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Snaps from an afternoon on the hardwood

February 18, 2019 by David Svien

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.

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Wolves always gunnin’ for that top spot

February 17, 2019 by David Svien

Scout Smith will enter her senior season as the #1 active scorer among CHS girls basketball players. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

There’s madness in the numbers.

Trying to track individual scoring totals through 147 seasons of Coupeville High School basketball – 102 for the boys, 45 for the girls – is a good way to fry your brain.

And yet, I persist, because basketball is my favorite sport, because points are the most concrete stat we have, and because I refuse to give up.

When I look at the master scoring chart I have compiled, I feel good about the girls side and semi-good about the boys.

Other than the inaugural 1974-1975 season, which the Whidbey News-Times all but ignored, I have 99.2% complete scoring totals for every other girls campaign.

I’m missing a game or three from the mid-2000’s, but, other than that, I’ve accounted for 34,452 points scored by 224 Wolf girls.

Over on the boys side, things are a bit more difficult.

I’m golden from the 1954-1955 season to today, but pre-’54 is a scattershot mess of missing score-books, inadequate newspaper articles and players and teams lost to the mists of times.

What I do have, and it’s more than anyone else out there, is a scoring chart reflecting 391 Wolf boys combining to rattle the rim for 73,296 points.

So, a start.

As the 2018-2019 seasons unfolded, I updated my master list after every game.

Now, I could have waited until the end of the season, but it was more fun to do it in the moment, watching current players move up, sometimes a single slot, sometimes leapfrogging a pack of five or six former Wolves in a single burst.

By the time we wrapped, the departing seniors had cemented their place in history, at least until someone else comes flying past them.

Lindsey Roberts made the deepest run, tossing in 448 points in four varsity seasons, finishing in a tie with Vanessa Davis at #18 on the all-time girls chart.

Then, there was Ema Smith (228 points in two seasons, #48 all-time), Dane Lucero (20 points in two seasons, #300 all-time), and Nicole Laxton (15 points in one season, #170 all-time).

Looking forward, 20 of 24 varsity players from this past season can return, 11 boys and nine girls.

So where do they sit on the all-time scoring chart? Glad you asked.

 

Girls:

Scout Smith – (142 points) – (56 as a sophomore, 86 as a junior) – (#78 all-time)

Chelsea Prescott – (139 points) – (38 as a freshman, 101 as a sophomore) – (#81)

Avalon Renninger – (59 points) – (3 as a sophomore, 56 as a junior) – (#118)

Hannah Davidson – (42 points) – (11 as a sophomore, 31 as a junior) – (#136)

Tia Wurzrainer – (18 points) – (18 as a junior) – (#165)

Izzy Wells – (11 points) – (11 as a freshman) – (#178)

Mollie Bailey – (8 points) – (8 as a sophomore) – (#184)

Ja’Kenya Hoskins – (5 points) – (5 as a freshman) – (#203)

Anya Leavell – (4 points) – (4 as a freshman) – (#205)

 

Boys:

Mason Grove – (160 points) – (51 as a sophomore, 109 as a junior) – (#153 all-time)

Hawthorne Wolfe – (158 points) – (158 as a freshman) – (#154)

Sean Toomey-Stout – (122 points) – (122 as a junior) – (#170)

Jered Brown – (100 points) – (5 as a freshman, 24 as a sophomore, 71 as a junior) – (#183)

Ulrik Wells – (78 points) – (4 as a sophomore, 74 as a junior) – (#200)

Gavin Knoblich – (70 points) – (5 as a sophomore, 65 as a junior) – (#212)

Jacobi Pilgrim – (44 points) – (1 as a sophomore, 43 as a junior) – (#253)

Koa Davison – (11 points) – (11 as a junior) – (#330)

Jean Lund-Olsen – (7 points) – (7 as a junior) – (#353)

Xavier Murdy – (4 points) – (4 as a freshman) – (#368)

Daniel Olson – (3 points) – (3 as a sophomore) – (#374)

Posted in Basketball | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

A final blast of mat action, in living color

February 17, 2019 by David Svien

Coupeville senior Alex Turner (in back) plays Twister with Medical Lake’s Jared Pendall during the state wrestling championships. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Turner puts Vashon’s Finnegan McClure down hard.

Oak Harbor coach Larry Falcon (left) and Coupeville wrestling guru Tyson Boon monitor the mat action.

The calm before the storm.

Falcon offers some advice. “Grip ’em and rip ’em.”

Turner and Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) grappler Micah Tenny go to work.

“Hey, if we’re gonna dance, I want to lead!”

One wrestler, one photographer.

Coupeville High School senior Alex Turner, a grappler without a program, had a successful run this weekend at the state championships, and John Fisken bounced around the Tacoma Dome shadowing him.

The nimble Whidbey paparazzi was also at Mat Classic XXXI to shoot Oak Harbor’s batch of wrestlers, but they have their own media outlet to hype them up, so here the focus falls solely on the Lone Wolf.

Posted in Wrestling | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

I love it when a plan comes together

February 16, 2019 by David Svien

Coupeville’s Makana Stone went off for 17 points and 11 rebounds Saturday, helping Whitman earn a win and a home playoff game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

A sizable collection of Coupeville folks showed up in Tacoma to root for their serene superstar. (Kristi Etzell photo)

Stone netted 7-8 free throw attempts in the win. (Etzell photo)

Stone reunites with former CHS classmates (l to r) Nick Etzell, McKenzie Meyer, Danny Conlisk, and Marisa Etzell. (Eileen Stone photo)

Guess who gets to host a home playoff game after all?

