Seniors Breeanna Messner (left) and Amanda Fabrizi return to lead the Wolves. (Robert Bishop photo)
Junior Kacie Kiel, super-nice off the court, but a beast once the whistle blows. (John Fisken photo)
The future is bright.
As he enters his second season at the helm of the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball program, David King has a lot of pieces to move around.
He has six returning varsity vets, a promising batch of freshmen, the return of a key player who has battled back through injury and a pack of hungry hard workers trying to make the jump from JV to varsity.
The core of the team consists of seniors Amanda Fabrizi and Breeanna Messner, juniors Madeline Strasburg, Hailey Hammer and Kacie Kiel and high-flying sophomore Makana Stone.
Hammer and Stone were two of the top three scorers on last year’s squad, Messner and Fabrizi were consistent two-way threats as starters and Strasburg, who bounced between JV and varsity, has a motor that never stops.
Kiel, who moved up to the big team for the playoffs, is deceptive, a petite girl who plays like a beast, snatching balls away from bigger players on a regular basis.
Tossed in to the mix will be junior Julia Myers, who has missed her first two high school seasons while recovering from soccer-related leg injuries. Finally healthy and coming off of an MVP performance for the Wolf girls’ soccer team, she is magic waiting to happen.
“Julia is a big addition,” King said. “Amy (King) and I got to coach her when she was in 7th grade when she played on the Swish team we coached.
“Coming to summer open gyms, camp with us and playing fall ball, she has stepped right in like she hasn’t missed the last two years,” he added. “Her athletic ability and being able to play post or on the wing makes us that much better.”
Junior Wynter Thorne will operate as a swing player, playing both varsity and JV — much as Strasburg did last season — to give her more floor time.
“The (varsity) group has the attitude of ‘I hate losing, we are going to do whatever it takes to win’,” King said. “Our individual and team mental toughness and wanting to win at all costs will serve us well.”
The competition up and down the roster is fierce, with a strong six-pack of freshmen (Carlie Rosenkrance, Tiffany Briscoe, Skyler Lawrence, Lauren Grove, Erin Josue and Mattea Miller) making the jump from middle school to join an already-competitive group of sophomores and juniors.
Basketball is a constantly-shifting game, and the Wolves will be employing some new defensive tactics this season.
“We believe change is a good thing,” King said. “I still believe in a good hard-nosed man-to-man defense, but during camp we experimented with a few zone defenses and they played it very well.
“The girls were flying around the court and held the team many times from shooting well after 30 seconds when we played without a shot clock,” he added. “We have good team speed, we are going to work on defensive rebounds and pushing the ball more this year.”
With plenty of work in the trenches with various local basketball and softball teams over the years, the Kings know most of their current players inside-out, and vice-versa.
“We know what the players can do and they know what is expected from them,” King said. “This means we can move through things quicker.
“The older players are really stepping up and showing the new players where to go or what to do. So, experience,” he added. “We really have good team speed and versatility. I believe our shooting will be better this season and we will surprise some teams. We need to get in game shape and be ready to run.”
Coupeville’s primary mission will be to go toe-to-toe with the other two 1A schools in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference — King’s and South Whidbey — but none of the bigger schools should sleep on the Wolves.
“If we do the things we are capable of and play our game, I think we are on that list of teams to beat,” King said.
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