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“One of these games everything will click!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Ashlie Shank, Basketball, CHS Wolves, Mount Baker, Skyler Lawrence on December 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Kyla Briscoe, seen here in an earlier game, scored three points Monday night. (John Fisken photo)

Skyler’s back.

That was the best takeaway from Monday night for the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad, which fell 33-16 at Mount Baker.

Getting back Skyler Lawrence, who missed the first week of the season with an illness, provides the Wolves, both JV and varsity, with a ferocious defensive player who has never met a rebound she can’t rip out of a rival player’s hands.

“Skyler was back and saw her first time on the court,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “She led the team with her defensive strength and ball handling – even dribbling out of pressure to get the ball to our guards.”

Lawrence combined with freshman Ashlie Shank, who is learning to play the point on the fly, to lead Coupeville’s offensive attack, as both players dropped in four points.

“Ashlie continues to get better with her confidence, which will be a major plus for this team the rest of the season,” King said.

The loss dropped the Wolf JV to 0-3, but, with huge turnover from last year’s 14-5 squad, the slow start has not been a total surprise.

Not that Coupeville wouldn’t like to fix that soon.

“This young group continues to work hard on defense and talking on the court – getting to know each other and each others skills and strengths is a big part of team sports,” King said. “We are in that process right now. I have every confidence that one of these games everything will click and it will be magical.

“Despite the losses, I know these girls just want it that much more,” she added. “Lots of determination, which means everything.”

Coupeville was stung by Baker’s full court press, but, when they could beat it, played well.

“When we got down to our end of the court and moved the ball around, we got scores or at least good shots,” King said. “The problem was that once again, we struggled getting the ball past half court.”

Lauren Rose and Kyla Briscoe each popped for three in support of Shank and Lawrence — with Rose’s points coming on a long trey — while Ema Smith added a bucket.

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Not all losses are created equal!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Lindsey Roberts, Makana Stone, Mia Littlejohn, Mount Baker on December 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Freshman Lindsey Roberts scored six of her career-high nine points in the fourth Monday. (John Fisken photos)

Mia Littlejohn, seen here in an earlier game, dealt out a game-high eight assists at Mount Baker.

While it would have preferred a win, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad came away from Monday’s defeat at Mount Baker looking like a pretty dang good team.

The host Mountaineers stayed undefeated at 4-0 by holding on at the end for a narrow 50-47 victory, but the Wolves, behind ferocious performances from Makana Stone and Mia Littlejohn and a breakthrough one from freshman Lindsey Roberts, proved they won’t go down easily.

Despite trailing by 15 at one point and beset by a team of highly proficient long-range gunners, Coupeville (2-2) rallied and had a chance to send the game into overtime.

Both of their losses so far have come against teams with winning records, and, in both, the Wolves were a shot away from forcing an extra period.

“This game was a good building block for us. Mount Baker is a very good team that can shoot the ball well,” said CHS coach David King. “We just need to play a full 32 minutes.

“As a team we now know we can compete with the very good teams,” he added. “We make a few more free throws, maybe get back a few turnovers or have the ball bounce our way a time or two and we could have won this game.

“It’s still very early, but these players are showing that they won’t quit despite the score.”

In its previous game, Baker had crushed Coupeville’s 1A Olympic League rival, Port Townsend, 74-16 and the Mountaineers came out hot, dropping nine treys on the Wolves.

Baker led 17-12 after one, but Coupeville fought back to cut the deficit to just one by the half.

Tiffany Briscoe netted a bucket right at the buzzer, off of a feed from Litttlejohn.

The start of the third quarter was a bit of a disaster for the Wolves though, as they came out “flat and two steps slow.”

Down by 15 in a blink of an eye, the Wolves rallied behind Stone, who had “one of the best games of her high school career” and surged back.

The final eight minutes of the game was the best stretch Coupeville put together all night.

“The fourth was a complete quarter for us,” King said. “Our defense raised the bar and clamped down and caused some turnovers.

“If we can bring the effort we had in the fourth, along with the beginning of the first and the latter parts of the second and third, then we will be a team that will be hard to beat.”

Stone threw down 23, snatched 14 boards, pilfered three steals and dealt out two assists while Littlejohn had five points, eight assists and two rebounds.

Roberts, who had netted two free throws in her first three high school games, came alive on the offensive end, scoring six of her career-high nine in the fourth quarter.

Tiffany Briscoe was a solid presence down low, with six points and five boards, while Kailey Kellner netted three points to go with her six assists and four rebounds. Kyla Briscoe swished a free throw to round out the scoring attack.

