“Your bench is short tonight, mom? Put me in! I’ll burn those nets down!!” (Photo courtesy Megan Richter)
Teamwork makes the dream work, especially when you’re missing a star.
With two-way warrior Mia Farris riding the bench while recovering from a nasty fall in a game this weekend, the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad spread the love Tuesday night.
Six different Wolves scored multiple times, and a second-half surge carried Megan Richter’s squad to a convincing 45-24 win over visiting Concrete.
The victory lifts CHS to 2-4 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 6-10 overall.
It also propels the Wolves from the cellar up to fourth place in the seven-team NWL, with the final days of the regular season fast approaching.
Tuesday’s win was a team effort from start to finish.
Nine players saw the floor, and the three who didn’t score still had a solid impact, with Kayla Arnold and Reese Wilkinson snaring rebounds and tougher-than-she-looks Brynn Parker holding up well under stress while handling the ball.
Brynn Parker slices ‘n dices the defense. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Coupeville came out firing, with Lyla Stuurmans banking home the game’s first shot, before Katie Marti sank a three-ball from the top after being set up by a rebound and kickout pass from Wolf sparkplug Jada Heaton.
The visitors made their one stand of the night in the first, briefly creeping ahead 8-7 on a three-ball at the tail end of the quarter, but then CHS went to work.
The aforementioned Heaton was spectacular in the second frame, getting her hands on seemingly every loose ball and interjecting herself into nearly every play.
While she still showed off her enormous heart by stopping in the middle of a fight for a loose ball to check on a Lion who bounced off the hardwood, she was also a cold-blooded killer when needed.
Peppering Concrete with buckets, Heaton knocked down the shot of the game when she put back a rebound a half tick before the shot clock buzzed, then merrily cartwheeled down the floor, slapping hands left and right as she went.
Junior Jada Heaton (12) is the glue that holds the Wolves together. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Still, Concrete hung tough, trailing just 17-13 at the half, with a little help from the world’s thinnest-skinned ref.
His operating style? Spending almost as much time lecturing Coupeville’s coaches for imaginary conversations as he did calling fouls on the Wolves with no time left on the clock.
Ignoring the zesty zebra, the Wolves seized control of the game in the third quarter, however.
Madison McMillan dominated in the paint, Skylar Parker slashed the Lion defense to ribbons, and Teagan Calkins was everywhere and nowhere at once, an assassin making the kill, then vanishing before the victim knew they were dead.
CHS exited the third quarter up 28-17 and it would have been more, only to have a ref try to interject themselves back in the game by waving off a Calkins shot at the buzzer.
Not that it mattered, because even when the officials fouled out Heaton early in the fourth quarter — to the wails of her robust fan club — there was no slowing down the Wolves.
Whipping the ball around the arc, and up and down the floor, Coupeville triggered multiple buckets on precise passes, as everyone got in on the point explosion.
The Wolves closed the game on a 17-3 surge, with five of the last eight baskets directly set up by an assist.
Calkins popped for a game-high 13 points to pace CHS, with Marti banking in nine, and Stuurmans and McMillan both rippling the nets for seven.
Heaton had five, before the refs knifed her in the back, while Skylar Parker added four, making for very balanced books.
With the win in hand, the Wolf girls are off until Saturday, when they travel to Puyallup to face Chief Leschi in a non-conference tilt.
After that comes home matchups with Friday Harbor and Orting, and a road trip to La Conner to wrap the regular season.
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