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Posts Tagged ‘Alita Blouin’

Bleachers rock, cameras click

Posted in Fashionable Fans, tagged , , , , on December 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“Let me at ’em, pops! I can drop 20 on these fools … by halftime!” (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The bleachers are still rock hard, the fans are still fervent, and the cameras are still clicking.

It’s the circle of life, Coupeville High School basketball style.

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Three Wolves, one honor

Posted in awards, tagged , , , , , on June 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Alita Blouin played two sports and was Homecoming Queen as a senior. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

A trio for the win.

Three multi-sport stars claimed awards Monday night, with Coupeville High School seniors Maddie Georges, Alita Blouin, and Aidan Wilson receiving the Cliff Gillies Award.

That honor, handed out by schools across the state, is named for a former longtime Executive Director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

It recognizes student/athletes who excel in scholarship, citizenship, and participation in activities.

Georges and Blouin were team captains for Wolf volleyball and basketball teams, with the duo selected to participate in the 1B/2B/1A All-State volleyball games.

Both were First-Team All-Conference selections as well, with Blouin honored for her play as a libero and Georges as a setter.

Maddie Georges made the All-Conference team in volleyball and basketball.

When basketball season rolled around, both players lit up the bucket.

Blouin led the Wolves in scoring, singing the nets for 204 points, while Georges, who finished as the #24 career scorer in program history, was tabbed as a Second-Team All-Conference player.

Wilson opened his senior year by scoring a team-high 10 goals on the soccer pitch, notching First-Team All-Conference honors.

Aidan Wilson soars to new heights.

Wilson came back around in the spring to claim three medals at the state track and field championships.

He finished 2nd in the 800 and 5th in the triple jump, before running a leg on a 2nd place 4 x 100 relay unit which missed a state title by the blink of an eye.

The Wolf ace wrapped things up by competing in the 51st annual Dennis McDonald Multi Events State Championship this past weekend.

While there, Wilson finished 7th out of 32 competitors in a two-day, 10-event decathlon.

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Talented and tough, and always a winner

Posted in Girls Basketball, Hall o' Fame, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Alita Blouin, talented and tough. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

She’s one tough young woman.

Coupeville High School senior Alita Blouin has natural athletic talent, a strong inner drive, and a rock-solid support crew in her family and friends.

But what has always impressed me over the years, as she has gone from the world of youth sports to high school games, is her toughness.

Not that she goes out and slugs rival players in the face or anything like that — though maybe don’t get between Alita and a loose ball or you just might taste her elbow.

A shooter supreme. (Andrew Williams photo)

Alita’s toughness comes in several forms.

One, in being able to fight back through injuries, whether it’s a busted ankle or a balky back.

Nothing keeps Alita down for long, and, each time, she returns to the floor just as committed and just as scrappy.

But her toughness also shines through in how she approaches each aspect of being an athlete.

Some players bring effort in games. Others turn up the intensity in practice.

Few have been as competitive in warmups as Alita, however.

Way back, a long time ago — OK, it was during her 8th grade volleyball season — I wrote about a small, but very important, moment I noticed during pregame exercises.

As CMS went through warm-ups before a volleyball match, the spikers started to run laps around the floor.

Alita, a team captain, was out in front, serious and locked-in. No coasting.

At which point, one of her teammates, Lucy Tenore, who is considerably taller, and has a much-longer stride, tried to pass her friend.

Alita was not playing that. At all.

Lucy, smile growing bigger and bigger, tried a second time, then a third, but couldn’t get by.

That’s because Alita, legs pumping, elbows ever at the alert, fended off her teammate at every turn, her face locked in a death mask of concentration.

Lucy, fully laughing at this point, finally relented, only to see Alita kick it up a notch to a sprinter’s run to finish the final curve, one eye looking over her shoulder just in case anyone else wanted to get foolish.

June and Shawn’s daughter brought that same intensity to the floor every night as she played volleyball and (when her body allowed it) basketball.

Hanging out with the parental units. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

As a libero, Alita was invaluable, capable of filling up the stat sheet, but worth far more to the Wolves as a leader, joining Maddie Georges at the forefront of the CHS attack.

The duo earned a major honor at the end of their prep volleyball careers, invited to play in the 1B/2B/1A All-State games.

It was a fitting reward, and a testament to what both brought to the Wolf spiker program.

In a perfect world, Alita would have been able to suit up for Coupeville’s basketball team all four years.

While injuries prevented that, with a broken ankle suffered during pregame player introductions her junior season a nasty surprise, when she was on the floor, she made the net jump like few others.

Alita can rain down three-balls from anywhere on the floor, yet also showed a willingness to slice through the paint and tangle with the tall trees camped around the basket.

She was only on the floor for 23 high school hoops games — two as a junior before the injury, and 21 as a senior — yet still rattled the rims for 215 points.

That puts Alita #56 on the all-time CHS girls scoring chart, for a program launched in 1974, and her 204 points this past season marks the first time a Wolf girl topped 200 in a season since 2016.

Toss in appearances on the honor roll, and the fact she was elected Homecoming Queen as a senior, and Ryan’s big sister has left a substantial mark on her soon-to-be alma mater.

Royalty, on and off the court. (Angie Downes photo)

Talent, toughness, inner drive — Alita has it all, and wherever she goes after high school, one thing is for certain. She will be a winner at anything she does.

Now, as she and her classmates work their way towards graduation, let’s take a moment to bestow another honor on her.

