Amanda Fabrizi | Coupeville Sports

Posts Tagged ‘Amanda Fabrizi’

Wolves want it more!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Amanda Fabrizi, Basketball, Breeanna Messner, CHS Wolves, crunch time, Makana Stone, playoffs, rivalry win on January 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Amanda Fabrizi (John Fisken photo)

Amanda Fabrizi wants to end her high school basketball career in the playoffs.

That much is certain, because Tuesday night, with a rivalry game against South Whidbey slipping away in the fourth quarter and Coupeville High School’s playoff hopes sliding from solid to troublesome, Fabrizi suddenly snapped on her Beast Mode face.

Hitting back-to-back crunch-time buckets, part of her seven points in the final quarter, she crushed the hopes and dreams of her Langley hosts and shut the Falcons fans up as quickly as they had started to get annoying.

With the one-two punch of senior captains Fabrizi and Breeanna Messner combining for 11 points, the Wolves closed on an 18-4 run to snag a 48-38 victory.

Lifting Coupeville to 7-8 overall, 4-6 in Cascade Conference play, it stakes them to a three-game lead with four to play over their Island rivals (2-13, 1-9) in the race for a 1A playoff berth.

It also gave CHS a season sweep of South Whidbey and means one more Wolf league win, or one more Falcon loss, and it’s a done deal — we’re talking about the playoffs.

Things weren’t looking great at the start of the fourth, however.

CHS coach David King had been slapped with a technical by a thin-skinned ref, shots suddenly weren’t falling and a back-and-forth game was starting to trend towards the Falcons, who notched a free-throw to open a 34-30 lead.

Without flinching, Coupeville dug down and found the heart of a champion that Wolf super fan Steve Kiel was hollering for them to locate.

Fabrizi hit three free-throws, Madeline Strasburg knocked down another one and Messner made not one, but two, huge shots under extreme duress as the Wolves ripped off an 8-0 run.

Messner’s first came when she snagged an air ball on a three-point shot, and made the miss look like an unexpected pass, as she hit a running layin.

The second bucket was even more spectacular, as she grabbed a deflected shot and put it up over her head while floating under the backboard with little room to see the hoop.

Twice the scrappy Falcons responded, hitting short jumpers to cut the lead to a bucket, and twice Coupeville hit right back.

The first came on a Makana Stone put-back off on an offensive rebound, then, after South Whidbey trimmed the lead to 40-38, Fabrizi grabbed center stage and flexed some muscle.

She nailed a pull-up jumper off of a Stone rebound and quick pass, then broke free and streaked down-court on the next play, catching Stone’s graceful outlet pass in mid-stride, before slicing between two defenders for the game-icing layup.

Before they hit a rough spot in the second quarter, the Wolves had opened strongly.

Coupeville went on a 7-0 run to end the first quarter, with a pair of free throws from Stone, a tough offensive rebound from Messner and then a rainbow of a three-point bomb from the ice-water-in-her-veins Fabrizi.

South Whidbey’s lone senior, guard Madi Boyd, spurred her team with a variety of slashing buckets, however, and the Falcons reclaimed the lead right before halftime.

The third quarter was a tussle, with Julia Myers keeping Coupeville alive with a pair of sweet jumpers and a ferocious blocked shot.

Coupeville spread the offensive wealth around, with the trio of Messner, Fabrizi and Stone each hitting for 10. Strasburg popped for eight, Myers banked home six and Kacie Kiel — a dynamo on the boards — rounded out the scoring tally with four.

Wynter Thorne, Monica Vidoni, McKayla Bailey and Carlie Rosenkrance all saw playing time, as well, with each Wolf chipping in and filling their role for a team that now sits on the cusp of a playoff berth.

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We’re going airborne!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Amanda Fabrizi, Basketball, Breeanna Messner, CHS Wolves, John Fisken photos, Makana Stone on January 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Breeanna Messner splits the defense in hair-raising fashion. (John Fisken photos)

Amanda Fabrizi goes in with all guns firing.

Skyler Lawrence will not be trifled with on the boards.

Sophia Jebrail (left) gets some air under her as she goes up for the opening tip.

High-flying sophomore sensation Makana Stone is still on the ground, but for just a moment.

I believe I can fly.

That’s the mantra of the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball players, as they swoop and dive through the air above the hardwood on a regular basis.

On the scene Friday to catch some of the aerial acrobatics (and some ground-orientated action as well) was traveling photo man John Fisken.

