Ashlie Shank | Coupeville Sports

Posts Tagged ‘Ashlie Shank’

Pics be poppin’, pics be droppin’!!

Posted in Basketball, Fashionable Fans, tagged Ashlie Shank, Band, CHS Wolves, John Fisken photos, Mia Littlejohn, Pittsburgh Steelers, your mom on December 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Ashlie Shank welcomes you to the photo show. (John Fisken photos)

Kyla Briscoe (left), Tiffany Briscoe (middle) and Sarah Wright, old pros at pulling off synchronized camera muggin’.

Not being a band alumni, it took me a moment to get the point of the three guys hoodies. When I did (I’m sure you’ll get it quicker), I nodded and smiled.

Nick Etzell, traveling massage therapist, at your service.

Kalia Littlejohn (left) just wants a hug from big sis Mia.

Be careful what you wish for…

“Dear lord, please let this one go in. If you do, I’ll switch over to being a Steelers fan, the way you intended us to be.”

“Smart girl!!”

Kailey Kellner (left) and Ally Roberts have your mom on speed dial.

It’s all about the fans.

Well, sure, it’s also all about the basketball players (and we’ll have a smorgasbord of CHS boys’ hoops pics Sunday), but, at the moment, the spotlight — and the camera lens — is on the folks in the stands.

And, since a good chunk of them Friday night were super comfortable in front of the camera, all the better for travelin’ photo man John Fisken.

The photos above are courtesy him, the hardest-working Diet Coke fiend in all the land.

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Klahowya, you got Shanked!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Ashlie Shank, Basketball, buzzer beater, Ema Smith, Kyla Briscoe on December 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Ashlie Shank, mere seconds before she won the game for Coupeville Friday night. (John Fisken photo)

The youngest one is making a play for the throne.

Coupeville High School freshman Ashlie Shank has been living in the athletic shadow cast by older brothers Matt and Brian, but Friday night she seized the spotlight all for herself.

Nailing a running jumper a tick before the buzzer, she completed a wild final play and lifted the Wolf JV girls’ basketball team to a thrilling come-from-behind 26-24 win over visiting Klahowya.

The victory, which kept CHS girls’ basketball perfect in 1A Olympic League play (the Wolf varsity and JV are a combined 20-0 since the league debuted last year), lifted the JV to 2-3 overall, 1-0 in league play.

And it only happened thanks to a game-ending surge and a final play that worked to perfection.

Having snagged the ball with the game tied and the clock madly ticking down, Ema Smith shot up the right side of the court.

As a defender lurched at her, the Wolf frosh rose up and lobbed the ball to Kyla Briscoe, who caught it, whirled and found Shank in stride.

With no hesitation at all, Shank went straight at the hoop, pulling up at the last second and letting fly with a soft lil’ jumper that splashed nothing but net.

As the ball dropped through, hitting the floor, the clock went under two seconds, and all Klahowya could do was throw a full-court desperation heave that only traveled less than half the distance before crashing back to Earth.

Shank’s dagger capped an 8-2 run to close the game for the Wolves.

After leading for the entire first half, Coupeville briefly lost the advantage in the third, then regained it, only to give it right back thanks to a stretch of ice-cold shooting.

Trailing 22-18, the Wolves got huge plays from Smith, who banged home a rebound to cut the margin to two, and Briscoe, who hit back-to-back jumpers.

Her only two buckets of the game, the first one forced a 22-22 tie, then the second one re-knotted the game at 24 after Klahowya had reclaimed the lead off of an offensive rebound.

The Eagles had the ball and a chance to take the lead, but failed against a hawkish defense employed by five Wolves who had listened to coach Amy King in the timeout huddle and came out aggressive but smart.

That set up Smith to Briscoe to Shank, which will now reside in lore when folks talk about great finishes at Coupeville hoops games.

Shank and Lauren Rose paced the Wolves with seven points apiece, with Rose dropping all of her points in the first half, when she was a one-woman wrecking crew.

Her steal and breakaway bucket, coming on the heels of a softly arcing jumper from Maddy Hilkey, gave Coupeville its biggest lead at 5-0.

Smith and Briscoe added four apiece, while Hilkey and Allison Wenzel each chipped in with a bucket to round out the scoring stats.

Skyler Lawrence didn’t score, but thoroughly controlled the paint, ripping down rebound after rebound, staring down any Eagle who dared to put a finger on the ball.

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Sweet taste of victory!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Ashlie Shank, Basketball, CHS Wolves, one person press, Skyler Lawrence on December 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Ashlie Shank will not be buffaloed by a defender, thank you very much. (John Fisken photos)

Maddy Hilkey was hungry for a win, and she helped her squad get one Wednesday night.

A clean sweep.

Sparked by stellar defensive play, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad nipped visiting Orcas Island 22-18, giving the Wolves four wins in four games Wednesday night.

The young guns used strong surges in the second and fourth quarters to pull away from the Vikings, then sealed the deal with a last stand.

One of Orcas’ strongest players drove the baseline in the game’s final minute, looking for a quick bucket to keep the Vikings alive.

Instead she found the Great Wall of Skyler and paid the price.

Back after missing a week with an illness, Skyler Lawrence planted herself in her chosen defensive spot and refused to budge, even when the wayward Orcas player slammed right into her.

The Viking went down, hard, the ball went out of bounds and Lawrence’s reputation as a hard-nosed enforcer added another chapter.

