Coupeville Sports

   Forget about issuing a storm warning, Mt. Vernon. Miranda Engle just destroyed your town.

Miranda Engle has been sick. Saturday she flipped the switch and made Mount Vernon Christian seriously ill.

Bouncing back from the crud that has swept the town, the Coupeville High School freshman post earned a start on the road and rewarded Wolf girls’ JV coach Amy King by claiming the paint as her own. Scoring a team-high eight points and hauling in rebounds by the bushel, she sparked her squad to a resounding 30-17 victory.

The non-conference victory improved the JV squad to 6-7, the best mark of any of the four Wolf hoops teams this year.

Coupeville hit the floor in a feisty mood and used a stifling defense to shut down the host Hurricanes, limiting them to just three points in the first half. With numerous players chipping in with steals and tipped balls, the Wolves forced Mount Vernon Christian into spending most of the game backpedaling after losing the ball.

“Kacie (Kiel), Wynter (Thorne), Madi (Strasburg) and McKenzie (Bailey) did a great job anticipating passes and either getting steals or forcing turnovers,” King said. “McKayla (Bailey), Sam (Martin), Julia (Felici) and Emily (Coulter) did a great job with help defense, intercepting or knocking passes out so their offense couldn’t be effective.

“Miranda really did a nice job of shutting them down inside as well,” King added. “Monica (Vidoni) played a big presence in the key, not allowing easy lay ups or put backs.”

A brief third-quarter let-down by the Wolves gave the Hurricanes a glimmer of a hope, but then King’s troops rallied and slammed the door shut.

Engle got her points in a variety of ways, hitting for three baskets and two free throws, while Strasburg and McKayla Bailey each hit for six. Vidoni dropped in five, Martin and Thorne both swished a bucket and Kiel netted a free-throw.

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“I will do it. I will carry that ball to the hoop!!” (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Kacie Kiel is as good as her word, as Wolf vets Bessie Walstad (42) and Breeanna Messner watch.

Kacie (third from right) and big sis Katie (on her right) share time together on the varsity. Is dad Steve Kiel hyperventilating yet?

There are two things you need to know about Kacie Kiel.

One, the Coupeville High School sophomore is a hard-charging hellion on the basketball court.

Often facing off with taller, stronger JV players, she shrugs and then relentlessly throws herself skyward in pursuit of rebounds, fights for loose balls (while trying not to get creamed by teammate and professional ballhawk McKayla “I will rip your head from its shoulders, fool!!” Bailey) and gives the Wolves a burst of energy every time she sees the court.

Secondly, and maybe more important to me, according to her dad Steve, “The girl only reads two things. Stuff for school, and then she complains a lot, and your stories.”

Scrappy and a fan of over-the-top, borderline-embarrassing prose. Excellent!

Just that much more reason to celebrate her varsity debut Saturday at Mount Vernon Christian. It’s always nice to see a hard worker get rewarded, and the fact it allowed her to join big sis Katie, a senior, for a game, makes it even better.

And showing good taste by reading my stories? Well, I’m easily bought by even the smallest slice of flattery.

It’s a Kacie Kiel world. The rest of us just live in it.

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