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Archive for the ‘Middle School’ Category

Wolves chomp Cougars, stay unbeaten

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on February 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ryanne Knoblich, pulling down a rebound in an earlier game, was one of six 8th grade varsity players to score Wednesday in a Coupeville win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The offense was hot. The defense was impeccable. The result was magical.

Shutting down rival Langley in style Wednesday, the Coupeville Middle School 8th grade varsity girls basketball team rolled to a 30-20 win on the road, improving to a flawless 4-0 on the season.

Unlike the first time these Island rivals met, when the Wolves had to storm from behind to net the victory, Wednesday’s match-up was much more of a blowout.

Up 16-9 after the first quarter, Coupeville clamped down and shut-out Langley in both the second and third quarters.

The Cougars missed all six of their free throw attempts across the 14-minute span of play, and every single, stinkin’ field goal attempt they lofted skyward refused to drop.

While Coupeville’s own offense slowed a bit in the middle of the game, it still used mirror-image 6-0 runs in the second and third to stretch the lead out to 28-9.

Langley eked out a measure of redemption in the fourth, using an 11-2 surge to make the final result on the scoreboard seem a bit more palatable.

But just a bit.

With King’s and Northshore Christian not playing 8th grade basketball this season, Coupeville is scrambling to fill out its schedule, and will face Langley a third time Mar. 5.

The older Wolves still won’t get a full schedule, playing nine games to the 10 that the CMS 7th grade varsity has planned, but the drive for a perfect season continues.

A huge part of the success that Wolf coach Alex Evans and his squad are enjoying comes from his team’s ability to hit you a million different ways.

Nezi Keiper and Carolyn Lhamon worked the paint like pros Wednesday, both tossing in a game-high eight points, while Wolf guards Maddie Georges (6) and Alita Blouin (4) scorched Langley from outside.

On the season, Keiper (32), Lhamon (31), and Georges (30) form a wicked three-pronged scoring attack.

Ryanne Knoblich and Gwen Gustafson each knocked down a bucket Wednesday, while Hayley Fielder and Jill Prince chipped in with defense and hustle.

 

8th grade JV falls:

Claire Mayne netted all of Coupeville’s points, but the Wolves went down 14-4 in a two-quarter game.

The loss snaps a two-game winning streak for the JV, leaving them at 2-3 on the season.

Things stayed fairly close in a 6-2 first quarter, but Langley pulled away for the win with a solid second quarter.

Trinity McGee, Cristina McGrath, Mercedes Kalwies-Anderson, Abigail Ramirez, Jessenia Camarena, Karyme Castro, Adrian Burrows, Melanie Navarro, and Prince also saw floor time.

 

No 7th grade game:

Coupeville’s youngest players had the day off, as Wednesday’s games were added to bolster a depleted 8th grade schedule.

The 7th graders, who sit at 2-3, kick off the second half of the season Mar. 5, when all of Coupeville’s teams return to Langley.

After that comes a road trip to Lakewood (Mar. 6), home games against Lakewood (Mar. 12) and Sultan (Mar. 14), and, finally, a visit to Granite Falls (Mar. 19).

All three CMS squads will play in the final five match-ups.

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Clean sweep for Wolf hoops stars

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on February 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Carolyn Lhamon knocked down 10 points Tuesday, helping the CMS 8th grade varsity rout Granite Falls. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Get out the brooms.

Pulling off a sweep for the first time this season, all three Coupeville Middle School girls basketball teams swatted visiting Granite Falls Tuesday, sending Wolf coaches, players, and fans home wearing smiles.

“It was an awesome night for all the girls!,” said CMS 7th grade coach Megan Smith.

How the afternoon played out on the hardwood, while I was off working in the woods on my sister’s farm:

 

7th grade varsity:

Coupeville put Granite down hard, romping to a 19-2 lead before coasting in for a 23-12 win.

The victory snaps a three-game losing skid and lifts the squad to 2-3 at the halfway point of its season.

The Wolves took a chomp out of the Tiger defense from the start, with five different players scoring in the first half.

While the offense was clicking, the defense was in seek-and-destroy mode, as Coupeville held the visitors to a single field goal across the game’s first 14 minutes.

Granite garnered a bit of a comeback in the second half, using a 10-4 surge across the final two quarters, but it was too little, too late to catch the runaway Wolves.