Solid defensive play such as that and a very effective one-person press run by Kyla Briscoe which resulted in a key turnover, was the difference as the JV won its first game of the season.

The Wolves, now 1-3, led from start to finish, but needed a 7-4 run in the fourth to nail down the win.

“As in any good JV game, there was a lot of back and forth without much scoring,” said Coupeville coach Amy King. “Our defense was really strong, stopping any drives they tried to take.

“We had a lot of strong rebounds too,” she added. “We took care of the ball better than in our last two games, so that was good to see.”

King is famous for making sure every one of her developing players scores during the season, and Wednesday she got freshman Lindsey Laxton in the book.

“Right place, right time, taking a nice pass from Ema (Smith) and in goes her first basket ever,” King said. “Lindsey has never played basketball before, the bench erupted and she didn’t crack a smile. It was awesome!”

Ashlie Shank and Sarah Wright paced the Wolves with five points apiece, while Briscoe added four.

Maddy Hilkey, Lauren Rose, Smith and Laxton each collected a bucket of their own.

Lawrence snared six rebounds, followed by Wright with five and Smith with three.

The Wolves hit the boards hard as a team, with Hilkey (2), Briscoe (2), Brisa Herrera (2), Nicole Lester (1) and Brittany Powers (1) getting their hands on balls.

Shank pilfered two steals and Smith rejected a pair of Viking shots.

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“One of these games everything will click!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Ashlie Shank, Basketball, CHS Wolves, Mount Baker, Skyler Lawrence on December 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Kyla Briscoe, seen here in an earlier game, scored three points Monday night. (John Fisken photo)

Skyler’s back.

That was the best takeaway from Monday night for the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball squad, which fell 33-16 at Mount Baker.

Getting back Skyler Lawrence, who missed the first week of the season with an illness, provides the Wolves, both JV and varsity, with a ferocious defensive player who has never met a rebound she can’t rip out of a rival player’s hands.

“Skyler was back and saw her first time on the court,” said Wolf coach Amy King. “She led the team with her defensive strength and ball handling – even dribbling out of pressure to get the ball to our guards.”

Lawrence combined with freshman Ashlie Shank, who is learning to play the point on the fly, to lead Coupeville’s offensive attack, as both players dropped in four points.

“Ashlie continues to get better with her confidence, which will be a major plus for this team the rest of the season,” King said.

The loss dropped the Wolf JV to 0-3, but, with huge turnover from last year’s 14-5 squad, the slow start has not been a total surprise.

Not that Coupeville wouldn’t like to fix that soon.

“This young group continues to work hard on defense and talking on the court – getting to know each other and each others skills and strengths is a big part of team sports,” King said. “We are in that process right now. I have every confidence that one of these games everything will click and it will be magical.

“Despite the losses, I know these girls just want it that much more,” she added. “Lots of determination, which means everything.”

Coupeville was stung by Baker’s full court press, but, when they could beat it, played well.

“When we got down to our end of the court and moved the ball around, we got scores or at least good shots,” King said. “The problem was that once again, we struggled getting the ball past half court.”

Lauren Rose and Kyla Briscoe each popped for three in support of Shank and Lawrence — with Rose’s points coming on a long trey — while Ema Smith added a bucket.

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“My favorite part is when we work as a team!!”

Posted in Volleyball, tagged Ashlie Shank, Basketball, CHS Wolves, Dr. Jim Shank, Lindsey Roberts, Maddy Hilkey, volleyball on June 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Ashlie Shank (center) hangs out with basketball teammates Lindsey Roberts (left) and Ema Smith.

A ferry ride home during track season, with (l to r) Emma Smith, Shank, Maddy Hilkey, Teo Keilwitz and Roberts.

Sports excellence is a family tradition.

Now it’s the little sister’s turn.

Following in the footsteps of brothers Matt and Brian, Ashlie Shank will become the third, and final, member of her family to wear the red and black for Coupeville High School.

Add in her other older siblings, who played sports back in Utah before dad Jim Shank came to the Island to become Coupeville Schools Superintendent, and the idea of Shanks excelling on the court is an easily accepted one.

Ashlie, who will be a freshman at CHS in the fall, plans to play volleyball and basketball for the Wolves.

As a middle schooler, she also competed in track and field and always had a strong presence in the stands when her brothers were playing football, tennis and basketball.

Her first action as a high school athlete will come on the volleyball court, where she’ll be entering her fourth year in the sport.

“I started playing in sixth grade mostly because my mom (Sallie) wanted me to play,” Shank said. “But I also wanted to follow my sister’s footsteps and play volleyball in high school.”

Shank, who is part of a large, close-knit group of friends that includes fellow Wolf athletes Maddy Hilkey, Emma Smith, Ashley Menges and Lindsey Roberts, loves how the sport encourages teammates to help each other out.

“My favorite part about volleyball is when we work as a team,” Shank said. “Getting on the court with my teammates and working together gets me excited, making me want to play more.”

After some thought, she picks setting as her strength, while she’d like to work on her hitting and passing.

As she goes forth, the final link in the Shank athletic dynasty, she knows she has a loyal fan base always there to support her.

“My parents and my big brother, Matt, have made a big impact on me,” Shank said. “My parents help me to improve whether it’s in sports or school, and they are always there for me.

“As for Matt, he helped me to be more confident in sports and to never give up,” she added. “I want to be just like him when I am in high school.”

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