With a young team — Coupeville only returned three girls, two who were full-time players, from last year’s league title winners — King has been pleased to see constant growth.

Key to that has been his veterans leading the way.

“Mia has stepped up with her leadership and Makana probably played one of her best games in her high school career,” he said. “We were happy with the effort and growth we played with during the game.

“That said, we weren’t satisfied with the outcome. We will get right back at it today and look to shore up some things and continue to fight and push to get better,” King added. “The way we are sharing the ball on offense and working on defense are things we have been looking for.

“Each player is putting team first and it shows in how they have come out in these early games so far.”

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Sylvia Hurlburt’s makin’ posters!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, Cheer, CHS Wolves, Jovanah Foote, Makana Stone, Sylvia Hurlburt on December 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone can already taste the two points. (Sylvia Hurlburt photos)

Lauren Grove (right) is filled with joy at the mere sight of teammate Mia Littlejohn.

Tiffany Briscoe, working the paint like she owns the place.

The Wolves cap their pre-game huddle by firing up a round of shots.

The key to Kyla Briscoe’s success? The purple shoes. Oh, and talent, too. A whole lot of talent helps, as well.

Jovanah Foote will knock you out … with her note-perfect cheer routines.

"Your hair game is strong ... but mine is stronger!!"

“Your hair game is strong, sister … but mine is stronger!!”

“At my signal, unleash Hell, Wolves!!”

Is there anything Sylvia Hurlburt doesn’t do?

No, the answer is no, cause she does it all. And she does it all really, really well.

Cheerleader, choreographer, track star, ballet dancer, and, of course, photographer with mad skills.

All of those words describe the ever-moving, ever-grooving Coupeville High School senior.

Her latest work, which she is nice enough to let me unleash onto the masses, is this collection of girls’ basketball photos.

The eight pics above are just a small fraction of what she shot — I’ll continue to drop Hurlburt originals on you as the season unfolds — but they give you a solid taste of what she’s up to when she gets let loose with a camera.

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“We will get better!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Ema Smith, Friday Harbor, Maddy Hilkey on December 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The Wolf JV, already pros at having their picture taken. (Amy King photo)

“Of course, I love to find the new successes!”

If ever there was a coach born to nurture and bring along young JV players, it is Coupeville High School hoops guru Amy King.

So, while her squad, playing without any of its veteran swing players Saturday, fell 41-20 at Friday Harbor, she was able to come away with a checklist full of accomplishments to herald.

From freshman Maddy Hilkey knocking down her first-ever buckets, to Brittany Powers notching her first free throw of the season, to the hustle her entire squad showed, King knows JV ball is all about improvement.

“Brisa (Herrera) got a rebound and drove down the court. Both Lindsey (Laxton) and Nicole (Lester) were going after rebounds, ripping the ball out of the hands of their opponents,” she said. “Both got shots off, that’s a great step.”

Of course, King also wants to win — she went 14-5 last year with a squad which sent a chunk of its players up to the varsity this season — and Coupeville came out strong Saturday.

Powered by Hilkey and Ema Smith, who each went for four in the quarter, the Wolves claimed an 8-5 lead after the first eight minutes of play.

Then the hosts, who had a far more seasoned team, switched things up.

“We started out great; guess we ticked off the home team, because in the second quarter they attacked with a full court press and caused us many turnovers,” King said. “Our young team would get successful passes only to have the ball stolen or we would end up in a trap.”

Using a 16-1 second-quarter run to blow the game open, Friday Harbor decided they liked the press so much they’d keep it on for almost the entire game.

Even after the score was lopsided.

“This game was tough,” a philosophical King said. “We will get better at breaking the press as the season goes on. It really is a learning process.”

She came away pleased with a lot of the in-game improvement she continues to see. That includes a freshman point guard who’s never played the position before.

“Ashlie (Shank) is moving with more confidence, setting up plays and starting to direct,” King said. “She even pulled up several times, taking jump shots from the outside. That is new for her.

“Maddy and Brittany flew around on defense all night and Sarah (Wright) was a force in the key, shutting down anyone trying to come into the key,” she added. “All the girls talked and worked hard on defense.

“We just need to be patient, we are getting it and wins will happen.”

Smith paced the Wolves with a team-high 10 points, while Hilkey (4), Wright (3), Shank (2) and Powers (1) all chipped in.

