CMS 8th grader Ja’Kenya Hoskins was a whirlwind on both ends of the floor Thursday in a season-opening win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
This was a back-alley beat down. Brutal and beautiful.
Both of the Coupeville Middle School girls basketball teams this season are stocked with players who have risen through the SWISH ranks, learning the game and jelling as a unit as they do so.
And now that pays off.
Opening the season with a fury, the Wolves scorched visiting Chimacum twice Thursday, in games which were routs and yet could have been far worse, if the CMS coaches hadn’t pulled back the reigns and the refs hadn’t gone into the tank.
8th grade:
The core of the older Wolf squad won a title the last time they were on the floor, capping their SWISH season by routing three big-city teams.
Thursday they picked right back up where they left off, using a withering defense and an opportunistic offense to thrash the Cowboys 56-14.
The game was actually close for about half a second, as both teams displayed cold shooting touches early on and CMS clung to a 4-2 lead with a little over two minutes left in the first quarter.
Enter Ja’Kenya Hoskins, and exit any chance Chimacum would have.
With Coupeville clamping down with a full-court press and trap, the Wolves suddenly ripped off four baskets in approximately 12 seconds, with Hoskins directly involved in all of them.
She started things with a steal and breakaway layup, then fed running mate Izzy Wells for a layup off of another steal.
With the Cowboys going from disorientated to disaster in the blink of an eye, Hoskins ripped a ball free, then launched a pass that dropped perfectly onto Audrianna Shaw’s fingertips.
Catching the ball in mid-stride, the Wolf guard banged home a running layup, part of her game-high 18, and the rout was on.
Just to make sure Chimacum knew their moment had passed, Hoskins promptly stole the in-bounds pass and repeated her air mail assist move, with the ball flung to a sprinting Kiara Contreras this time around.
Up 12-2 at the first break, Coupeville was just getting started.
The second quarter was one bucket after another, as CMS ran the Cowboys ragged as they knocked down 25 points in eight frantic minutes.
Anya Leavell, who somehow was NOT one of the five Wolves to score in the first quarter, made up for it in a big way, dropping in eight points by herself in the second quarter.
All four buckets came on long outlet passes, as Leavell slipped behind the defense, then triggered the jets on her shoes once her teammates lobbed the ball airborne.
The prettiest pass came from Abby Mulholland, who also set up Ella Colwell for a basket as Coupeville kept the ball zipping from player to player, only stopping when the orb hit the bottom of the net.
Just to cap things, Wells sank a three-ball from the top off of an in-bounds pass, then spun, stole the ball right back and fed Shaw on the break.
Everything was clicking for Coupeville — on one play Samantha Streitler stole a pass, flipped it backwards to Hoskins, then reached for the popcorn and enjoyed the show as Hoskins hit Leavell in stride for yet another breakaway bucket.
The only thing slowing down Dustin Van Velkinburgh’s squad was a running clock, which went into effect once the lead hit 40, and refs, who, feeling sorry for Chimacum, decided to stop calling anything on the Cowboys for the final 10 minutes.
I could go on a long tirade about how blatant “charity” from the refs, too frequently displayed during middle school blowouts, actually hurts instead of helps a weak team trying to improve, but we’ll move on.
Seven of the 12 Wolves to see the floor scored, with Leavell dropping in 13 to go with Shaw’s 18.
Wells (9), Hoskins (6), Kylie Van Velkinburgh (4), Contreras (4) and Colwell (2) also scored, while Katelin McCormick, Streitler, Alana Mihill, Mulholland and Angelina Gebhard chipped in with hustle, defense and killer attitudes.
7th grade:
For a very long stretch of this game, it appeared Chimacum wouldn’t score.
While the Cowboys finally netted a bucket nearly 14 minutes in, then went almost 10 minutes before bucket #2, the young Wolves slapped down baskets left and right in a 50-10 rout.
Gwen Gustafson, channeling older sister Amanda Fabrizi, a former high-scoring CHS hoops star, drilled the bottom of the net with a pull-up jumper less than 30 seconds into the game and things were essentially done.
Her basket came off of a rebound by Nezi Keiper, and it signaled complete and utter domination on the glass from the Wolves.
With Keiper, Carolyn Lhamon, Adrian Burrows and the Battlin’ Lucero sisters, Allie and Maya, pulling down 3.9 out of every four rebounds, CMS had second, third, sometimes even sixth chances.
Most of those boards came on the offensive end of the floor, as Coupeville’s guards pestered and harassed the Cowboy ball-handlers into total submission, resulting in painfully few Chimacum shots.
Buzzing like attack insects, Maddie Georges, Alita Blouin, Gustafson and Hayley Fiedler came at the Cowboys from every angle, rarely giving them a chance to breathe, much less think about making solid passes.
Once they had the ball back in their hands, which was on just about every possession through the first three quarters, the Wolves flew to the hoop.
Georges, living up to her “Mad Dog” nickname, was a particular buzz-saw, picking pockets, then flashing by the Cowboys, who saw a burst of red hair go hurtling by but had no answers for the quicksilver hoops star.
With older brother Alex Evans calling the shots in his first game as the CMS 7th grade coach, and former Wolf baller Rhiannon Ellsworth screaming her name every time she scored, Georges served notice the future of Wolf hoops is here and it will be electric.
Draining a game-high 14, Georges teamed with Lhamon, who banged down low in the paint for 10, to form a potent outside/inside combo.
Seven other Wolves scored, with Gustafson (6), Blouin (5), Maya Lucero (5), Allie Lucero (4), Keiper (2), Fiedler (2) and Burrows (2) also etching their names in the book.
Trinity McGee, Jordyn Rogers, Jessenia Camarena and Mercedes Kalwies-Anderson also saw floor time.
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