Having battled back from injury, Maddy Hilkey filled up the stat sheet Saturday as the Wolf JV stormed to another win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
And then, at the very end, a ray of sunshine.
On a Saturday night when Coupeville High School basketball in general absorbed a beating, one team refused to go along with the story line.
The Wolf JV girls squad, Amy King’s band of scrappers and ball-hawks, is the lone CHS hoops unit to currently be posting a winning record.
So, it should come as little surprise that, even playing with virtually no bench, they still stormed past host South Whidbey 28-21 to run their record to 3-2.
“I guess we were the game of the night,” said King with a quietly satisfied smile.
Coupeville won despite playing with just over half its roster (six of 11 girls) in uniform.
“100% praise to our JV team – the warriors!,” said CHS varsity coach David King. “They communicated, moved as one on defense and ran their plays very well.
“My hope is varsity watched the effort and will learn from the JV team after tonight.”
With just one player sitting next to her on the bench at any given time, Amy King rubbed her hands together, knew she had the Falcons where she wanted them, and promptly unleashed defensive Hell.
The Wolves forced a shot-clock violation on South Whidbey’s first possession, and the tone was set.
“I was very impressed with our defense,” Amy King said. “The girls really were working as one unit – talking and making their own adjustments together during the game.
“They did this very effectively.”
While the Wolves surged out to a 16-10 lead heading into halftime, it was how her players reacted in the locker room which impressed their coach the most.
“I talked about what I was seeing and what we needed to do, but I also had the players telling me what they were seeing and talking about which plays were working and which were not,” Amy King said. “They were asking if we could make a change here or do something differently there.
“Excitement was in the air and they were owning their game,” she added. “As a coach, I was impressed with their input and conversation as a team.”
Playing with fire on defense, the Wolves got big performances from all six players in uniform.
Maddy Hilkey “was very impressive with playing up top on our defense, getting steals,” while Mollie Bailey was an equal opportunity thief.
When South Whidbey did get to the basket, Kylie Chernikoff “played fantastic defense, ripping rebounds all night and putting shots back up when she could.”
Toss in Avalon Renninger terrorizing everyone foolish enough to get in her way, and a fired-up Julia García Oñoro hitting the boards, and there were few options for the Falcons.
Chelsea Prescott, even after hitting the floor hard enough to be checked for a concussion, continued to be a stellar two-way star. She singed the nets for a game-high 16 points, while yanking down eight rebounds.
With all of her players firing as one, King’s squad controlled the pace of the game, repeatedly broke South Whidbey’s press and was relentless in pursuit of victory.
Renninger collected five points, eight boards and three steals, while Bailey had three points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Chernikoff (nine rebounds, two assists) and Hilkey (four steals, two assists) rounded out the scoring with a bucket apiece.
As she basked in the win, Amy King praised her iron women for a job well done.
“This group played like a team,” she said. “They pushed through their tired legs. They ran their plays, moved and talked on defense and did it all together.
“I could not have asked for a better way to end the day.”
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