Mia Littlejohn (21), seen here in an earlier game, dropped in nine points Friday to spark Coupeville to a league win. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)
They almost threw a shutout.
Using an opportunistic, scrambling defense, the Couepville High School girls’ basketball squad held visiting Port Townsend scoreless for nearly a quarter-and-a-half to kick off Friday night’s game.
And, while they finally did give up a bucket at the 4:25 mark of the second quarter, the Wolves stayed almost as stingy the entire game, freezing out the RedHawks en route to a 29-14 win.
The victory, which capped a long week in which the Wolves faced finals at school while playing three games in five days — two on the road — lifted CHS to 10-4 overall, 4-0 in league play.
Coupeville, the defending league champs, once again sits atop the 1A Olympic League, with Klahowya (2-2), Chimacum (1-3) and Port Townsend (1-3) trying to play catch-up.
While they maybe didn’t play perfect on this night, they kept their record perfect by bringing the heat on ‘D’.
“In the first half we definitely played strong defense; our help defense was there,” said Coupeville coach David King. “I love that we had that energy.”
He would have liked a little stronger showing on the boards, though, as the RedHawks controlled the rebounding game early, but could not get a shot to go down.
No matter what they tried.
Shot after shot slid off the rim for Port Townsend, caught a bad bounce on the glass or started to drop, only to pop back out.
In the early going, Coupeville wasn’t much luckier themselves, as the two teams combined to go scoreless until the 3:37 mark of the first quarter.
The Wolves finally broke through when Lauren Grove banked in a long jumper from the left side, getting the ball to rattle around before it settled through the twines with a sigh.
Of course, that sigh might have come from anxious Wolf fans.
If it did, it changed to a roar in an instant, as Mia Littlejohn drained a pull-up trey from the top on the very next possession, effectively ending the game at 5-0.
While that might sound a bit extreme, it’s not, as Port Townsend could not get anything going on offense, no matter what they tried.
After a Makana Stone put-back staked the Wolves to a 7-0 lead at the end of one, Coupeville finally surrendered a runner in the key, then closed the half out with an 8-0 run.
Littlejohn and Stone each dropped in four during the surge, with the best bucket coming on a vintage coast-to-coast rampage by Coupeville’s lone senior.
On that play, Stone went to the ceiling to absolutely crush a Port Townsend shot.
Having snagged the loose ball off of the block, she hit the rocket boosters in her shoes and promptly out-ran everyone to the other end for a swooping, slicing lay-up.
Port Townsend’s shooting touch warmed up just a bit in the second half, as they finally struggled into double digits in the fourth quarter, but they never truly threatened the Wolves.
Coupeville ran the lead out to 29-10, off of back-to-back buckets from Kailey Kellner, on a beautiful pump fake and drive, and Stone, before the RedHawks tossed in two baskets in the final seconds.
Stone paced the Wolves with 12 points, 18 rebounds, seven blocks and four steals, while Littlejohn banged away for nine points, seven boards and two assists.
Kellner (four points, three rebounds) and Grove (four points, two rebounds) rounded out the Wolf scorers.
“Mia played well tonight,” King said. “She was aggressive on defense and helped us get going on offense early on.
“Lauren Grove hit a couple big shots for us, as well.”
Lindsey Roberts (3), Skyler Lawrence (3), Tiffany Briscoe (2) and Kyla Briscoe (2) all chipped in on the boards, while Lauren Rose and Allison Wenzel were relentless on defense during their floor time.
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