Lauren Marrs paced CMS with a game-high nine points, while Brionna Blouin tossed in six, and Erica McGrath banked in four.

Skylar Parker and Reese Wilkinson rounded out the scoring with a bucket apiece.

It was the first middle school points for both McGrath and Parker.

Ava Mitten, Allison Nastali, Kayla Arnold, Kaitlyn Leavell, and Desi Ramirez rounded out the CMS roster.

 

8th grade JV:

The only saving grace for Granite was the game was limited to two quarters.

Coupeville came out on fire, jumping to an 8-0 lead at the first break, then picked up the offensive pace in the second quarter, roaring home with a 20-4 win.

The second-straight victory for the JV, it lifts the Wolves to 2-2 on the season.

CMS spread its offense out, with four different players knocking down a bucket in the opening frame, before Mercedes Kalwies-Anderson and Karyme Castro teamed up to singe the nets in the final quarter.

The duo combined for 10 points in the second period, with Kalwies-Anderson dropping in six, and Castro ruffling the nets for four.

Cristina McGrath added four points, notching a basket in each quarter, while Trinity McGee, Jessenia Camarena, and Melanie Navarro chipped in with a bucket apiece.

Claire Mayne, Abigail Ramirez, Adrian Burrows, and Jessica Ross-McMahon also saw floor time for the Wolves.

 

8th grade varsity:

Coupeville’s most-dangerous team remains perfect.

Thrashing Granite Falls to a 33-6 tune, the high-flying Wolves roll to 3-0 heading into a road trip Wednesday to Langley.

While both of the other Wolf teams held the Tigers scoreless in one quarter of their games, the 8th grade varsity went one better, tossing a pair of goose eggs onto the scoreboard.

The Wolves opened the game with a 9-0 run through the first quarter, then pulled off a 6-0 bagel job in the third frame.

The quarters when Granite did manage to score didn’t go much better for the Tigers, as they were battered by the quick, aggressive girls repping Coupeville uniforms.

Carolyn Lhamon and Nezi Keiper dominated down in the paint, racking up 10 and eight points, respectively, while Alita Blouin stung the defenders for five of her own.

Getting their first varsity points of the season, Jill Prince (4) and Trinity McGee (2) were joined by Gwen Gustafson (2) and Maddie Georges (2) in the scoring column.

Hayley Fielder, Ryanne Knoblich, Jordyn Rogers, and Jessenia Camarena rounded out the rotation, playing inspired defense and helping set up their teammate’s buckets.

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Young Wolves scrap to the final moment

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on February 21, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Brionna Blouin dropped in six points Thursday as Coupeville’s 7th graders played at Everett. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It wasn’t a win, but it was the next best thing.

Fighting until the very final second Thursday in Everett, the Coupeville Middle School 7th grade varsity came within a bucket of upsetting private school powerhouse Northshore Christian Academy.

While the Wolves fell 27-26, stabbed in the back by a foul call in the final seconds, their effort was everything coach Megan Smith wanted to see.

“Another good and close game,” she said. “It was a good learning game for us all.”

While the CMS 7th graders are 1-3 after the loss, two of those defeats have come by a single basket.

And, with a full roster, the Wolves are clicking and taking some of the scoring load off of top gunner Brionna Blouin.

She knocked down another six points Thursday, giving her 53 across four games, but it was running mate Lauren Marrs who had the really hot hand on this day.

Rattling the rim for a game-high 11, the feisty Wolf point guard scored multiple ways.

While Marrs slapped home three field goals, she also rippled the nets for five free throws, proving she’s cool under pressure.

Coupeville got scoring from five different players, its biggest number of the season in that category.

Along with Marrs and Blouin, the Wolves got four points from Reese Wilkinson, three from Desi Ramirez, and Allison Nastali’s first two of the season.

Skylar Parker, Jackie Contreras, Kayla Arnold, Kaitlyn Leavell, and Erica McGrath rounded out the active roster.

 

There were no 8th grade games Thursday (varsity or JV), as Northshore is only fielding a 7th grade team this season.

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Wolves gnaw on Turks

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , on February 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Nezi Keiper tossed in seven points Wednesday as the CMS 8th graders pounded host Sultan. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It was a good day to be in Sultan, unless you played for the home team.

Rampaging through town like a horde of Vikings, the Coupeville Middle School girls basketball teams left destruction in their path, winning two of three games played on the hardwood.

