WHIDBEY ISLAND, Washington (STPNS) -- One team puts up big numbers on offense. The other clamps down on defense and refuses to let their opponents score.

Regardless of the style of play they choose, however, the two Coupeville High School basketball teams have one thing in common through the first month of the new season: They’re winners, pure and simple.

That was a lesson the Wolves taught local rival South Whidbey twice Friday night, with the Coupeville boys’ squad winning a shootout 79-72, followed by the girls using a sticky-fingered defense to run off with a 55-29 blowout win. The victories, coming in the Cascade Conference opener for both teams, improved the girls to 5-1 (4-0 at home) and the boys to 4-1.



The hardest part of each team’s schedule – match-ups against juggernauts King’s and Archbishop Thomas Murphy – will be waiting for the Wolves when January and February roll around. But for now, these Wolves are playing like the court belongs to them.

Whether it’s Ashley Manker or Hunter Hammer dominating in the paint, or Megan Smith and Chad Brookhouse shredding the net from long distance, both Coupeville teams have talented, gritty players willing and able to thrash their competitors on the hard court.

Against the visiting Falcons, the Wolf girls used a three-pronged offensive attack, with Manker leading the way with 16 points, all in the first half. Smith pumped in 13 to go with her game-high eight steals, while sophomore sensation Cassidi Rosenkrance was a jack-of-all-trades, compiling 10 points, five rebounds and four steals.

Coupeville, normally a second-half team, decided to put things away early, using a 19-4 run to close out the first half. Hitting 15 of 20 free throws (Manker was nine of nine), the Wolves exited the court with a solid 30-11 lead, preventing coach Blake Severns from having to deliver any fiery halftime speeches.

Katie Smith joined the big three on the stat sheet with four points and five rebounds, while Courtney Arnold chipped in with four points, Taya Boonstra and Kendra O’Keefe each added three and Marie Hesselgrave banked in two. Laura Chan and Mehgan Metlow saw floor time but did not score for the Wolves, who have now held their opponents to below 30 points in four of six games.

A sub-30 point game was out of the question fairly early in the boys’ battle, as the two teams combined for 49 first quarter points.

Coupeville, behind the hot shooting of Brookhouse, who scored 15 of his 19 in the first half, eked out a 42-35 halftime lead, then held on to the seven-point margin through a hotly contested second half.

Coupeville managed to hold South Whidbey’s top scorer, Riley Newman, to 22 points. While that might not sound like containment, it is when facing a shooter who had already ripped off games of 26 against Cedar Park Christian, 27 against Interlake and 31 against Anacortes.

Brookhouse led seven Wolf players into the scoring column, with nine of his 19 points coming on three-point bombs. Jason Bagby played like a beast (18 points, 15 rebounds) around the basket, while Tim Walstad (12 points) and J..D. Wilcox (11) each provided key contributions.

Erik King chipped in with nine, including a pair of long-distance treys, Hunter Hammer swished in eight and Ian Smith popped for two.

After games Monday, Dec. 21 (boys at home against Oak Harbor) and Tuesday, Dec. 22 (boys and girls at home against Friday Harbor) -- all after deadline for this edition -- the Coupeville squads take a two-week vacation break. They return Tuesday, Jan. 5 with games against Cedarcrest.

For results of the Dec. 21-22 games, visit the Examiner online at whidbeyexaminer.com.

Read the story in print in the Dec. 30 issue.