Coupeville grad Courtney (Arnold) Sleister puts up a shot while getting ready for an alumni game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
We’re in the sweet spot here.
By random chance, I currently am in possession of six scorebooks for Coupeville High School basketball teams of the past, and half those squads played a game on December 21 or 22 that season.
And all three won.
So, that’s something … said the guy looking for anything to write about during a largely sports-less pandemic.
While we wait for current players to return to the hardwood, a look back at a small slice of Wolf hoops history.
Boys Basketball
Coupeville 38
Crescent 36
**Played Dec. 22, 1988**
Hop on the roller coaster.
A year after a run to the state tourney, the Coupeville boys, who graduated their top five scorers from that team, lost six of their first seven games.
Offense was at a premium, as the Wolves managed just 16 points against Sultan, and 17 when matched up with perennial hoops power La Conner.
But then, they hit the Dec. 21-22 sweet spot.
With Tony Ford pounding away for nine points in the paint, CHS put visiting Crescent back on its heels and went to the first break up 13-9.
Whatever Wolf coach Ron Bagby told his troops during the timeout promptly … didn’t work.
The Loggers went on a 14-5 tear in the second quarter, reclaiming a 23-18 advantage and sending Coupeville to the locker room puffing ‘n panting.
But this time, perhaps allowed to be a tad more vocal inside the privacy of the locker room, Bagby got his point across, and the Wolves were a different team in the second half.
At least I assume so, as I was still living in Tumwater when this game went down on The Rock, a couple of months away from my family’s unexpected exodus to Whidbey.
Based on the book, the second-half surge was very much a team effort, as Coupeville spread out its scoring among five players.
Ford, who was overwhelmingly the #1 get-buckets guy all season, was held to just a basket in the final 16 minutes, but his teammates stepped up.
Brandy Ambrose popped for six points after the break, while Frank Marti (4), John Zimmerman (4), and Dean Grasser (4) all came up big in a game where Wayne Hardie, Jesse Smith, and Jason McFadyen also played.
Was the final margin set by a late game-winning bucket, or did the Wolves grab the lead and hang on by the skin of their teeth?
Like I said, I was in Tumwater at the time, so don’t have a clue.
I do know both teams dreaded the free-throw line all night, with Crescent (10-21) and Coupeville (2-10) clanking shots in every direction.
And, I do know the rebuilding Wolves promptly lost their next five games, eventually finishing 4-14.
But things rapidly improved after that, with young studs like McFadyen turning their 88-89 lumps into future success.
Girls Basketball
Coupeville 40
Friday Harbor 34
**Played Dec. 21, 2007**
Survive and thrive.
The Wolf girls got out to an early lead, then let the visitors chip away, before sealing the deal with an impressive final stand.
Up 10-8 after one period, Coupeville clung to a 22-21 advantage at the half, then trailed 30-29 headed into the fourth.
Crunch time belonged to Shawna West however, as she battered her way to the hoop for seven of her 10 points to spur a game-closing 11-4 run.
Only four Wolves tallied points in the victory, with Megan Smith and Hayley Ebersole tying for game-high honors with 13 apiece.
Ebersole had an especially hot hand in the second quarter, rattling home eight points on a variety of shots.
She tickled the twines on a long three-ball, one of two treys she netted in the game, while adding a pair of two-point buckets and a free throw during a busy stretch.
West added her 10 points — giving CHS three players in double figures on a night when Friday Harbor’s top scorer, Kelsey O’Day, topped out at nine — while Ashley Manker added four for the Wolves.
In a close game, both teams left points off the board thanks to free-throw shooting, though the visitors (10-22) probably rued it more than Coupeville (10-16) ultimately did.
While four scored, nine played for CHS coach Blake Severns, with Kayla Lawson, Courtney Boyd, Sarah Vass, Paige Mueller, and Kassie Lawson all seeing floor time.
Girls Basketball
Coupeville 41
Friday Harbor 37
**Played Dec. 22, 2009**
Two years later, same opponent, a lot of the same players, almost same result.
Coupeville played like a pack of savages en route to claiming a 13-5 lead by the first break, before Friday Harbor started chip, chip, chippin’ away.
A 14-10 advantage in the second, tacked on to a 12-8 margin in the third let the visitors get all the way back, and the game went to the final frame knotted at 31-31.
Down the stretch, it was Manker, with two big buckets, who led the final stand.
Marie Hesselgrave added a fourth-quarter basket, while Katie Smith and Cassidi Rosenkrance each netted a pair of free throws, sending Severns and Co. out the door with a smile.
In a game in which the Wolves sank five bombs from behind the three-point arc, Smith was the leader, recording three treys as part of a game-high 14-point effort.
Manker added 11, with Hesselgrave (6), Smith (4), Kendra O’Keefe (3), Rosenkrance (2), and Courtney Arnold (1) also scoring, while Taya Boonstra shredded folks on defense.
So, what this does all prove?
A couple of things, skippy.
That, in a (very) small sample, Coupeville High School basketball owns the dates of Dec. 21-22.
And, that if I look hard enough, I can probably scrape together a story out of just about anything.
Which is how, here on Dec. 21, 2020, Coupeville Sports — which launched Aug. 15, 2012 — officially reaches article #8,000.
So, that’s something.