How the merry mayhem played out:

 

8th grade varsity:

Coupeville hammered the Turks through three quarters, before coasting home with a 35-12 win to stay undefeated.

The Wolves got started on getting to a crisp 2-0 start on the season with a 10-4 first quarter run, then steadily pulled away.

Four different CMS players scored in the opening frame, led by Nezi Keiper, who pounded home a pair of buckets.

The attitude of sharing spread from there, as five Wolves combined to shape a 9-2 second quarter surge.

Coupeville’s most dominant seven-minute stretch was in the third, as Maddie Georges and Carolyn Lhamon tossed in four points apiece to fuel a 10-2 run, before CMS closed the fourth with a mild 6-4 advantage.

Georges paced the Wolves with eight points, while Keiper popped for seven, and Lhamon netted six.

Ryanne Knoblich and Alita Blouin both added four points to the scoring explosion, Hayley Fiedler, Gwen Gustafson, and Jordyn Rogers chipped in with a bucket apiece, and Jill Prince was a terror on defense.

 

8th grade JV:

A defensive gem, as the Wolves limited the Turks to just a single bucket in both quarters played, claiming an 8-4 win.

The game was knotted up at 2-2 after the first seven minutes, with Coupeville’s lone bucket coming off the fingertips of Jessenia Camarena, but things changed after the break.

While a 6-2 run in the second quarter might not bring back memories of the Showtime-era Lakers, it was enough to lift the JV to its first win of the season.

Now 1-2 on the still-young season, the Wolves picked up a second-quarter basket from Cristina McGrath and two buckets by Trinity McGee to seal the deal.

Claire Mayne, Abigail Ramirez, Mercedes Kalwies-Anderson, Adrian Burrows, Karyme Castro, Jessica Ross-McMahon, and Melanie Navarro rounded out the CMS roster.

 

7th grade varsity:

The lone loss of the day came down to the final moments, but a late Sultan surge carried it to a razor-thin 27-25 win.

With the defeat, Coupeville drops to 1-2 on the season.

The Wolves get an immediate chance to bounce back, however, as the 7th graders (and only the 7th graders) travel to Everett Thursday to play Northshore Christian Academy.

Facing off with Sultan, CMS put up a strong fight.

Trailing just 6-4 at the first break, and 14-9 at the half, the Wolves put together a sizzling 12-6 run across the third quarter with three players dropping in points.

Brionna Blouin worked the glass for six of her game-high 14 during the surge, while Lauren Marrs tossed in four and Desi Ramirez knocked down a bucket.

Back up by a single point heading into the fourth, Coupeville couldn’t quite hold on down the stretch, with a late Sultan three-ball being an especially sharp dagger.

With her 14 points, Blouin increased her lead in the season scoring race.

Sitting with 47 points after three games, she’s averaging 15.7 a night, while Georges, who has 22 in two 8th grade contests, is throwing down 11 a game.

Marrs, who was making her season debut, chipped in with seven points, including a three-ball of her own, while Ramirez rounded out things with four points.

Reese Wilkinson, Ava Mitten, Kaitlyn Leavell, Skylar Parker, Erica McGrath, Allison Nastali, Jackie Contreras, and Kayla Arnold gave coach Megan Smith multiple options to work with.

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Snaps from an afternoon on the hardwood

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , on February 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Jessenia Camarena pushes the ball up-court. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Desi Ramirez looks for an opening in the defense.

Skylar Parker would like a teammate to get open, like now.

Reese Wilkinson (24), backed up by Brionna Blouin, looks to kick the ball back out.

Adrian Burrows hauls in a rebound.

Claire Mayne keeps the ball well away from any pesky defenders.

They are the future of the program.

The Coupeville Middle School 7th grade varsity and 8th grade JV went toe-to-toe with King’s Thursday, and wanderin’ photographer John Fisken was there to document things.

The last photo in the camera had barely cooled when he legged it out of the gym and hit the open road to Tacoma to cover the state wrestling championships.

Now that he’s back on Whidbey and rested up, it’s time to look at his snaps from last week’s hoops action.

To see everything he shot, pop over to:

https://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/Coupeville-Basketball-2018-2019-boys-and-girls/MSGBB-2019-02-14-vs-Kings/

And remember, a percentage of each purchase goes to fund scholarships for CHS senior student/athletes. So, circle of life and all.

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