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Posts Tagged ‘Basketball’

Friday loss sets up Saturday showdown

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on February 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

After losing Friday, Gavin Knoblich and Co. will have to win Saturday to grab a ticket to the playoffs. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The season comes down to 32 minutes of action.

Unable to clinch a playoff berth on the road Friday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad gets a second chance Saturday at home.

A 60-50 loss at Granite Falls leaves the Wolves tied with the host Tigers at 1-9 in North Sound Conference action.

With identical league records, and having split the season series (CHS won 52-43 in early Jan.), the two teams meet at 5 PM in Coupeville to decide the #5 playoff seed from the NSC.

Winner advances to the double-elimination district tourney and plays Feb. 4 against King’s.

Saturday’s losers exit the court and start thinking about spring sports.

King’s (10-0, 16-4), Cedar Park Christian (7-3, 11-9), South Whidbey (6-4, 13-7), Sultan (5-5, 6-14), and Saturday’s winner join Northwest Conference teams Lynden Christian (20-0), Meridian (9-12), and Nooksack Valley (7-13) at districts.

The #2-#4 NSC seeds were set after King’s savaged South Whidbey 84-15 Friday, and CPC bounced Sultan 66-35.

Coupeville, which is 2-15 overall, enters Saturday’s game having lost seven straight.

Several of those defeats have been close, though, and Friday night’s bout was a prime example.

With Granite Falls having just one court, the Wolves sat through three other games before finally taking the floor for the night’s finale, then hung tough all the way.

Sean Toomey-Stout and Mason Grove combined for 14 first-quarter points, with the former hitting for nine and both dropping in a three-ball, but Granite clung to an 18-16 lead at the first break.

While the Tigers could never completely get away from the Wolves, they did slowly but surely stretch out their advantage.

A 12-8 advantage in the second quarter pushed the lead to six, then a 16-12 surge across the third set the final margin.

Grove did his best to keep Coupeville alive, burying a trio of three-balls in the third frame, while Hawthorne Wolfe and Jacobi Pilgrim picked up five points apiece during a free-throw-heavy fourth quarter.

CHS had an advantage at the line, hitting 13 of 20 charity shots to just 4-7 by Granite, while also winning the three-ball battle 5-2.

Grove finished with a team-high 14 points, with Toomey-Stout rattling the rim for 12 and Pilgrim banking in eight.

Wolfe (7), Gavin Knoblich (5), Ulrik Wells (2), and Jered Brown (2) also scored.

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Mollie Bailey is money

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on February 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Kylie Van Velkinburgh had six points and two blocks Friday as the Wolf JV closed its season with a road victory. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

After beating Granite Falls, the young guns finished 9-7, best record of any CHS hoops team this season. (Amy King photo)

Best record in town.

Kicking off a four-games-on-one-court evening Friday at Granite Falls, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team got things going with a jolt.

Riding a game-winning three-ball in the final seconds from Mollie Bailey, the Wolves escaped with a 29-27 win, got a sweet bit of revenge, and capped a winning season.

The victory, which was payback for a loss to Granite earlier in the season, allows the JV to close at 5-3 in North Sound Conference play, 9-7 overall.

Despite playing less games than Coupeville’s other squads, thanks to Cedar Park Christian not having a girls JV team, the Wolf young guns have the most wins, and the highest winning percentage, of any CHS hoops team this winter.

The finale was a nice cap to another season under long-time Wolf basketball whisperer Amy King, who got her team going with a small challenge.

“Four games back-to-back (on the same court). I told the JV girls, who had the first game of the night, that their game would set the tone for the rest of the evening.

“And the battle began.”

The two teams went back and forth, exchanging big buckets and ferocious defensive stops all night.

Anya Leavell banked in a three-ball in the opening quarter, one of her two on the night, but the Wolves trailed 9-8 at the first break.

“We pressed, we got some steals, but struggled against their two posts, who used a high-low offense when possible for easy baskets,” King said. “We ran our offenses, got great steals – blocked and just worked together all night.

“Kylie Van Velkinburgh had some key blocks and hit a couple of shots tonight,” she added. “Anya had some nice fast breaks, slowed down for control and hit the layups.”

Coupeville flipped the script in the second quarter, taking a one-point lead to the locker room, only to see Granite knot things up at 20-20 heading into the final quarter.

With the two teams standing in the middle of the ring and exchanging rib shots, a big play here or there was liable to be the deciding moment.

Enter Bailey, the coolest cucumber in the bunch, the drummer who bops to her own beat, long braids slapping a rhythm on her back as she glides through life.

Clock madly churning down, the Wolves pulled off of a nifty fake on an inbound pass. Three players dove towards the girl with the ball, but Bailey went her own way.

A jab step forward, a pirouette back behind the arc, ball lands on her fingertips, eyebrow arches slightly, ball flips skyward, splashes through net, world goes bonkers, Bailey slightly nods.

As excited as Coupeville was when the three-ball rippled through the net, turning a one-point deficit into a two-point lead, there were still a few ticks left on the clock.

Granite got the ball up floor, but aggressive pressure from Wolf frosh Audrianna Shaw threw the Tigers off their pace and a potential game-tying shot was not going to drop.

“Time runs out and we all go crazy,” King said. “It was an awesome game to end our season. Very proud of these girls.”

Leavell paced the Wolves with 10 points, four steals and three assists, while Izzy Wells added seven points and four rebounds.

