Coupeville Sports

Tina (Lyness) Joiner on her wedding day to Jason Joiner.

“I do not like to be bored!”

That short but concise statement just about sums up the 30 years of Tina (Lyness) Joiner’s life so far. From transcendent high school basketball star to college graduate and successful businesswoman to expectant mother (with husband Jason Joiner, a fellow CHS Class of 2000 alum), she’s always had three or four projects going at the same time.

One of the leaders of the 1999-2000 Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team — the first Wolf girls’ squad to win a game at the state tournament — she was deadly with the ball in her hand.

Her ever-present smile may have deceived opposing team’s into believing she was too nice to beat them, but she would stab you through the heart at clutch time (and keep on smiling.)

In fact, it was her short eight-footer at the buzzer that stunned the basketball world, lifting Coupeville past fifth-ranked Archbishop Thomas Murphy 43-42 at tri-districts that season, sending the Wolves to state and ATM off to cry for several days.

The shot capped an incredible fourth quarter run for Joiner, who poured in 11 of her 19 points in the final eight minutes. ATM had come into the regular season finale at 19-0, only to have the underdog Wolves bounce them both that night and then at tri-districts.

More than twelve years later, the memory still warms Joiner’s heart.

“To eliminate ATM from heading to state was extremely satisfying,” Joiner said. “Overall, the whole season was an awesome memory.

“I had so much fun with all the girls and love the game of basketball,” she added. “I sometimes wish I could go back to those days.”

The good times continued through the next week for Joiner and her teammates, as Coupeville pulled off an even more stunning comeback at the state tourney, outscoring Freeman 20-5 in the fourth quarter to win 46-42.

With the triple-threat of Joiner, Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby and Brianne King watching, it was defensive spark-plug Jaime (Rasmussen) Burrows who spun down the baseline and sank the go-ahead shot. When Burrows swished two clutch free throws to ice the win seconds later, March 2, 2000 was forever cemented as the biggest day in Wolf girls’ basketball history.

“The Freeman victory at the state tourney is one I will never forget,” Joiner said. “The excitement surrounding the 4th quarter comeback was indescribable then and still is now.

“Coach (Willie) Smith lit a fire in our hearts and minds at the beginning of the quarter and there was no turning back,” she added. “Losing was not an option, at least not for me.

We weren’t always the most polished group of girls to take the court but we were scrappy and our defense won many games for us that season.”

She didn’t know it at the time, but the state joy ride would be her final go-around as a hoops star. She attracted considerable interest from the community college level, but opted to attend the University of Washington and put away her basketball shoes.

It’s a decision she regrets a bit.

“At the time, I thought it was a good decision, but deep down I really wish I would have continued playing basketball, even if it was only for another couple of years,” Joiner said.

A go-getter, she found new outlets to replace basketball, having managed a fitness facility, ran a Mary Kay business and attended nursing school. She and her husband remained in Coupeville, which allows her to stay in contact with many of her former teammates.

“The beauty of growing up in a small town is that you seem to always know bits and pieces of what is going on with everyone, either through their parents or running into them when they are on the Island,” Joiner said.

And, as her own child (due in early December) begins to grow up and possible follow their mother as a superstar athlete, she will always have her memories to pass along as inspiration.

“Winning the Freeman game back then was definitely the highlight of not only the season, but of my entire life playing sports,” Joiner said. “We put a lot of hard work into our practices and games but sometimes it comes down to who simply wants it more and that was us.

“From time to time I look back and reminisce about the experience playing at the Tacoma Dome and it still has an impact on my life,” she added. “I fully believe that anything is possible and if you expect great things, great things will happen.”