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Shock the world, rock the court

December 14, 2019 by David Svien

Having played a major role in Coupeville winning a SWISH basketball championship, Lauren Marrs enjoys the moment. (Emili Marrs photo)

Savina Wells slices ‘n dices the defense. (Corinn Parker photo)

The champs. (Photo courtesy Corinn Parker’s dad)

Katie Marti is ready to wreck you. (Corinn Parker photos)

Lyla Stuurmans (3) brings the heat. “Oh, son. They are gonna need that first aid kit so bad when I get done carvin’ up that defense!!”

This is a Cinderella story.

A tale of 12 hardwood hustlers from Cow Town who went to the big city, beat the Vegas odds, and stunned the hoops world as they exited the gym, hoisting an improbable, but very-deserved championship trophy.

Go back to the start of the Skagit County Parks and Rec SWISH basketball season, back when Coupeville’s 7th/8th grade girls team was 0-4.

Now jump forward to Saturday, when the Wolves entered the postseason tourney as the #4 seed in a five-team draw.

Capping a wild ride, Coupeville won three games in one afternoon, KO’d the tourney’s top two teams, and emerged as the Silver Division champions.

Plus, they got to eat a bunch of pizza in between games, so score another win.

With the Saturday sweep, the Wolves finished their season on a five-game winning streak, having avenged several of those early-season losses.

And those tourney wins?

Not a close score to be found, as Coupeville drilled #5 seed Friday Harbor 23-8, whacked #1 seed Monroe 33-21, then walloped #2 seed Mt. Bakery 33-24 in the championship game.

“This team just keeps amazing me with their heart and winning spirit,” said Wolf coach Fred Farris. “They really made this old ball coach super proud!!”

How the day played out:

 

Friday Harbor:

Having routed their opening rival during the regular season, the Wolves used the game to give their less-experienced players plenty of floor time, while also making sure everyone on the roster scored this season.

It worked out beautifully as both Reese Wilkinson and Jada Heaton knocked down their first buckets, with Savina Wells setting up the duo with precise passes.

Wells paced Coupeville with a game-high 13 points, with Lauren Marrs, Madison McMillan, and Brionna Blouin chipping in with two points apiece.

 

Monroe:

Taking the role of David in a David vs. Goliath showdown, the Wolves stunned the tourney’s top seed, avenging an early-season loss to a dangerous team.

“After the opening round game the girls were focused on playing “championship” basketball,” Fred Farris said. “Their tenacity was at an all-time high.

“They battled for every loose ball and lifted their teammates up when they got knocked to the floor by a physical Monroe squad.”

Trailing by four at the half, Coupeville rallied by “breaking their full-court press and turning it into instant offense.”

Scrappy Wolf guard Lyla Stuurmans, playing like mom Sarah did back in the day, went nuclear, ripping off back-to-back coast-to-coast runs for game-breaking buckets.

Staggered, Monroe had no answer, and the game turned into a romp as Marrs and Blouin stuck the dagger in by launching three-balls which hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

Wells was top scorer with 11, while Stuurmans netted a season-high 10, and Marrs banged away for five. Blouin (3), McMillan (2), and Mia Farris (2) also scored.

 

Mt. Bakery: 

A bit sluggish after a long, pizza-filled break, the Wolves got things going thanks to their own full-court zone press, which they recently started working on in practice.

It was an immediate winner, helping Coupeville bolt out to a 16-8 lead at the half.

“Lauren, Taylor (Brotemarkle), Mia, and Lyla forced many ball-hawking traps with Savina and Madison stealing all the long passes, creating some easy looks for us at the rim,” Fred Farris said.

“The girls never looked back! Lauren, Lyla, and Savina really were impressive leaders throughout the day.”

Putting a bow on a season in which she averaged 13 points a game, Wells tossed in a game-high 20, with Blouin (6), Marrs (5), and Mia Farris (2) also making the nets dance a happy dance.

 

Final season scoring stats:

Savina Wells – 143
Lauren Marrs – 52
Brionna Blouin – 23
Madison McMillan – 17
Lyla Stuurmans – 16
Mia Farris – 7
Skylar Parker – 6
Katie Marti – 4
Chloe Marzocca – 4
Taylor Brotemarkle – 2
Jada Heaton – 2
Reese Wilkinson – 2

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Best start in a decade

December 14, 2019 by David Svien

Izzy Wells was one of eight Wolves to score Saturday in Seattle as Coupeville’s varsity won its fourth-straight game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They’re getting historical.

Sparked by a big second quarter Saturday, the Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team clobbered The Bush School to keep its early-season hot streak alive.

