, decided to taste the joy of being a binge scorer Friday.
Playing on mom Donna’s birthday, the youngest of the “Bailey Bombardiers” dropped shots from every angle, scoring six points in the first quarter, another eight in the second and finishing with a game-high 16.
A 13-2 Wolf lead at the first break morphed into a 24-11 margin at the half and then a 31-16 bulge after three.
That set up the fourth quarter, when Coupeville melted the net with a game-closing 15-4 run fueled by hard-working role players who got a chance to shine on the offensive end of the floor.
Kylie Van Velkinburgh, a defensive hustler, knocked in four points, but it was Alana Mihill and Morgan Stevens who earned the biggest cheers.
Both scored their first high school points, with Stevens drilling a jumper from 10 feet out on the left wing.
Mihill broke through with free throws, swishing three of them, before stepping inside the key and draining a sweet lil’ jumper for her first high school field goal.
“The players on the bench, the high school players, and our fans erupted when both players scored,” David King said. “It was fun to watch both Alana and Morgan get big grins when they scored and due to the cheering.
“Their defense got a little more aggressive, as did their offensive game.”
Bailey’s 16 points paced the Wolves, with Audrianna Shaw and Izzy Wells each adding eight to the cause.
Mihill (5), Van Velkinburgh (4), Contreras (3), and Stevens (2) rounded out the scoring, with Ja’Kenya Hoskins and Abby Mulholland helping control the boards.
Coupeville Sports 