Must be the shoes. (John Fisken photo)
Game face. Always keep your game face on. (Justine McGranahan photos)
The fish whisperer.
The future of Wolf girls’ basketball is a bright one.
A strong freshman group made a big impact on the Coupeville High School JV squad this past season, and the group of Coupeville Middle School eighth graders coming up hot on their heels is a talented, feisty band of ball-hawks.
One of the players with the most promise is Katrina McGranahan, who patrols the paint clad in eye-popping shoes and is a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball.
Blessed with height, and natural athletic ability (she’s a superb softball player) she throws in hard work and hustle and it makes for a winning package.
Not bad for someone who wasn’t sure she even wanted to try the sport when she first entered CMS.
“To me, basketball didn’t look fun, but like my parents say, how do you know you don’t like it if you’ve never tried it?” McGranahan said.
So she did, and immediately found the experience was better than she expected.
A big fan of “the challenge of the game” and facing “the competitiveness the other team brings,” McGranahan, whose older brother Wade Schaef is a CHS senior who starts for the Wolf football and baseball squads, continues to fine-tune her skills.
“My strengths are my defensive abilities and my height,” she said. “I really need to work on my shooting and our offensive plays. My goals are to get better at my shooting.”
McGranahan, who enjoys her history and gym classes, is actually a three-sport star, with volleyball thrown into the mix as well.
When not on the court or diamond, she remains active, fishing, crabbing and swimming.
A big country music fan, she enjoys hanging out with friends, holds “Finding Nemo,” “The Hunger Games” and “Lone Survivor” as her favorite films and picks “Princes of the Universe” by Queen as the best song of all time.
And, like any good young athlete who knows she’ll need rides to practice, she’s quick to remember to thank parents Kevin and Justine McGranahan for their support.
“My parents helped me become who I am today because they always push me to do my best in everything.”
Coupeville Sports 
To say she is athletic is an understatement. Really looking forward to watching some games to see how she and the rest of the MS girls develop in the season. Look out next year when Asst Coach Brittany Black and the Coaches King get ahold of her. If she puts in some work this summer she could possibly compete for some varsity time next year. Big challenge with post players Stone, Myers, Hammer, and Vidoni coming back, not to mention Thorn and Kiel. But as we saw this year with Hammer going down late in the season you never have enough good players.