With the 41-28 non-conference road victory in Seattle, the Wolves are on a four-game winning streak and sit at 5-1.

That’s the best start by a CHS girls hoops team since the 2009-2010 squad, which was led in scoring by current JV coach Megan Smith, opened 6-1.

Coupeville, which plays its first North Sound Conference game next Tuesday, Dec. 17, when it travels to Sultan, is mixing aggressive defense with opportunistic scoring.

First-year head coach Scott Fox has a 13-player roster, and it’s a mix of seasoned vets who enjoyed success under previous coach David King before he retired, and young guns looking to make their own mark.

Saturday’s game perfectly captured Coupeville’s “something new, something old” style, as senior Scout Smith, and her likely heir at point guard, freshman Maddie Georges, teamed up to batter their foes.

Smith scored in every quarter, topping the Wolves with 10 points, while Georges nailed a pair of three-balls in the decisive second quarter, en route to eight points of her own.

The duo were part of a very-balanced offense, as eight different CHS players scratched their names into the scorebook.

Coupeville, whose only loss was to 3A Oak Harbor, which is also off to its best start in years at 5-0, came out strongly on the road.

Attacking the basket with intensity, the Wolves opened up a 10-7 lead after one quarter, then dropped the hammer with a 17-7 run in the night’s second frame.

Georges lit the fuse during that surge with her treys, but Smith, Avalon Renninger, Hannah Davidson, Izzy Wells, and Kylie Van Velkinburgh also netted buckets as CHS was unstoppable.

The Bush School players stiffened their collective spines during halftime and played Coupeville to a dead heat in the second half, with the third quarter going 9-9 and the fourth finishing 5-5, but it was too late for a rally.

“Well, we did it again,” Fox said. “Scout stepped up big time and led us like a senior.

“Maddie played great and Hannah controlled the middle; another team win.”

While Smith (10) and Georges (8) had the hottest shooting touch, Davidson and Chelsea Prescott were hot on their heels, dropping in six points apiece.

Wells (4), Renninger (3), Mollie Bailey (2), and Van Velkinburgh (2) rounded out the offensive attack, with Tia Wurzrainer, Carolyn Lhamon, Audrianna Shaw, and Anya Leavell garnering quality floor time.

After playing at Sultan, the Wolves play two non-conference games next week, traveling to Port Townsend Thursday and hosting Nooksack Valley Saturday.

After that, they’re off for 12 days, returning Jan. 3 to kick-off the 2020 portion of the 2019-2020 hoops season.

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Foul affair for Wolf boys

December 14, 2019 by David Svien

With 11 points Saturday, Hawthorne Wolfe becomes the first CHS hoops player to pass 100 for the season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Free throws killed them.

A huge disparity at the charity stripe was too much to overcome for the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball team Saturday in Seattle.

While the Wolves drilled all four of their freebies, The Bush School went 18-24, all in the second half, and knocked off their visitors 53-40.

The non-conference loss, coming in Coupeville’s second game in less than 24 hours, drops it to 2-4 on the season.

If the lack of love on foul calls was due to home town refs (just a thought, I wasn’t there), things will hopefully get better for CHS next week, as the Wolves play three straight in Cow Town.

Coupeville hosts Chimacum Tuesday, Port Townsend Thursday, and Nooksack Valley Saturday, then heads off to winter break.

Facing off with The Bush School, the Wolves were whistled for 16 fouls, with two players picking up four apiece.

The host Blazers were only whacked by the refs eight times, with no one on their roster picking up more than two personal fouls.

Maybe the Wolves were just too handsy, or maybe the refs were missing their seeing-eye dogs.

Like I said, I wasn’t there.

But the free throws negated Coupeville’s edge from behind the three-point arc, erased a Wolf halftime lead, and provided the final margin.

The Wolves lost by 13 — the first time this season they have been beat by double digits — and made 14 less free throws than their private school foes.

In the early going, Coupeville rode the three-ball shooting skills of senior Mason Grove and held The Bush School at bay.

Grove splashed down four first-half treys, with three of them coming in the second quarter, as the Wolves turned a razor-thin 5-4 edge after one quarter into a 18-14 bulge at the half.

But while Coupeville added another four three-balls after the break, with sophomore Hawthorne Wolfe netting three, and Grove hitting his fifth, The Bush School started to take control.

The Blazers hit 3-5 at the free throw line in the third quarter, pulling ahead 34-29 headed into the final frame, then went (slowly) bonkers down the stretch, swishing 15-19 at the stripe in the fourth.

