The Coupeville girls basketball team made quick work of the Concrete Lions last Friday night, jumping out to a 37-16 halftime lead on their way to a 66-45 triumph for their ninth consecutive victory.

With the win the Wolves tied the 1997-98 squad for most victories in a season with 16. The team now has three chances left in the regular season to get the record for themselves. Wolves head coach Greg Oldham credited team defense for the quick advantage.

“We jumped out on them early,” he said. “The press gave them quite a bit of trouble and we executed well. Being up 21 at the half is always nice.”

Leading the charge for the Wolves was senior post-player Sarah Mouw, who had a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds. Mouw tallied 11 of the Wolves’ 24 points in the second quarter. Junior Brianne King added 17 points and five steals on the evening.

“You really have to talk about Sarah Mouw this game – they didn’t have an answer for her,” said Oldham. “She just dominated. We’re starting to do a better job of getting the ball to her.”

After jumping out to the 21-point halftime lead the Wolves played Concrete even in the second half, resulting in the 66-45 final score. Oldham was pleased with how his squad performed in the second half as he was able to give everyone on the team plenty of playing time and the Lions never narrowed the deficit.

“Its so hard to keep up the intensity the entire game, but all four quarter were solid on Friday night,” he said. “Concrete was fighting tooth-and-nail to get their buckets and we would go down and score six points in 40 seconds.

“We knew that when we wanted to we could do whatever we wanted to.”

With the victory, the fourth-ranked Wolves clinched a top-2 seed in the the tri-district tournament that will decide who moves on to the Class 1A State Tournament in Yakima beginning on Feb. 27. Oldham and his squad are aiming for the league title because the Northwest A No. 1 seed will gain a first-round bye in the tri-district tourney. The second-place Northwest team will have to play the No. 4 team from the Emerald City League in a play-in game next week. Coupeville is one game ahead of Archbishop Murphy in the league standings entering yesterday’s action.

“The win clinched a top-2 seed,” said Oldham. “It almost clinches a bye, but we probably won’t know about that until we see Archbishop Murphy again on Feb. 5.”

Looming on the horizon is a potential meeting with the undefeated King’s Knights, the No. 1 team in the state and a member of the Chinook League

“I’m pretty sure we’ll get to see King’s at some point,” said Oldham. “It would be nice to see them in the district championship and play for all the marbles.

“We’re so much better than we were last year and we almost beat them in a first-round game, but then they’re a different team too.”

The Wolves were scheduled to make the long trip to Orcas Island yesterday to face the Vikings in a league contest. Coupeville hosts the LaConner Braves in their final home game of the season on Friday night. Seniors Sarah Mouw, Tracy Taylor, and Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby will be recognized before the game.

Coupeville 66, Concrete 45

At Coupeville H.S.

Concrete – 3 13 16 13 – 45

Coupeville – 13 24 16 13 – 66

Concrete: Massingale 11, Swanson 1, Carter 4, Hoover 9, Harris 15, Schooland 3, Noboa 2. Coupeville: A. Mouw 8, Ellsworth-Bagby 9, Lamb 8, King 17, Taylor 1, Davis 2, S. Mouw 21. 3-point goals: King 1, Massingale 3, Hoover 1. JV: Coupeville defeated Concrete. Records: Coupeville 7-0 in league, 16-1 overall. Concrete 4-3, 9-8.