Van Velkinburgh (6), Bailey (5), and Shaw (1) rounded out the scoring attack, with Shaw filling up the stat sheet with four rebounds, three steals and three assists.

Abby Mulholland (three rebounds), Ivy Leedy, Morgan Stevens, Ja’Kenya Hoskins (two rebounds, two steals), Lily Leedy, and Alana Mihill all saw floor time, while injured stars Kylie Chernikoff and Kiara Contreras provided vocal bench support.

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JV boys close with a bang

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on February 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Daniel Olson scored four points Friday as Coupeville’s JV capped season with a win at Granite Falls. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nothing sweeter than ending a season on a win.

With Xavier Murdy and Grady Rickner combining to rain down 33 points Friday, the Coupeville High School JV boys basketball team did just that.

Riding an explosive second quarter, the Wolves crunched host Granite Falls 45-36, snapping a five-game losing skid and sending everyone back to the bus with an extra skip to their step.

The wins lifts the JV’s final record to 3-7 in North Sound Conference play, 7-10 overall.

After the long trip to Granite, the Wolf boys came out a bit cold in the early going, falling behind 7-3 at the first break.

But then, with a bit of floor time beneath their feet, the young guns rediscovered their shooting touch and hit the hapless Tigers like a runaway tsunami reaching shore.

Murdy went off for 11 of his game-high 21 in the second quarter, while TJ Rickner, Daniel Olson and Sage Downes all chipped in with buckets during the second frame.

By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, CHS had ridden an 18-5 surge to a nine-point lead, and never looked back.

The two teams played dead even in the second half, but the Wolves closed strongly, with Grady Rickner at the top of his game.

The fab frosh hit from every angle in the fourth quarter, dropping in a pair of free throws, a pair of field goals and a long three-ball as he accounted for nine of his team’s 13 points down the stretch.

Chris Smith’s squad got something from everyone in its finale, with Murdy (21), Grady Rickner (12), Olson (4), Downes (3), TJ Rickner (3), and Cody Roberts (2) all scoring.

Tucker Hall, Logan Martin, Chris Ruck, and Miles Davidson rounded out the active roster, each one harassing the Tigers with an intensity which bodes well for the future of Coupeville basketball.

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I’ve just seen a face

Posted in Band, Fashionable Fans, tagged , , , , , on January 31, 2019| Leave a Comment »

When she’s not spiking volleyballs, Wolf sophomore Maddie Vondrak is a photographer with a keen eye for capturing award-worthy images. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Garrett and Sylvia Arnold brighten up the CHS gym.

Nikolai Lyngra, guitar god and mustache wax aficionado.

Interrupted while working, Emma Smith plots her revenge.

The whole crew is ready to jam.

Sarah and Joshua Leavell endure the hardest bleachers in all of the universe because they love their basketball-playing daughters.

Wander into the wrong part of the gym and you may disappear into a group hug, never to be seen again.

Ciara Smith celebrates lil’ sis Ema on Senior Night.

All the faces are in place.

In between snapping pics of on-court action Tuesday, wanderin’ paparazzi John Fisken also captured a series of portraits featuring various Coupeville residents.

From band members to other photographers to proud parents, they form a mosaic of Wolf Nation.

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End of one road, beginning of another

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Scout Smith slashes up-court Tuesday night. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nicole Laxton (with flowers) was one of three senior hoops stars honored before Coupeville’s game against King’s.

A pack of Wolf JV girls prepares to attack. L to r, it’s Lily Leedy, Ivy Leedy, Abby Mulholland and Audrianna Shaw.

The shirt game is strong for Lindsey Roberts’ family.

Ja’Kenya Hoskins: “No, it’s my rebound and you can’t have it!”

Ema Smith shares Senior Night with her parents and big sis Ciara.

Coupeville swarms the ball-handler, causing her great distress.

The three amigos marinate in the moment.

It’s not THE end, but it is an end.

The Coupeville High School girls basketball team has a minimum of three games left in the 2018-2019 schedule, a regular season finale Friday at Granite Falls, then at least two playoff games.

But every postseason rumble is slated to be in a road gym, so Tuesday night’s bout against visiting King’s marked the final game played on the CHS floor for the Wolf seniors.

Four years ago, when the 2015-2016 basketball season kicked off, there were seven freshmen playing.

Jump forward to Jan. 2019, and Nicole Laxton, Ema Smith, and Lindsey Roberts remain from that group, having put in a complete four-year run.

As they exited Tuesday, they thanked their families, their support crew and coaches David and Amy King.

“Thank you for having so much patience with us over the years,” Smith said in her farewell speech. “Everyone knows we are a lot to handle.”

For Laxton, every moment she spent on the floor, whether it be practices or games, was special.

“These last four years of basketball have been amazing,” she wrote. “I loved every second of every season.”

Roberts, the rare player to have been on the varsity from day one, gave thanks to everyone who played a role in her growth as a player, and young woman.

To cap things, she paid tribute to her many teammates.

“You guys are some of the funniest, weirdest, but nonetheless best teammates I could ever ask for,” Roberts wrote. “Whether you guys know it or not, you all have inspired me to be a better player and teammate on and off the court.

“You guys have no limit and I believe in you all so much!”

 

To see more Senior Night and action photos from Tuesday, pop over to:

https://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/Coupeville-Basketball-2018-2019-boys-and-girls/GBB-2019-01-29-vs-Kings/

And remember, when you purchase glossies from John Fisken, a percentage of the money comes back around, used when he gives out two scholarships each year to CHS seniors.

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