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Wolf grad has tee shots, book smarts

January 21, 2023 by David Svien

Joey Lippo

He’s got multiple talents.

Coupeville High School grad Joey Lippo is currently a two-sport star at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, playing both golf and baseball for the Owls.

He’s also doing pretty well in the classroom, having been named to the North Atlantic Conference Fall 2022 All-Academic team.

Lippo, who is studying agricultural science and agribusiness, is one of 408 NAC athletes to be honored.

Repping 12 different schools, that group hails from 66 unique teams across seven sports.

To be eligible, an athlete had to notch a GPA between 3.5 and 4.0.

Lippo was honored for golf season, where he played his second campaign at UMPI this past fall.

Now, with spring threatening to show up, he’ll return to the baseball diamond for a third year.

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Rough night, better days ahead

January 21, 2023 by David Svien

Cole White rained down jumpers Friday night. (Andrew Williams photo)

A bump in the road.

Friday night’s loss at Mount Vernon Christian stings, but it’s not fatal for the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball team.

Facing a Hurricane team which seemed unable to miss all night, the Wolves fell 73-53, snapping a four-game winning streak.

For the moment, the loss drops Coupeville to 2-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 9-6 overall.

But the silver lining is MVC is a 1B school, and the Wolves rep a 2B program.

So, while the Hurricanes earned a split in the team’s two-game series, this is the last time the squads will play this season.

Coupeville, which won the first time the schools squared off, still controls its own playoff destiny, as only its games against fellow 2B rivals La Conner and Friday Harbor decide who makes it to the postseason.

With one matchup against the Braves, and two against the Wolverines still ahead on the schedule, the Wolves head to Concrete Tuesday to face a 3-11 Lions team.

For CHS coach Brad Sherman and his team, basketball offers the reprieve of not having to wait long for the next game.

A day off Sunday, a day of practice Monday, and then back to the hardwood.

Coupeville didn’t play all that badly against MVC, matching them with five three-balls and getting big performances from its role players.

Problem is, the Hurricanes just had one of those nights when everything they threw up in the air seemed to catch the rim just right.

Once the Wolves were trailing, they would slice a bit here, a bit there, only to see MVC deliver yet another dagger in front of its home fans.

With Cole White popping for a quick five points in the early going, Coupeville led 11-9 heading towards the first break.

Then the Hurricane(s) hit and hit hard.

Using a 6-0 run to claim a 15-11 lead at the first break, MVC stretched its advantage out to 36-24 by halftime.

The Hurricanes clamped down on Coupeville’s leading scorers, Logan Downes and Alex Murdy, but the Wolves got help from the bench.

Nick Guay tossed in three buckets during the second quarter, while Zane Oldenstadt, normally a defense-first big man, connected on back-to-back jumpers to give CHS a fighting chance.

Zane Oldenstadt (far right) played strongly on both ends of the floor against Mount Vernon Christian. (Delanie Lewis photo)

Coupeville got the lead down to seven at 45-38 late in the third quarter on a White pullup jumper, but the ‘Canes responded immediately.

Same thing in the final frame, as the Wolves cut a 12-point deficit to eight, only to have MVC go on an 8-0 run.

Another late Hurricane surge, this one 9-0, made the final score seem like more of a blowout than the game really was.

White paced the Wolves with a varsity career-high 15-point performance, while Guay tossed in 13, and Downes added 12.

Alex Murdy (7), Oldenstadt (4), and Dominic Coffman (2) also scored, with Jonathan Valenzuela, William Davidson, Chase Anderson, and Ryan Blouin seeing floor time.

Liam Millenaar led MVC with 23 points, with Billy DeJong knocking down 18 in support.

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Wolves weather Hurricanes rainin’ down pain

January 21, 2023 by David Svien

Maddie Georges fights for a loose ball. (Karen Carlson photo)

First, some good news.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team was back at nearly full-strength Friday, with senior Carolyn Lhamon back in the lineup after missing a chunk of games while tending to a foot injury.