To see more, and possibly purchase some photos — a percentage of all sales goes to help fund scholarships for CHS student athletes — head over to:

Varsity: http://www.cascadeathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=5375&league=2&page_name=photo_store&school=0&school_year=2013-14&sport=0

JV: http://www.cascadeathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=5373&league=2&page_name=photo_store&school=0&school_year=2013-14&sport=0

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Do not tempt Julia Myers’ elbows!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Amanda Fabrizi, Basketball, Julia Myers, King's, rough and tumble on January 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Do not trifle with Julia Myers. (John Fisken photo)

Julia Myers will take a girl out.

Oh, the Coupeville High School junior may seem like a friendly, outgoing smile machine off the basketball court, but on the hardwood she’s a hard-charging, rebound-grabbing, rip-the-ball-out-of-your-hands-and-knock-your-butt-on-the-floor kind of player.

And that’s a good thing.

While the Wolves may not have been able to derail the best team in the Cascade Conference Friday night, eventually falling 67-33 to visiting King’s, they did manage to shake, rattle and roll the heavily-favored Knights.

Led by Myers, an elbows-swinging wild woman who “had her best game of the season,” in the words of CHS coach David King, Coupeville fought until the bitter end.

Even down by 30, the Wolves came five players strong and forced a shot clock violation with under four minutes to go, getting the night’s biggest ovation.

Now 6-6 overall, 3-4 in league play, Coupeville stayed even with King’s (9-3, 6-0) for much of the first quarter.

Four Wolves scored in the early going, led by Breeanna Messner, who hit a pair of sweet jumpers.

Firing on defense as well, where Monica Vidoni laid down a thunderous block, Coupeville cut the lead to 12-10 when Kacie Kiel drove hard to the hoop, drew two defenders, then banked the ball hard off the backboard while being pummeled.

That was as close as the Wolves would get, however, as King’s recovered to close the quarter on a 7-0 run.

The killer was a bucket-and-free-throw combo at the buzzer that left a Knight shooting her freebie with no time left on the clock — once the CHS band quieted down.

King’s stretched the lead into double digits early in the second quarter and never let Coupeville back in. Using their superior speed, the Knights slashed to the hoop for quick buckets, then started raining down three-point bombs in the second half.

Coupeville’s defense still shone through at times, as Makana Stone and Myers recorded back-to-back blocked shots.

Myers later inadvertently cold-cocked one of King’s better shooters, senior Karly Hibbard, during a scuffle for a loose ball, sending the Knight gunner to the floor, then the bench with an ice pack on her neck.

While the KO was unintentional, it was proof that Myers is fond of channeling her inner Dennis Rodman from time to time, giving the Wolves an aura of grittiness and do-not-mess-with-us attitude.

Amanda Fabrizi, another Wolf not afraid of getting scrappy in the heat of battle, paced Coupeville with 11 points, mixing running hook shots with driving one-handers.

Stone popped for 10, Messner scorched the nets for seven, Kiel hit for four and Myers netted a free throw.

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3rd quarter blues haunt weary Wolves

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Amanda Fabrizi, Basketball, Breeanna Messner, Second half woes on January 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Amanda Fabrizi scored a team-high 10 Friday, including a bucket on an unexpected steal. (John Fisken photo)

They started the game tired and sore, still feeling the effects of a long road trip. They ended it banged up and saddled with a second straight loss.

A third quarter collapse killed the Wolves Friday night, as the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad fell 56-39 to visiting Archbishop Thomas Murphy.

The loss dropped CHS to 5-4 overall, 2-3 in Cascade Conference play.

The Wolves will have an immediate chance to rebound, as they reach the halfway point of the regular season Saturday when non-conference foe Mount Vernon Christian comes to town for a doubleheader (boys tip at 1 PM, girls at 3).

One lingering question will be the status of senior captain Breeanna Messner, who banged her head on the floor in the third quarter while fighting for a ball. While she returned to action late in the game, the short turn-around time could hamper her if she has lingering pain or concussion concerns.

After enduring a long trip to Sultan earlier in the week, where they played in a rough, intense game, the Wolves had looked a bit tired and slow in practice, said Coupeville coach David King.

Even so, the Wolves were right with ATM for a half, trailing by just three at the break. If a few missed free throws had rattled in, they would have held the lead going into the locker room.

But whatever energy they had in the first 16 minutes took a major hit at the half.

ATM bolted out of the gate with a fast three-point bomb, than really ramped up things after Messner’s collision with the pine.

Missing their floor leader, the Wolves started having big time trouble with the full-court press the Wildcats were using — either struggling to get the ball up the floor or running out of control once they did. ATM took advantage, closing the quarter on an 11-2 run after Messner’s exit.

