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Archive for the ‘Girls Basketball’ Category

“We hustled so hard!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Liza Zustiak prepares to launch a pass. (Jackie Saia photo)

Kassie O’Neil is going into the weekend full of positive feelings.

While her Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad was nipped 27-26 Friday night by visiting Friday Harbor, it was the way the Wolves played which pleased their coach.

Playing less than 24 hours after a somewhat lackluster loss against big-school rival Mount Vernon, the CHS young guns brought the excitement to the hardwood.

“We hustled so hard,” O’Neil said. “Way different energy than last night.

“If only our baskets fell, we would have had it,” she added. “But they had a lot of great looks and everyone played well.”

The loss drops the Wolves to 6-8 on the season, and now, after playing three times in four days, they’ll sit for a bit.

The Coupeville varsity has a road game at Auburn Adventist Academy next Thursday, Feb. 2, but the small private school doesn’t field a JV girls’ team.

So, O’Neil’s squad will sit until Feb. 7, when they host La Conner in their home finale, before closing the season on the road at Friday Harbor Feb. 10.

Facing off with the visiting Wolverines, Coupeville fell behind early, but then carved the lead down as the game progressed.

Friday Harbor went to the first break up 10-4, but the Wolves netted a pair of three-balls in the second frame, with Desi Ramirez-Vasquez and Madison McMillan makin’ the net pop from long distance.

Coupeville got its third, and final trey in the third quarter, this time off the sweet-shooting fingertips of Kierra Thayer and trailed 25-18 heading into the final eight minutes.

Clamping down on defense, the Wolves limited Friday Harbor to just a single fourth-quarter bucket, closing the game on an 8-2 run which came up just a single, solitary point short of forcing overtime.

Ramirez-Vasquez paced CHS with a team-high seven points, with McMillan popping for six, and Reese Wilkinson knocking down four.

Thayer (3), Skylar Parker (2), Liza Zustiak (2), and Brynn Parker (2) also scored, with Bryley Gilbert, Teagan Calkins, Kassidy Upchurch, Kayla Arnold, and Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo all seeing floor time.

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Scrappy Wolves fall to hustlin’ Bulldogs

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Bryley Gilbert slashes to the hoop. (Jackie Saia photo)

Sometimes effort beats skill.

That seems to be the case Thursday, as the Mount Vernon High School C-Team pulled away with a strong third quarter, bouncing Coupeville’s JV 38-23.

The non-conference road loss drops the young Wolves to 6-7, but they get an immediate chance to return to the hardwood with a home game Friday against Northwest 2B/1B League rival Friday Harbor.

While Mount Vernon is a 3A school and CHS a 2B institution, Wolf coach Kassie O’Neil felt her team more than matched up with the Bulldogs.

But the host team just wanted the game more.

“It was a hard game to lose, because we really should have won,” O’Neil said. “We had more talent, but we got outhustled.”

Coupeville stayed close through the first half, trailing just 10-6 at the first break, and 15-12 at halftime.

The third quarter proved to be the difference, however, as the Bulldogs used a 15-5 tear to bust things open.

Madison McMillan paced Coupeville with a team-high 11 points, giving her 101 for the season.

The sophomore swing player, who has also scored at the varsity level for the Wolves, is the first JV player, male or female, to top triple-digits this season.

Bryley Gilbert knocked down six points to back McMillan, with Kierra Thayer, Liza Zustiak, and Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo each chipping in with a bucket to round out the offensive attack.

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Blouin buzz-bombs Lions

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Alita Blouin is here to destroy you. (Delanie Lewis photo)

Alita Blouin is a dangerous woman.

Put a basketball in her hands, and the Coupeville High School senior will gut her rivals and leave them to bleed out on the side of the highway.

Metaphorically…

Leaving behind her real-life persona — where she’s serene and kind to human and animal alike — Blouin once again became Alita the Assassin Tuesday, raining down death from above on host Concrete.

Nailing five three-balls, while hitting from multiple angles, she went off for a season-high 21 points, leading nine Wolves into the scoring column during a 54-15 win.

The victory caps a brutal stretch of road games for the CHS varsity, which gets to 2-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-8 overall.

Now Blouin and her associates head home to face Friday Harbor this Friday, Jan. 27, in a game with big playoff implications.

Two of the three 2B schools in the NWL earn postseason berths, and the only games which influence Coupeville’s seeding are the ones with La Conner and Friday Harbor.