The Wolves most-imposing presence in the paint, she could be a big help down the stretch, as CHS chases a playoff berth.

Now, the bad news.

While Lhamon played strongly in limited minutes, there’s not much she, or any of her teammates could do to slow down host Mount Vernon Christian.

Playing on Senior Night and unveiling their state title banner from last season, the Hurricanes buried eight three-balls en route to a 62-17 win over the visiting Wolves.

The loss drops Coupeville to 1-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-8 overall.

The game caps a brutal stretch of three-straight road games against championship contenders, coming on the heels of contests against MVC’s fellow state powers, Neah Bay and La Conner.

While Coupeville hits the bus one more time to kick off next week, that trip will to be to Concrete Tuesday, to face a 1-12 Lion team.

Not the same thing, you would assume.

Facing off with MVC, the Wolves did stay scrappy in the first quarter, just like the first time these two squads played.

Lyla Stuurmans hit a driving layup, off a feed from Maddie Georges, to knot the game at 2-2, and the Wolves were still within 8-3 in the final moments of the first quarter.

Unfortunately for Megan Richter’s team, that was where the Hurricanes began to assert their dominance, both in the paint and from behind the arc.

MVC closed the opening frame with a three-ball, then broke the game open with a 15-0 surge in the second quarter, a run which featured one layup after another.

Georges popped a three-ball to stop the bleeding for a moment, with Lhamon rolling through the paint shortly after for a layup of her own, but the game slipped away fast.

The Hurricanes closed the half with a 12-2 tear, raining down four three-balls in a row, the final one beating the buzzer by .00001 of a second.

MVC kept its magic alive in the third, again nailing a buzzer-beating trey, this one pushing the lead out to 40 points and setting off a running clock across the final eight minutes.

Coupeville played aggressively on defense to the end, with Stuurmans collecting a block, but was only able to score on back-to-back possessions once in the game.

Ryanne Knoblich paced the Wolves with a team-high six points, with Georges (5), Stuurmans (3), Lhamon (2), and Gwen Gustafson (1) also scoring.

Alita Blouin, Mia Farris, Katie Marti, Jada Heaton, and Skylar Parker also saw floor time for CHS, with Marti bouncing off said floor 9,271 times while doing her best to slow down Mount Vernon’s imposing post players.

Katie Marti eyeballs the defense. (Delanie Lewis photo)

In a side note, Georges, a senior point guard, passed one of Coupeville’s coaches on the all-time scoring chart Friday night.

Now sitting with 321 points, she nudges past Wolf assistant Mia Littlejohn (317), and is tied with Marie Grasser at #34 all-time for a program launched in 1974.

For you youngsters out there, Marie Grasser — the first true CHS girls’ basketball star — is known as Mrs. Bagby these days, the same Mrs. Bagby who you used to see every day in the school office.

The more you know.

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Balanced attack, big road win

January 20, 2023 by David Svien

Landon Roberts (with ball), Aiden O’Neill, and Coupeville’s JV have won six straight games. (Delanie Lewis photo)

They’re still the hottest team in the land.

Holding off a dangerous Mount Vernon Christian squad Friday, the Coupeville High School JV boys’ basketball team ran away with its sixth-straight win.

Closing the game on a 15-6 tear after surrendering the lead for a hot second midway through the fourth quarter, the Wolves held on for a 58-50 victory to sweep the season series with the Hurricanes.

Hunter Smith’s team of two-way hoops stars are now a crisp 3-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-3 overall.

The only thing that can stop them right now is a school simply declining to play them, which is the case next week, as Concrete shut down its JV team after iffy grades and lingering injuries gutted its roster.

So, while Coupeville’s varsity will play twice in a four-day span, the JV won’t be back in action until Friday Harbor visits Whidbey Island next Friday, Jan. 27.

Until then, the young guns will keep fine-tuning an offense which can kill you from every angle.

