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Archive for the ‘Girls Basketball’ Category

The gang’s all here!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Softball, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on December 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Three-sport athlete Hannah Davidson, seen here last season, has returned to Coupeville after living in California for a year. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

   The move allows Davidson to reunite with former teammates and close friends. (Charlotte Young photo)

They got the band back together.

Coupeville High School’s Class of 2020 boasts some very-talented female athletes, and the roster just got deeper (and taller).

Hannah Davidson, a 5-foot-11 sophomore who plays volleyball, basketball and softball, registered and began attending classes at CHS Monday morning.

She and her family, which includes two younger brothers, moved to California midway through her freshman basketball season.

With a second family move now bringing her back to Whidbey, Davidson is immediately eligible to play, as she already participated in the required number of practices while in California.

She began practicing with the Wolves Monday, and is expected to be in uniform Wednesday for a home non-conference game against Concrete.

Since she’ll have a chance to play more than 50% of the schedule (13 of 21 regular season games remain), Davidson will also be eligible for postseason play.

She gives a rebuilding CHS varsity girls hoops squad an injection of height (she edges 5’10 junior Lindsey Roberts as the tallest Wolf), and re-enters a system she already knows well.

After playing through middle school and into her freshman year with her current teammates, Davidson also attended basketball camp with them this past summer.

During her first go-around in Cow Town, Davidson was a tower of power in all three of her sports.

She was tabbed as the MVP of the Wolf JV volleyball team as a freshman, then dominated in the four games she played on the hardwood before the move to Cali.

The last time Davidson wore a Wolf uniform, she poured in 15 points, snatched 10 boards and rejected a pair of shots in a JV win over Klahowya.

While she hasn’t had a chance to play softball for CHS (yet), she was a key member of a Central Whidbey Little League juniors squad which rolled to a 13-3 record and a league title when she was an 8th grader.

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“Tia was a monster!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Tia Wurzrainer was a wild woman on defense Saturday, recording six blocks against Bellevue Christian. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Almost at full strength. Almost.

While the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball roster still isn’t 100% healthy, it was as close Saturday as it has been at any point this season.

With nine warriors at her disposal, Wolf coach Amy King almost had to put out a call for extra chairs. Almost.

Facing off with a well-seasoned foe in visiting Bellevue Christian, strength in numbers offered a huge emotional boost for Coupeville.

Now, if a few more shots had dropped, the Wolves might have also had a win to commemorate the moment.

Instead, despite a second-half rally, CHS fell 30-17.

The non-conference loss drops the young Wolves to 4-3 on the season, but they still boast the most successful record of any of the school’s four hoops teams.

Saturday was a tale of two different styles of play, as Coupeville was red-hot on defense for 32 minutes but ice-cold on offense for a considerable chunk of time.

Other than a few razzle-dazzle plays, such as a steal and sizzlin’ pass from Kylie Chernikoff to Ashlie Shank for a bucket, CHS had trouble getting the rim to cooperate.

“Shots went up, but the lid was on, on our end,” King said.

Down 6-1 at the first break, the Wolves gave up a string of fast-break buckets in the second quarter, finding themselves staring up at a 17-4 halftime deficit.

Some locker room adjustments, perhaps a Knute Rockne-style speech from King, and Coupeville came out fired up in the second half, playing to a 13-13 tie over the final 16 minutes.

“The third quarter was better,” King said “Our offense started to have more movement, the girls moved the ball better and took care of it better, less steals for Bellevue.”

Kick-starting the offense was the defense, as Coupeville staged a block party.

Coupeville rejected 11 Bellevue shots, with feisty sophomore Tia Wurzrainer pulling off a Dikembe Mutombo-style rampage with six blocks of her own.

“Tia was a monster on defense,” King said. “Block after block and shutting off a number of shots.”

Toss in two rejections apiece for Avalon Renninger and Mollie Bailey and one for Nicole Lester, and it quickly became a no-shoot zone for the Vikings.