Currently, La Conner is 2-0 in the round-robin rumble, with both the Wolves and Wolverines sitting at 0-1.

Coupeville gets a home rematch with the Braves Feb. 7, before traveling to Friday Harbor Feb. 10 for the regular-season finale.

While Tuesday’s tilt didn’t have any impact on playoff dreams, it was a nice way to cap a four-game road trip where the first three games were against legit state title contenders.

The word of the night was defense, as Coupeville bolted out to a 29-0 lead, not allowing Concrete to score in the game’s first 13 minutes-plus.

The first quarter featured a pair of Blouin layups and a pair of jumpers from Lyla Stuurmans, before Maddie Georges utterly destroyed a defender on the final play before the break.

Sliding under the Lion, then juking her out to somewhere around Darrington, the Wolf point guard drilled a little runner and it was 11-0 and getting out of control.

Whatever hopes Concrete might have had vanished in the second quarter, with Coupeville raining down a season-best 29 points in eight minutes, stretching its lead to 40-4 at the half.

Blouin rippled the nets for a trio of three-balls, Stuurmans knocked down a series of buckets in the paint, and Gwen Gustafson exploded off the bench for a big quarter.

The Coupeville senior netted the 100th point of her varsity career on a free-throw, allowing Gustafson to join big sis Amanda Fabrizi (299 career points) in the three-digit club.

While the defense might not have seemed as important as before, as a running clock loomed on the horizon, the Wolves remained frisky.

None more so than sophomore Mia Farris, ripping down rebounds and soundly rejecting a Concrete shot to send her team into the locker room on a high.

Skylar Parker connected on a pullup jumper late in the third quarter to stretch the lead out to 40, while making some personal history at the same time.

It was the first varsity points for the CHS junior, as she becomes the 241st girl to score for a Wolf hoops program which launched in 1974.

For stat hounds looking for something besides points, toss Farris another hustle mark, as she drew an offensive charge late in the game.

Stuurmans finished the night with 11 points to back Blouin and her 21, while Gustafson banked in seven.

Georges (6), Katie Marti (2), Carolyn Lhamon (2), Parker (2), Ryanne Knoblich (2), and Farris (1) also scored, with Jada Heaton and Madison McMillan earning floor time.

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Balanced Wolf JV blasts Concrete

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Teagan Calkins and a teammate apply withering defense. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They started a busy week off with a bang.

The Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad plays three times in four days and kicked off the fun Tuesday by romping past host Concrete 50-12.

The victory lifts the young Wolves to 3-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-6 overall.

Up next for Kassie O’Neil’s squad is a road trip to Mount Vernon Thursday for a rematch with that 3A school’s C-Team, then a home game Friday against league rival Friday Harbor.

Coupeville jumped on Concrete quickly, zipping out to a 17-7 lead by the first break.

Eight different Wolves scored in the opening frame, led by Skylar Parker drilling the first of her two three-balls on the evening.

From there, CHS clamped down on defense, holding Concrete scoreless in the second quarter, then limiting their hosts to just five points in the second half.

A 25-7 lead at the half became a 35-9 advantage by the end of the third quarter, with every Wolf on the floor contributing.

Desi Ramirez-Vasquez paced Coupeville with a game-high 12 points, matching Concrete on her own, while Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo poured in nine in support.

Skylar Parker (6), Reese Wilkinson (6), Jada Heaton (6), Madison McMillan (4), Kayla Arnold (2), Teagan Calkins (2), Kierra Thayer (2), and Brynn Parker (1) also scored as the Wolves shared the ball all night.

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Lummi Nation bails on hoops showdown

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Skylar Parker (left) and Ryanne Knoblich will not play at home next Monday after all. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

Here one second, gone the next.

A late-season addition to the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball schedule has fallen by the wayside.

The Wolves were set to welcome Lummi Nation to Whidbey Monday, Jan. 30 for non-conference varsity and JV games.

Now, thanks to the crush of the postseason, those games are gone with the wind.

Lummi, whose varsity girls’ squad sits at 12-2, starts playoff action Feb. 1.

With four regular-season league games left to play and a week to go, the Blackhawks needed to reclaim the Jan. 30 date, and are now scheduled to host conference rival Tulalip Heritage that night.

After Coupeville and Lummi plugged the game into the schedule, CHS officials originally moved Senior Night festivities to that night, to separate them from ones for Wolf boys’ basketball players and cheerleaders.

Now, all three Coupeville programs will honor their seniors Feb. 7, when La Conner comes to town.

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