Coupeville Sports

Amy King’s marauders. (Robert Bishop photo)

Miranda Engle drops the boom. (John Fisken photos)

Monica Vidoni rampages in the paint.

Julia Felici enjoys the moment.

One more win.

Beat King’s tonight on the road and the Coupeville High School girls’ JV team finishes with a winning record. Sporting a 9-9 mark as they board the bus this afternoon, they have one less win by themselves than the other three Wolf hoops squads combined.

With no disrespect meant to the Wolf girls’ varsity, the boys’ varsity or the boys’ JV, which have all had big moments, big plays and big wins, Amy King’s marauders are the best team in town.

And they’ve done it in one less game than everyone else. If Orcas Island had enough girls to field a JV squad, we’d probably already be staring at a 10-win Wolf squad.

So take a moment to tip your beverage of choice to junior Julia Felici, sophomores McKayla Bailey, Kacie Kiel, Madeline Strasburg, Wynter Thorne and Monica Vidoni and freshmen McKenzie Bailey, Emily Coulter, Miranda Engle and Samantha Martin.

They are the future of Wolf basketball, and they believe in the very fiber of their souls that they’re gonna kick your fanny, so watch out, Cascade Conference.

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Kacie (left) and Katie Kiel, together again. (John Fisken photo)

Steve Kiel is a happy dad today.

Both of his girls will be in uniform when the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team heads to the district playoffs starting Monday, Feb. 4. Senior Katie Kiel has been a varsity player the entire season, and now sophomore Kacie Kiel is being brought up to the big leagues for the playoffs.

The lil’ Kiel, a scrappy five-foot-seven ball-hawk who sacrifices her body fighting for rebounds and loose balls, earned the promotion with her strong all-around game and numerous intangibles.

She handles the ball for the Wolf JV squad (9-9 heading into its finale Friday at King’s), but also crashes the paint like a beast.

Her work ethic has not gone unnoticed.

“She has earned it with her hard work all year and play,” said Wolf coach David King.

Somewhere, across town, her dad is most likely screaming, “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!” as only Steve Kiel can.

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Makana Stone on the move. (John Fisken photos)

Amanda Fabrizi

Madeline Strasburg

Breeanna Messner

Hailey Hammer (34) fights for a rebound.

Even as we looked back last night, we looked forward as well.

High school sports, like any sports, is a cyclical business. Players come and players go. There is always someone who has next.

So, while Coupeville High School coaches, fans and parents honored the commitment of seniors Bessie Walstad, Haley Marx, Rhiannon Ellsworth, Jai’Lysa Hoskins, Lauren Escalle and Katie Kiel last night, there was also a moment, late in the game against Granite Falls, when the future was fully on display.

Freshman Makana Stone, sophomores Hailey Hammer and Madeline Strasburg and juniors Breeanna Messner and Amanda Fabrizi stood at one end of the court, staring down the Tigers, while their senior counterparts had come to the bench, one after another, to receive their curtain calls.

That unit, very likely, represents next year’s starting five.

JV players such as Kacie Kiel, McKayla Bailey, Wynter Thorne and Monica Vidoni may have a say in matters, and who knows what fresh talent might spring from this year’s 8th graders?

Of course, there’s always the chance a couple of blue-chip prospects from ATM or King’s suddenly move to Whidbey Island with their families, leave behind the world of scholarships and recruitment and refresh their souls by experiencing small town basketball again. You never know.

But this five is a five to be feared.

They are four of the team’s top five scorers this season (Hammer is tops, while Stone, Messner and Fabrizi are 3-4-5, hot on the heels of Walstad at #2).

Messner and Fabrizi are dead-eye shooters, fearless at times, and quite willing to shed their alter-egos as Wolf cheerleaders and scrap on the floor for every ball. Fabrizi kicked a chick in the head this year (sorta by accident), for goodness sakes.

Hammer plays like her name in the paint, and, as she continues to grow in confidence, may come to even more emulate older brother Hunter Hammer, a six-foot-seven wrecking crew back in the day.

And then there is Strasburg, who has a motor that never stops going. Against Granite Falls, in a game the Wolves led by 29, she picked up a foul with ONE SECOND to play after chasing down and catching a runaway Granite Falls player.

Strasburg is the T-1000 from “Terminator 2.” She never, ever stops coming, a beaming smile accompanying every beat-down she administers.

Stone? She is what coaches dream about, a long, tall, graceful, super-quick, polished player capable of starting as a freshman. If she hadn’t missed a chunk of games with an illness, she would likely be currently leading this team in scoring.

She could be the player that dominates the Cascade Conference for the next three years, taking the place of ATM’s Beth Carlson. She’s that good. She has that much potential.

And running with Messner, Fabrizi, Hammer and Strasburg at her side? Fear the Wolves, because they’re going to be feasting on Wildcats and Knights in the very near future.

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