Today, in a move which you could see coming a long, long time ago — at about the moment she hip-checked Lucy Tenore into the stands — we welcome Alita Blouin to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

After this, you’ll find her hanging out at the top of the blog under the Legends tab, a fitting destination.

When entering the digital shrine, however, don’t try and pass Alita.

Cause she don’t play that.

“You can compete with me. You can’t beat me!” (Brian Vick photo)

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Unleash the roar

Posted in Fashionable Fans, tagged , , , , , on February 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The CHS student section leads the charge during playoff action. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Basketball games are done, but the roar of the crowd still lingers in the gym.

The pics above and below, shot by John Fisken, come from recent Wolf playoff rumbles.

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Fab Five and friends scrappy to the end

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on February 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Gwen Gustafson pushes the ball up court. (Bailey Thule photo)

One game short.

The Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad put up a strong fight Wednesday, especially in the final minutes, but couldn’t get past La Conner, falling a win shy of advancing to the state tournament.

The Wolves close their season at 10-11 after absorbing a 59-35 loss on their home floor in the bi-district title game.

La Conner, the Northwest 2B/1B League regular season champ, is 19-4 and will find out its next opponent Sunday, when state brackets are revealed.

CHS was playing its third straight loser-out game, having knocked off Friday Harbor in a tiebreaker for District 1’s #2 playoff seed, before upsetting District 2’s top team, Auburn Adventist Academy, in their playoff opener.

Facing off with the Braves, who wheel out a big three consisting of 6-foot-2 Makayla Herrera, 6-0 Ellie Marble, and 5-10 Josie Harper, the Wolves had no chance to match their foes in height, but they more than stood up to La Conner in terms of scrappiness.

Coupeville fell behind 8-0, thanks to back-to-back three-balls from the bombs-away Braves, but closed the first quarter on a mini-run.

Gwen Gustafson got the Wolves on the board with a pullup jumper, while fellow senior Maddie Georges rippled the net after Mia Farris popped a gorgeous pass over the heads of two defenders while airborne.

With all five players up on their toes and scrapping, Coupeville hung tough, and kept the margin to single-digits for much of the first half.

Georges twice scrambled back, planted herself, and drew offensive charging fouls on incoming Braves, while Carolyn Lhamon, Lyla Stuurmans, and Katie Marti threw haymakers in the paint while fighting for rebounds.

Coupeville’s bench enjoys the moment. (Bailey Thule photo)

But La Conner is a solid squad which has earned its rep, and the visitors stretched the lead out to 28-12 by the half.

Especially painful was the final five seconds, as the Braves netted a free throw, then promptly stole the inbounds pass and turned it into a buzzer-beating jumper.

The third quarter was the difference, and the only stretch where the Wolves just couldn’t get much to work.

Georges led off the second half by slicing under two defenders for a bucket, then came back around to notch a pair of free throws and a layup off of a sweet inside cut.

Unfortunately for Coupeville, the Braves busted out 20 points in response in the third frame, running the margin up to 48-18 heading into the fourth.

In typical La Conner fashion, it still elected to leave two of its big three on the floor until the game’s final buzzer rang.

Meanwhile, Marble — who has missed several games with a lingering back injury — was left to scrap in the crush under the basket until the four-minute mark of the final frame.

To which Coupeville’s Fab Five seniors, most of whom have played together since grade school, said, “Fine. Bring it.”

And promptly outscored the Braves front-liners 17-11 to put a cap on the game, the season, and their prep careers.

Coupeville’s Fab Five seniors — (l to r) Maddie Georges, Alita Blouin, Carolyn Lhamon, Gustafson, and Ryanne Knoblich, nab a final pic with coach Megan Richter. (Helene Lhamon photo)

Georges snapped the nets on the final pair of three-balls she shot as a Wolf, while Alita Blouin crashed hard to the hoop and Ryanne Knoblich stood tall in the paint, the trio combining to score all of Coupeville’s points down the stretch.

The Wolves also bit hard on defense, forcing La Conner to commit its only shot clock violation of the night with under 80 seconds to play.

With two of the big three still handling the ball.

So, there’s that.

The game’s final minutes were a testament to all that Georges, Lhamon, Knoblich, Blouin, and Gustafson have brought to the program, and a prompt to the five sophomores and one junior who fill out the current Wolf roster.

Never stop fighting. Ever.

In their final appearance on the CHS hardwood, Georges and Blouin led their team with 14 and 11 points, respectively, while Knoblich (5), Gustafson (2), Farris (2), and Marti (1) also scored.

Despite losing games to a pandemic and injuries, Georges and Blouin both finish as two of the more-explosive offensive performers in program history.

Mad Dog, who admirably devoted herself to often being a pass-first point guard intent on setting up other’s scoring opportunities, finishes with 407 career points.

The four-year varsity vet slips past Ashley Manker (404) and exits as the #24 all-time scorer for a program launched in 1974.

Blouin’s visits to the doctor held to her just 23 high school hoops games — two as a junior before a busted ankle, and 21 this season — but she became the first Wolf girl to drop 200+ points in a season since Makana Stone erupted for 427 back in 2015-2016.

 

Final season scoring stats:

Alita Blouin – 204
Maddie Georges – 154
Ryanne Knoblich – 102
Lyla Stuurmans – 71
Gwen Gustafson – 67
Katie Marti – 47
Carolyn Lhamon – 32
Mia Farris – 27
Madison McMillan – 6
Jada Heaton – 2
Skylar Parker – 2

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