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Welcome to Title Town!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor Tip-Off Classic, Makana Stone, redemption, South Whidbey on December 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone (far left) and teammates celebrate winning the Friday Harbor Tip-Off Classic. (Amy King photos)

Tiffany Briscoe (left) and Mia Littlejohn do some pre-game prep Saturday morning.

Tiffany Briscoe (left) and a deeply excited Mia Littlejohn do some pre-game prep Saturday morning.

Lauren Grove (left) and Lindsey Roberts chow down after Friday night’s win.

Da champs.

“Our locker room was rockin’ after the win. Very vocal and a well deserved celebration!”

Having accomplished their weekend goal — bring home championship hardware from the Friday Harbor Tip-Off Classic — the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad went a little bonkers in the afterglow.

And that was fine with coach David King.

“We had a great start on Friday and an even better finish on Saturday!”

Garnering a little revenge and redemption along the way, the Wolves put together a defensive clinic Saturday, holding off arch-rival South Whidbey 31-27 to win the four-team tournament.

Friday Harbor beat Overlake 52-25 to claim third-place.

With two wins in as many days at the first in-season tourney the Wolf hoops program has attended in several years, Coupeville improved to 2-1 on the still-young season.

The title game win was a nice little bit of payback, as well.

The Wolves only loss so far came on opening night to the Falcons, when a last-second shot that would have forced overtime rimmed out.

South Whidbey came in confident, but they finished flat on the mat.

“In our pregame locker room talk, we could hear the chants and South Whidbey being very vocal in their pregame,” King said. “Our approach was to come into the game focused and get the job done that we came for.

“South Whidbey has a very good team and it’s always fun to compete against them,” he added. “We knew we had to make some adjustments from Wednesday to be able to come out on top.”

The Wolves spent some time in the morning watching video from opening night, and noticed a few things that allowed them to tweak their defense.

Then Coupeville came out on fire, yet calm and controlled.

Showing superb ball movement — a trait they displayed all weekend — the Wolves jumped out to a quick 9-1 lead.

Lauren Grove dropped back-to-back buckets to kick things off, before Kailey Kellner nailed a long trey and Makana Stone drilled a sweet jumper of her own.

“Lauren has been working extremely hard on making some adjustments with her shooting,” King said. “So far, in our first two games her shot hasn’t been falling like she had hoped, but today it did.”

South Whidbey managed to get back in the game by forcing a quicker pace to the game and flustering the Wolves a bit.

While Coupeville was still clamping down on defense, the Wolves picked up a few too many fouls and the Falcons took advantage, draining 7 of 9 at the charity stripe in the first half.

The Falcons continued to make runs at CHS, but a three-ball from Mia Littlejohn and a clutch basket from Stone at the end of the third staked Coupeville to a 25-22 lead headed into the fourth.

The final quarter was a defensive war — neither team scored in the first four minutes of the fourth — with several Wolves coming through in the final moments.

Littlejohn swished a huge trey, Kellner tickled the twines for a bucket and Tiffany Briscoe dropped a pressure-packed free throw as Coupeville refused to relinquish the lead.

While the very-young Wolves struggled at times on offense, they came through when it mattered.

“We are still a work in progress on offense, still learning how to be patient and play to our tempo,” King said. “But this weekend we showed glimpses of how good we can be when we are patient.”

And when the offense wasn’t working, the defense, led by Briscoe in full-on Dennis Rodman-mode, was there to win the day.

“Tiffany isn’t the tallest post player, but the desire and hard work she brings every day is second to none,” King said. “Even though she was undersized today she played tough defense and was on the floor whenever there was a loose ball near her.

“Yes, we need to score the ball to win, but without the effort from Tiffany today we probably don’t win.”

Everyone on the floor bought in on defense, with Grove and freshman Lindsey Roberts making a real impression on their coach.

“Lauren is a ball hawk on defense,” King said. “Lindsey was another player that stepped up and played very good post defense.

“She is still learning how good she can be; we have even talked about her becoming a shut down defender,” he added. “This weekend she stepped up and gave the same type of effort Tiffany did in the post.

“It’s great to see players step up throughout the lineup and contribute.”

Stone paced the Wolves with a double-double, scoring 10 and snatching 10 rebounds. She also had five steals, five blocks and two assists.

Kellner (seven points, three rebounds, three steals), Littlejohn (six points, three steals), Grove (four points, six rebounds), Tiffany Briscoe (three points, six rebounds) and Roberts (one point, five rebounds) rounded out the stat sheet.

Kyla Briscoe and Lauren Rose also saw quality floor time in the championship game, while Friday’s surprise hero, Allison Wenzel, was an enthusiastic bench presence.

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