Eight Wolves tallied a bucket or more Friday, and they did it in multiple ways.

Down low in the paint, from behind the arc, and even, once in a while, from the free throw line.

Hunter Bronec got things kicked off, burying a three-ball in the game’s first minute, and the two teams battled to an 11-11 stalemate at the first break.

MVC bolted back in front, for a half second, opening the second frame with a three-ball, but there was no bend, and no break, in the Wolves spirit.

An 8-0 run featuring buckets from Hurlee Bronec, Jack Porter, and Chase Anderson broke things open, while Hunter Bronec came back around to splash home another trey late in the half.

Hurlee Bronec crashes to the hoop. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

The Hurricanes are a scrappy bunch, however, and they never let Coupeville fully pull away.

Up 28-23 at the half, the Wolves saw their lead shrink to 38-36 exiting the third quarter, though still felt good about it, since they ended the frame with Johnny Porter snagging a loose ball and bolting to the bucket for a score.

Exchanging buckets back and forth, the two teams circled each other warily in the fourth quarter, with MVC slipping ahead at 44-43.

That was the moment when the Wolves, to a man, stepped up and drilled their rivals.

Camden Glover knocked down back-to-back buckets — one off of a board, the other on a long outlet pass from Aiden O’Neill — before Jack Porter sank a gorgeous jumper from the side.

The final dagger was a three-ball from the just-mentioned Jack Porter, the ball settling through the net with a happy sigh as the Hurricanes could do nothing but wail.

While Coupeville struggled at the line, hitting just 12 of 32 charity shots (MVC was an equally sickly 9-24), the Wolves hit them when it mattered most.

Landon Roberts netted a pair of free throws, with Hunter Bronec and Glover sinking one apiece as CHS scored the game’s final four points at the line.

Glover led an extremely well-balanced scoring attack with 13 points, while Hunter Bronec and Jack Porter each tossed in nine.

Roberts (8), Johnny Porter (8), O’Neill (7), Anderson (2), and Hurlee Bronec (2) also scored, while Malachi Somes brought defensive heat while on the floor.

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Scoreless stretch stings

January 20, 2023 by David Svien

Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo brings the ball up court. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The middle section was a killer.

After dropping some buckets early Friday, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad hit a 13-minute scoreless stretch from the start of the second quarter deep into the third frame.

That hurt the young Wolves, allowing host Mount Vernon Christian to pull away, with the Hurricanes eventually claiming a 42-17 win.

The loss drops Coupeville to 2-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-6 overall.

Kassie O’Neil’s squad will get a chance to bounce right back, however, with three games on next week’s schedule.

The Wolf JV travels with the varsity to Concrete Tuesday, then makes a solo jaunt back to Mount Vernon Thursday, when they’ll play the town’s 3A public school.

A home game next Friday night against Friday Harbor wraps a busy week of hardwood action.

Facing off with MVC, the Wolves got scoring from four different players in the opening quarter, though their hosts were red-hot and rolling, claiming a 19-7 lead.

Things got much more defense orientated after that, with the Hurricanes putting up the only six points scored in the second quarter.

By the time Coupeville got the rim to accept a gift, it was down 33-7 with a hair under three minutes to play in the third period.

Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo rolled inside hard for a bucket to break the team’s scoring drought, with a set-up pass from Reese Wilkinson, who snagged an offensive rebound.

The Wolves closed strongly, getting buckets from Skylar Parker and Marcos-Cabrillo down the stretch, while Kierra Thayer bounded into the air to pick off a Hurricane pass.

The Wolf bench watches the action in a recent game.

Marcos-Cabrillo paced the Wolves with a team-high eight points, while Wilkinson knocked down four, and Skylar Parker rattled the rims for three.

Teagan Calkins and Jada Heaton each slipped a free throw through the net to round out the scoring, while Bryley Gilbert, Brynn Parker, Kassidy Upchurch, Liza Zustiak, and Desi Ramirez-Vasquez also saw floor time.

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