As the South Puget Sound League 3A basketball season heads toward its final two weeks, the Enumclaw High girls remain in the thick of the hunt.

The Hornets rang up a 70-59, Friday night victory over Sumner High to improve to 8-2 in league play and 9-4 overall. Through games of last week, White River led the SPSL 3A pack with a 11-0 mark and Bonney Lake was a half-step ahead of Enumclaw at 9-2. Enumclaw split the season series with Bonney Lake and, in what could be a huge regular-season finale, hosts White River Feb. 13.

Enumclaw played one game earlier this week, hosting Peninsula High on Tuesday (results came too late to be included here) and will travel to Clover Park Friday. Next week’s schedule shows a home game Tuesday against Auburn Mountainview followed by a Feb. 5 contest at Lakes.

The Hornets will be without the services of Jessalyn Clark, who has been sidelined with a stress fracture in her foot. Coach Ted Carlson reported that Clark is wearing a protective boot and will not return to action for at least a couple of weeks.

The Hornets took command Friday night with a 25-11, second-quarter advantage that sent the team to the locker room with a 43-29 lead

Heather Hitch and Mara Koplitz led the Enumclaw offense with 20 and 17 points, respectively. With her big night, Hitch pushed her season average to 9.1 points per game. Koplitz increased her team-high average to 13.8 per outing, good for fourth in the league.

The early part of last week didn’t go so well for the Hornets, who made a long road trip to Wenatchee Jan. 19, then played tough Bonney Lake the following night, and dropped both contests.

Against Bonney Lake, EHS attempted to shut down the Panthers’ outside game, only to be hurt on the inside. Equally important in the 54-42 loss was the fact that his team pulled down only 18 rebounds, Carlson said.

Koplitz led the way against the Panthers with 14 points.

Reach Kevin Hanson at khanson@courierherald.com or 360-802-8205.