When BC did get a shot up and away, the Wolves cleaned the glass with a fury, with Maddy Hilkey and Bailey pacing the team by snatching four caroms apiece.

While the Vikings had a height advantage, Chernikoff and Lester “fought all night against a couple of tough post players,” doing a “nice job keeping the other team from driving into the key.”

Lester paced the scoring attack with five points, while Renninger (4), Bailey (3), Hilkey (2), Shank (2) and Chernikoff (1) all chipped in to the effort.

Chelsea Prescott, limited to one quarter so she could play varsity, racked up two rebounds, a steal and an assist, while Shank snagged two boards in her season debut and foreign exchange student Julia García Oñoro “held her own on the defensive end.”

Even in defeat, King came away with positives.

“We did some good things despite the loss,” she said. “The girls are getting more confident with dribbling against pressure, rebounding and putting the ball back up and shooting in general.

“We will make a few adjustments over the next few practices and will be ready for our next game.”

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Put a scare into them!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Sarah Wright knocked down four points and played aggressively on defense Saturday against highly-touted Bellevue Christian. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s a work in progress, and they showed progress.

Playing aggressively, yet under control, in the first half Saturday, the rebuilding Coupeville High School girls basketball team rattled visiting Bellevue Christian.

And, while the Vikings, who boasted a huge height advantage, eventually pulled away for a 51-29 non-conference win, it didn’t come as easily as the score might indicate.

BC, which improves to 5-2, padded the margin with a string of fourth-quarter buckets.

Otherwise, the game was a pitched battle until Coupeville, now 1-7, suffered through a crippling third-quarter shooting drought.

The Wolves jumped on the Vikings early for an 8-2 lead, and led as late as 15-14 with three minutes to play in the first half.

Ema Smith, joining the starting lineup, gave CHS a jolt of energy, knocking down a pull-up jumper to open the scoring, then draining a pair of free throws.

While all of her points came in the first quarter, the junior fireball played wicked defense all game.

Teaming up with Sarah Wright to form a feisty, elbows swingin’ duo, Smith helped keep Bellevue’s Twin Towers under control for much of the game.

The Vikings boast four players 5-10 or taller (to just one on Coupeville’s current roster), and two of those are 6-1 and 6-2.

Smith and Wright tangled with the tall trees, bumping and knocking them out of place on a regular basis, forcing the BC duo to sweat for what buckets they could get.

Wright hit the boards with a wild glee, fighting for every loose ball like her life depended on it, and she banged home a bucket after nabbing a first quarter carom.

Up 8-2, the Wolves hit a bit of a dry stretch, allowing BC to run off nine straight points and regain the lead at 11-8 heading into the second.

Coupeville had an immediate response, however, as Lindsey Roberts drilled a three-ball to kick off the second quarter. The play was a thing of beauty, as the ball skipped from Chelsea Prescott to Wright to Roberts to the bottom of the net.

Breaking Bellevue’s press on back-to-back plays, the Wolves snagged their final lead at 15-14 when Prescott slapped home a layup off of a long pass.

Once again, a very-solid, veteran BC squad held fast, though, closing the half on a 10-3 run.

And yet, there was a hint of trepidation in their eyes as the Vikings exited the floor.

After blowing South Whidbey out by 30 Friday, the second half of their Whidbey doubleheader wasn’t going completely to plan.

Wright came out swinging in the third quarter, backing down her defender and banking home a bucket on the first play to pull the Wolves within 24-20.

Unfortunately, that was the moment Coupeville’s shooting touch decided to vanish.

The Wolves only managed one field goal the rest of the night, a put-back from Roberts late in the fourth.

Other than a string of free-throws, CHS couldn’t get anything to drop over the final 15 minutes, including a three-ball from Mikayla Elfrank which went 95% of the way down, then somehow popped right back out.

While Coupeville couldn’t buy a field goal in the late going, it did enjoy one of its best shooting performances from the free throw line this season, hitting 12-18. That included 7-10 in the second half.