With the game out of control, one bright spot in garbage time came from junior post Monica Vidoni, who scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter.

The best of her buckets came on a layup off of a pass from Amanda Fabrizi. The senior guard ruthlessly drove the lane, sucked in the defense, then laid the ball off with a flick of her wrist at the very last second, perfectly setting up her younger teammate.

Fabrizi was solid all around, leading Coupeville in scoring with 10 points while playing with her right hand bandaged.

To go with her pretty pass to Vidoni, she also pulled off the steal of the game.

Having lost the ball late in the second quarter, an ATM player came to a skidding halt, content that she couldn’t corral the ball before it went out of bounds. Time froze, as nine players on the court came to a stop.

And then, flashing cross court, Fabrizi came dancing down the sideline, spun the ball back towards herself at the last second and was off for a stunning breakaway layup.

It was an impressive play from an underrated star.

Makana Stone popped for eight in support, while Vidoni (6), Messner (5), Madeline Strasburg (5), Julia Myers (4) and Hailey Hammer (1) rounded out the scorers. Kacie Kiel and Wynter Thorne were scoreless, but went full-tilt when on the floor and scrapped hard.

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Fabrizi, Messner sparkle in tough loss!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Amanda Fabrizi, Basketball, Breeanna Messner, Sultan, tough loss on January 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

A bandaged hand can’t slow down Amanda Fabrizi. (John Fisken photo)

Second game, same as the first.

Following the pattern set by the Wolf JV squad, the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad dominated in the first half Tuesday in Sultan, then suffered a second-half collapse that cost them the game.

The 40-37 loss to the Turks snapped a four-game winning streak for the Wolves, who slipped to 5-3 overall, 2-2 in Cascade Conference play.

Coupeville is in a four-way tie for third place in the league, two games ahead of South Whidbey (0-4) in the battle for a 1A playoff spot.

The Wolves came out ready to dominate, holding Sultan scoreless for the first five minutes of the game.

With senior guard Amanda Fabrizi stepping up in a loud, hostile environment and pouring in points, Coupeville built a 20-8 lead going in to the halftime break.

“In pregame, we talked about and wanted to use the energy of the crowd and band that Sultan is known for (one of the best gyms to play in, in my opinion),” said Coupeville coach David King. “We wanted to run when we had the opportunity, play fast when we could, but not play out of control fast.”

Unfortunately, most of the positives went out the door as soon as the third quarter started.

A run of quick fouls by the Wolves and a sudden inability to deal with Sultan’s press opened things up, and the Turks took advantage, knocking down several long-range three-point shots to cut the gap.

“We did not handle the press well at all,” King said. “We played like we hadn’t seen a press before or like we had run a press break.”

Even with the letdown, Coupeville was in the game until the final moments.

Breeanna Messner followed her own missed shot and put the ball back up in and, her clutch play cutting the lead to one with less than 20 seconds to play.

The Wolves set up a press coming out of a timeout, playing for the steal, but were unable to get a turnover and had to foul Sultan’s Courtney Morris, who notched both of her attempts at the charity stripe.

Down to their final chance, Coupeville got off three shots at the end, with the final one from Madeline Strasburg (“Leaving her hands, it looked good”) barely rimming out.

While he wasn’t happy with the loss (“This team understands we let this game slip through our grasp, and, as much as Sultan won this game, we feel like we lost this game”), King was pleased with much of what he saw from his squad.

“Defensively I couldn’t be happier with the effort,” he said. “They are coming out and playing hard and making things happen. The communication on the court has been improving; we are starting to read things better and getting our hands on the ball in the passing lanes.

“We are rebounding well on both ends of the court,” King added. “They are seeing the positive results of the work they are putting in on the offensive rebounding side.”

As it heads into a high-stakes home match-up with Archbishop Thomas Murphy (3-5, 2-2) Friday night (6:45 PM), Coupeville needs to focus on the small things.

Staying focused under pressure. Making free throws (the Wolves were 6 of 15 Tuesday).

“This team has so much fight and will start looking to improve on the areas we need to and get ready for ATM on Friday,” King said. “We feel like we can compete with anyone in our league.

“We need to take the next step and not be happy with just competing but now expecting to win.”

Fabrizi paced the Wolves with 11 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Messner hit for six points and swiped the ball three times. Julia Myers and Hailey Hammer had seven rebounds apiece and Makana Stone spiked three blocks.

Strasburg (9), Stone (6), Myers (3) and Hammer (2) rounded out the scorers, while Kacie Kiel collected two assists in her first game back after sitting out back-to-back games with an injury.

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