The last day of the regular season broke perfectly for the Whitman College women’s basketball team and its Coupeville star, the ever-rampaging Makana Stone.

With the former Wolf ace going off for 17 points and 11 rebounds in front of an enthusiastic group of hometown fans and friends, the Blues crunched host Pacific Lutheran 73-62 in Tacoma.

Meanwhile, across town, Puget Sound was stunned 61-56 by Whitworth.

That means Whitman, which finishes 13-3 in Northwest Conference play and is 19-6 overall, claims second-place in the nine-team league and will host UPS (12-4, 19-5) Feb. 21 in the first round of the NWC tourney.

Conference champ George Fox (15-1, 22-3) hosts #4 Linfield (8-8, 12-13) the same day, with the winners meeting Feb. 23 in the title game.

The tourney champs earn an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III national championships.

Wrapping up a two-game trip to the wilds of Tacoma, Whitman bounced back strongly Saturday after falling by five points Friday at UPS.

The Blues opened the game with a nice splat, thanks to Taylor Chambers connecting on a long three-ball.

After a couple of early ties, Stone went to work, hitting back-to-back buckets to break open a 9-9 stalemate and give Whitman a lead it would never relinquish.

Up 19-16 after one, the Blues stretched the lead to 37-28 by the halftime break.

PLU, which entered the day in a three-way tie for the league’s fourth, and final, playoff berth, cut the lead all the way back to a single point midway through the second half, but Stone wasn’t having it.

She pumped in seven points in the third quarter, then added another four in the fourth.

Stone rose to the occasion down the stretch, getting key points in the final three minutes, when Whitman back-handed its upstart hosts back into reality.

Out-leaping two defenders, Stone snagged an offensive rebound and promptly crashed hard to the hoop, earning two well-deserved free throw attempts with 2:42 left in the game.

Netting both (she hit 7-8 from the charity stripe on the night), the Whitman junior staked her squad to a 62-55 lead.

A minute later she was right back at it, gunning down the floor and pulling in an outlet pass for a running layup to push the margin out to double digits.

With Whitman senior Maegan Martin following up with back-to-back breakaway layups of her own, the Blues shoved the lead out to 14 before PLU ended its season with a buzzer-beating three-ball.

The Blues big three were the key to the game, as usual.

Stone added a crucial steal to go with her 17 and 11 double-double, while Mady Burdett singed the nets for 16 points, and Martin added 14 points and 12 boards of her own.

Kaelan Shamseldin, who nailed a late three-ball that punched a hole through the hearts of PLU fans, had 11 points as Whitman put four players into double-digits scoring.

Emma Janousek paced PLU with a team-high 15.

Heading into the playoffs, Stone has set personal-bests in virtually every statistical category, and now has 356 points, 203 rebounds, 40 assists, 26 steals and 18 blocks on the season.

She’s shooting 149-290 (51.4%) from the floor and 57-73 (78.1%) from the line.

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

“We are all really proud of him”

February 16, 2019 by David Svien

Coupeville wrestler Alex Turner (right) and coach Tyson Boon enjoy a moment at Mat Classic XXXI. (BreAnna Boon photos)

The Lone Wolf grappler heads for the door after outscoring his foes 33-10 at the state wrestling championships.

The road ended a little earlier than hoped, but the trail has been blazed.

Coupeville High School senior Alex Turner, a one-man Wolf wrestling crew, was eliminated on day two of the super-sized Mat Classic XXXI at the Tacoma Dome.

Turner lost by the narrowest of margins Saturday, nipped in a 2-1 decision by Jared Pendell of Medical Lake in an elimination contest in the 170-pound division.

While he fell just shy of earning a state meet medal, Turner finished his first run at the championships with a 2-2 record, having outscored his foes 33-10.

Both of his victories Friday were blowouts, while his losses, one Friday, the other Saturday, came down to the final moments of full-length matches.

After wrestling for South Whidbey previously, where he was an alternate to state as a junior, things changed when Turner and his family moved back to Coupeville, where he attended middle school.

CHS has never had a wrestling program, one of just a handful of 1A schools which don’t, so Turner trained, traveled and wrestled alongside 3A Oak Harbor, while not adding to that school’s scores.

Once the postseason started, he returned to 1A, where he swept three matches en route to winning a sub-regional title.

Snowmageddon swept aside the regional tournaments, kicking Turner on to state, where he was part of record-sized 32-man brackets.

The state meet traditionally fields 16-athlete brackets, and will return to the format next year … barring another winter weather surprise.

While Saturday marked the end of Turner’s unique mat odyssey, CHS assistant football coach Tyson Boon, who escorted the grappler through the postseason, hopes it marks the start of more.

“Yes, that is the end of this story, but I hope it starts a new chapter for Coupeville,” Boon said. “If Coupeville can get a wrestling team out of this, Alex can always say he paved the way and opened the door.

“We are all really proud of him. He did great things for himself and hopefully for the future of Coupeville High School.”

Posted in Wrestling | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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