Elfrank paced CHS with nine points. That lifts her to 215 for her career and slides her past former Wolf great Linda Cheshier into 50th place on the Wolf girls career scoring chart.

Prescott and Roberts added five apiece, Wright and Ema Smith both popped for four, and Kyla Briscoe and Scout Smith each dropped in a free throw.

Avalon Renninger was a whirling dervish on defense during her stint on the floor.

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Exit as champs!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Ja’Kenya Hoskins will straight up murder you on the boards. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

   A quick snack and it was on to the championship game. (Stephanie Streitler photo)

Da champs. (Joshua Leavell photo)

Their swan song was a sweet one.

Rolling to three wins in as many games Saturday, the Coupeville 8th grade SWISH girls basketball team won its postseason tourney.

Now it’s on to the middle school season, where practice starts in late Jan.

Saturday, the Wolves opened by blasting the Swinomish Thunder 33-6.

After that came gut-check wins, as Coupeville nipped big city rivals Mount Vernon 22-20 and Oak Harbor 21-18.

The semifinals victory was one which brought a special smile to coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh’s face.

“I tell you what, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more intense, well-played eighth grade basketball game in my life,” he said. “We had some adversity, we have some girls get hurt and we got major contributions from everybody that played.

“In years past, in that game we would have lost by 10 or 12,” Van Velkinburgh added. “This year we stayed the course, hit free throws and did all the right things to win.

“It was a lot of fun to watch!”

Coupeville’s roster included Izzy Wells, Kylie Van Velkinburgh, Abby Mulholland, Ella Colwell, Anya Leavell, Ja’Kenya Hoskins, Samantha Streitler and Audrianna Shaw.

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Roll on, mighty Wolves!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Nicole Lester collected two points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist Tuesday in a Wolf JV win. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

   Chelsea Prescott, getting her hair done by Catherine Lhamon, scored 19 points, with 13 coming in the fourth quarter.

Imagine how good they’ll be when they have a full roster.

Despite playing every game this season with multiple players in street clothes, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team has set the standard.

Now 4-2 overall, 1-0 in Olympic League play after polishing off host Port Townsend 27-14 Tuesday, the Wolf young guns are red hot and rolling.

And that’s even though they played with just seven of 11 players active against the RedHawks.

With a few dings healing up, some practice time caught up, and a hoped-for banishment of the flu, Amy King’s squad could be at full force as early as its next game, which arrives Saturday.

If not, no big whoopee, as whomever is in uniform will surely step up and play huge.

Facing off with Port Townsend, the Wolves had seven in uniform, but swing players Avalon Renninger and Chelsea Prescott were restricted to just two quarters apiece.

No problem, as Prescott dumped in 13 of her game-high 19 in the fourth quarter, turning a close, defensive-minded game into a rout.

“We spread them (Chelsea and Avalon) out to cover all quarters and keep the stability on the court,” King said. “Both stepped up and did their part, strong on defense and getting scrappy off an on throughout the game.”

While she always enjoys a win, King was less thrilled with how drowsy a game it was.

“Something about playing in that gym. The game seems to slow down,” she said. “We were very quiet on defense most of the night, even though we did a pretty good job shutting down their main player.

Maddy Hilkey, Mollie Bailey and Tia Wurzrainer formed a three-headed defensive dynamo, “cutting off shots and slowing down drives.”

Nicole Lester played a strong all-around game, ripping down five boards and making off with three steals while Spanish sensation Julia García Oñoro collected a career-high three rebounds.

“Julia looked more comfortable; she has shown so much improvement since this season started,” King said.

While the game was a snooze for a big chunk, and Port Townsend’s crew struggled mightily with its shot clock and possession arrow duties, the Wolves rose to the moment when it was required.

“The girls battled and did pick up when they needed to,” King said. “We took good shots all night, and I tell the girls to keep looking at the basket and keep shooting – those shots will fall.”

Hilkey tossed in four points to back Prescott, while Lester and Wurzrainer rounded out the attack with a bucket apiece.

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