A stingy defense over the final three quarters helped the Coupeville High School girls basketball team mow down visiting Mount Vernon Christian 41-26 Saturday, Jan. 9.

The Wolves led 10-9 after the first quarter, then their defense, according to coach David King, ignited the offense that helped Coupeville build a 17-point lead going into the final period for the win over MVC (4-7).

Shaky defense was one of the main reasons Coupeville dropped its previous game, according to King.

“We talked about dedicating ourselves defensively,” he said. “Before the Mount Vernon Christian game, we had two great defensive practices and it carried over into the game.”

King had praise for his entire lineup.

“Mia (Littlejohn, who scored seven points) came out from the start and did a good job of leading our offense.,” King said. “Her defense was the best she has played all season.”

Lauren Grove, who is assigned to guard the other team’s top scorer, had another outstanding defensive game, King said, and added her best offensive effort of the season, 10 points, to go along with five steals.

Tiffany Briscoe and Kailey Kellner were forced to guard players several inches taller and yielded only nine points combined while MVC tried to take advantage of the height mismatches.

Briscoe also scored seven points and snared five rebounds.

“Lindsey (Robert) has made progress on the offensive end the last two games,” King said. The freshman used an aggressive move to score two points and also pulled down four rebounds.

The team’s leading scorer, Makana Stone, played although she was ill, and, “despite not feeling well, she played under control, stayed within herself and had a solid all around game,” according to King. She finished with 15 points, three blocks and two steals.

With Stone needing more rest, reserve Kyla Briscoe saw extended minutes and “played well.”

Another plus for the Wolves was their free-throw shooting. Coupeville has struggled from the line all season but hit nine of 12 against the Hurricanes.

“This game was a good statement game for us,” King said. “We didn’t play well at Sequim, didn’t let that affect us for this game and played with focus and determination.”

Coupeville (8-3, 2-0 ) doesn’t play again until going to Chimacum (2-7, 0-2) for an Olympic League game at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19.