Grove paced Coupeville with 15 points, while Wolfe dropped in 11, all in the second half.

That was most of the offense, however, with Sean Toomey-Stout, Ulrik Wells, and Jacobi Pilgrim each adding four, while Jean Lund-Olsen finished with two points.

Jered Brown, Tucker Hall, and Gavin Knoblich all saw floor time for the Wolves, while inside scoring threat Koa Davison sat out after rolling his ankle in Friday’s game.

Two Coupeville players hit personal milestones in the loss.

With his 11 points, Wolfe becomes the first CHS player, boy or girl, to cross the 100-point barrier this season.

After leading the team with 158 as a freshman, he tops the squad again, this time with 103 across the first six games, which is a hair over 17 a night.

With his first of two buckets on the night, Wells hit 100 points for his career.

He’s the fifth active CHS boys player to reach that mark, following Wolfe (261), Grove (239), Toomey-Stout (168), and Brown (125), and the 184th all-time across 103 seasons.

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Stone, Whitman on a roll

December 14, 2019 by David Svien

Makana Stone (right), seen back in the day with CHS teammate Lindsey Roberts, continues to tear up the college basketball world. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They coasted into winter break.

Cruising along nicely in the second half Saturday night, the Whitman College women’s basketball team rolled to a 72-49 victory over visiting Buena Vista University.

Led by Coupeville’s Makana Stone, who banked in eight points and snatched eight rebounds in limited action, the Blues improved to 8-1 heading into a 19-day break.

Whitman doesn’t play again until Jan. 3, when it kicks off the 16-game Northwest Conference schedule with a home game against the University of Puget Sound.

Saturday night the Blues were playing their second, and final game, in the annual Kim Evanger Raney Memorial Classic, which honors a former Whitman hoops star who died of injuries from a 2007 cycling accident.

Coming off of a 35-point blowout of the University of Maine at Fort Kent a night before, Whitman let Buena Vista hang around for a half.

Up 15-13 after one quarter, then 31-26 at the half, the Blues kicked things into overdrive after halftime, pouring in 26 points in a torrid third quarter.

With the game in hand, Whitman went deep on its bench, giving 15 players floor time, and limiting its starters a bit.

Stone played a slim 21 minutes, but also tossed in a blocked shot and assist to go with her eight and eight.

Mady Burdett led Whitman with 12 points, while Kaylie McCracken popped for 11, and Natalie Whitesel made the nets jump for 10.

On the season, Stone sits with 137 points, 69 rebounds, 13 assists, 11 steals, and 11 blocks.

She’s shooting 55-95 (57.8%) from the floor and 25-30 (83.3%) at the free throw line.

For stat hounds out there, the former Wolf star reached two career milestones Saturday, making her 75th collegiate start (she’s played in 92 games) and collecting her 50th block.

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Wolf JV frozen out in the 4th quarter

December 14, 2019 by David Svien

Logan Martin dropped in nine points Saturday, but the Coupeville JV fell to The Bush School. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Great set-up, disappointing finale.

Having rallied to tie up the game heading into the fourth quarter Saturday, the Coupeville High School JV boys basketball squad looked to be in good shape.

But the Wolves host in Seattle, The Bush School, proved to be just a little too deadly down the stretch, holding off CHS to escape with a 42-35 win.

The non-conference loss drops Coupeville’s young guns to a still-respectable 3-2 on the season.

And now, having played four of their first five on the road, the Wolves get three straight at home next week, then a long winter break.

CHS hosts Chimacum Tuesday, Port Townsend Thursday, and Nooksack Valley Saturday.

Playing in Seattle, the Wolves fell behind early, then got hot coming out of the halftime break.

Down 8-5 after the first quarter, Coupeville saw the gap widen to 19-13 after the second frame wrapped up.

Perhaps Wolf coach Chris Smith gave a rousing halftime speech, or maybe the Wolves naturally shooting ability just clicked back into place.

Either way, Coupeville was a different team in the third quarter.

With Logan Martin popping for four points to lead the way, five different Wolves scored as CHS used a 13-7 surge to knot the game up at 26-26.

That set up a frantic finale, but one The Bush School managed to control, using a mix of field goals and pressure-packed free throws.

Sage Downes led Coupeville’s offensive attack, making the nets pop for 10 points, while Martin banked in nine and Grady Rickner knocked down eight.

Alex Jimenez (5), Daniel Olson (2), and Cody Roberts (1) also scored, with Downes, Martin, and Jimenez all connecting on three-balls.

Chris Cernick, Alex Murdy, and Miles Davidson also saw floor time for the Wolves.

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