Auburn Riverside girls basketball boasts a long list of superstars.

From Julie Futch to Katie Grad to Mercedes Wetmore and now Kat Cooper, the program has been blessed with outstanding talent over the years. And all that talent has paid off for the Ravens, who have won three state championships in four years, including last year’s 4A title.

But even superstars need a supporting cast. At Auburn Riverside, complimentary players continue to unselfishly back up the standouts.

This season for the Ravens, those players toiling away for the greater good of the squad are senior guards Makenna Clark and Brooklynn Hinkens.

“Brook and Makenna are both really, really valuable to our team, both on and off the court,” said coach Terry Johnson, whose second-ranked Ravens are off to a 7-1 start in the South Puget Sound League North 4A race, 9-2 overall. “I’m really pleased with the on-the-court progress the two of them have made this year, turning into all-around players.

“Both of them bring such tremendous effort, every day, from practice to games,” he added. “As a coach, it just makes it really enjoyable to coach two kids like that.”

Although Cooper – a 6-foot wing averaging 18.5 points per game and headed to Boston College next season – is the focal point of the offense, Clark and Hinkens have emerged as capable second and third scoring options. The 5-6 Hinkens is averaging 14.5 points per game with the 5-7 Clark is contributing 12.7 per game this season.

They sometimes play like they’re physically linked, sharing an almost supernatural knowledge of where the other is on the court. For the pair, it’s the product of more than a decade of playing together, beginning in elementary school and continuing in middle school.

“We’ve been together ever since,” Clark said. “We’re pretty close, on and off the court.”

Hinkens added: “We’ve been teammates forever. … We have that thing where we just always know where the other is on the court all the time.”

Already skilled players when they started playing for the Ravens, Clark and Hinkens have made great strides with their increased roles on the court this season.

“Makenna has turned into a good basketball player, but she just has tremendous fight and tremendous effort,” Johnson said. “She’s going to make a team better just off her effort and fight.”

In addition to her strong defense and tenacity, Clark has worked hard to become a better scorer and ball handler.

“I feel like I’ve become better offensively because I’ve had to take on that role,” she said. “Now that Mercedes is gone (to graduation), someone has to bring the ball up the floor. We have to switch off with me and Brook.”

Hinkens, a co-captain, also has improved in every aspect of her game.

“She’s always been a great shooter, but her commitment is evident in the way she’s trying to play and the effort she’s been making,” Johnson said. “Some colleges are starting to take notice of that development as a player. Her growth has been as great as anybody I’ve ever coached. She’s having a very special year right now for us.”

Hinkens has improved with offseason work.

“I did everything I could to improve,” she said. “No one is a perfect basketball player, so I worked on everything – my shooting, my dribbling, my attacking to the basket, my defense.”

Both have improved as leaders.

“Makenna is definitely more of a quiet leader, but you couldn’t find a better example in a kid,” Johnson said. “Brook is more of a vocal leader. She’s also really starting to really learn what it means to set an example on how to play and how to compete every day.”

The Ravens turned to Clark and Hinkens to show the way.

“We lost six players from last year (to graduation), including Mercedes, Kara (Jenkins) and Taylor (Wofford), our captains,” Hinkens said. “So us three coming in (including Cooper and Clark) took advice from them. Now we want our younger teammates to look up to us like we looked up to them.

“We need to be leaders on the floor and at school. Our mindset has been that if we played hard, that everyone else would feed off it and we’d win.”

Hinkens and Clark are comfortable playing in the shadows of Cooper and others.

“I’m totally fine with not getting all the attention,” Hinkens said. “I’d much rather get Kat a shot as many times as I can. She’s capable of scoring and I know that if I pass it to her and she can’t score, she’s confident passing it back out to me to shoot it.

“We just always work with each other. It’s not about who gets the most attention, it’s about at the end of the game, who wins.”