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Whitman run snapped by foul loss

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville’s Makana Stone dropped in a team-high 14 points Saturday, but Whitman College had a seven-game winning streak snapped. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

A dangerous weekend turned deadly at the end.

Haunted by foul trouble, the Whitman College women’s basketball team watched a big one slip away Saturday, falling 75-67 to visiting University of Puget Sound.

The game, which was a one-point affair with less than 90 seconds to play, hinged on free throws, and frequent foul calls, at the end.

Using a 9-2 surge to close the game, with a brutally-effective three-ball and then six straight charity shots, the Loggers threw the Northwest Conference standings into disarray with eight games left on the schedule.

With the loss, Whitman falls to 7-1 in league play, 13-4 overall and slips back into a first-place tie with George Fox (7-1, 14-3).

Technically, the Blues still have a slight edge, as they won the first of two games against George Fox. The rematch is Feb. 8 in Walla Walla.

Whitman gets a second crack at UPS, which sits a game off the lead at 6-2, 13-3, a week later on Feb. 15.

After facing two of the top four teams in the league this weekend — they drilled Pacific Lutheran Friday — the Blues have a softer schedule awaiting them.

Whitman’s next four games, the ones prior to the showdown with George Fox, pit them solely against teams in the bottom half of the league.

Which makes Saturday’s loss to UPS even tougher, as a win would have kept the Blues, who had a seven-game winning streak, alone and untouched at the top of the league.

Instead, they got roughed up two times against the Loggers, unable to stop the one-two duo of Jamie Lange and Elizabeth Prewitt, who went for 27 and 25 points, respectively.

Coupeville grad Makana Stone did what she could to fire back, popping for a team-high 14 points on 7-11 shooting, but both she and front-court mate Maegan Martin were fouled out of the game by fairly one-sided reffing.

Puget Sound finished the game with no player having more than two fouls to their credit, while Whitman lost their interior stars, and had several other players with at least three fouls each.

Still, the game was close almost from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

Knotted at 19-19 after one quarter, the teams swapped two-point leads at the next two breaks. UPS went to the half up 37-35, before Whitman jumped back in front 55-53 after three quarters.

The Blues final lead, at 59-57, came when Taylor Chambers slashed to the hoop for a layup with a hair over eight minutes to play.

While Lange powered her way through the Blues defense for her own personal 6-0 run after that, Whitman stayed close, and was down just 66-65 in the late moments.

Prewitt was a savage, however, drilling a game-busting three-ball with 1:24 on the clock.

After that, it was all free throws for UPS, as the Loggers closed by hitting six straight at the line.

Given far more opportunities at the charity stripe, Puget Sound hit 14-19 on freebies, while Whitman could only scrape out four tries, nailing three of them.

UPS also out-shot the Blues from the floor, sinking 50.9% of its shots to 43.1% from the home team.

Before she fouled out, Stone added three rebounds, two assists and a steal to her 14 points.

On the season, the junior has 270 points, 151 rebounds, 27 assists, 21 steals, and 17 blocks. She’s shooting 113-217 from the floor and 43-55 at the line.

Stone, who was playing in the 74th game of her collegiate career, passed a personal milestone, crossing the 800-point barrier with her second bucket of the night.

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Young guns taste sweet victory

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ben Smith nailed several big fourth-quarter shots Saturday, helping the Coupeville C-Team topple South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Revenge!

A day after Coupeville’s JV boys basketball squad lost to South Whidbey, the Wolf C-Team swept in and got some payback.

Playing at a tournament in Granite Falls Saturday, the Wolves put on a defensive clinic in the second half, toppling a Falcon squad which featured 9 of its school’s 14 JV players, including the leading scorer from Friday night.

Coupeville’s own seven-player team took a hit in the nightcap, losing its top player to an early injury and eventually falling to the tourney hosts, but CHS coach Scott Fox came away pleased with the day-long excursion.

“Got the monkey off our backs!”, he said. “We put together a great win against South Whidbey!

“Team played awesome defense in the second half.”

The Wolf C-Team, now 1-7 on the season, returns home to host Oak Harbor Monday. Tip-off is 5 PM.

How Saturday played out:

 

South Whidbey:

The game was a tale of two very different halves, as the Wolf comeback kings stormed from behind to net a 28-16 win.

Jaylen Nitta tossed in four of his game-high 14 points in the opening quarter, but Coupeville found itself in a 12-5 hole at the first break.

Things didn’t get much better, though not necessarily all that much worse either, during a second quarter which was brutal for lovers of offensive play.

The Falcons garnered the only points of the frame with a lonely field goal, but, as they went to the locker room up 14-5, little did they know they would never, ever hit from the field again.

Perhaps inspired by a Lombardi-style speech from their coach, or just revived by the intermission, the Wolves attacked ferociously once play started back up.

With Nitta running wild, dumping in six more points in the third, CHS used a 10-0 run to turn their deficit into a one-point lead.

After that, it was time for “Big Game Ben” Smith to take over, as he rifled in a pair of shots from way outside in the fourth, keying a 13-2 surge to nail down the win.

South Whidbey’s only second-half points came courtesy two free throws, as the Falcons failed to hit a single field goal after the halftime break.

Nitta finished with 14 points to lead the way, while Smith (6), Chris Cernick (3), Jonathan Partida (3), and Tony Garcia (2) also scored.

Brayden Coatney and Andrew Aparicio rounded out the plucky Wolf squad, coming strong on defense alongside their teammates.

 

Granite Falls:

Nitta went down early, and without their leading scorer, CHS fell 43-22.

After trailing 13-2 at the first break, the Wolves cut the lead back to seven by the half, and were still within single digits until the game slipped away in the fourth quarter.

While Granite had a 10-6 advantage in players, Partida, in particular, didn’t back down.

Nailing a trio of three-balls, he scored in every quarter while tickling the nets for a season-best 15 points.

Coatney, Aparicio, and Garcia chipped in with two apiece, while Cernick swished a free-throw to cap the Wolf scoring.

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Wolf JV can kill you in one play

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 19, 2019| 1 Comment »

Lily Leedy snagged six steals Friday, as Coupeville’s JV girls routed South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Three seconds.

High school basketball is a 32-minute game, but the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team didn’t need the full time Friday to put its game on ice.

Scoring in three ticks of the clock, with Ja’Kenya Hoskins deflecting the opening tip to Anya Leavell, who hit Audrianna Shaw in stride for a wham-bam-game-over bucket, the Wolves made their intentions clear.

After that, it was nothin’ but good times, as Coupeville blew out to a 25-1 lead at the half before pulling back and settling for a 35-7 thrashing of visiting South Whidbey.

With the season sweep of their next door neighbors, the Wolf JV rises to 4-2 in North Sound Conference action, 7-6 overall.

Next up for the CHS second unit is a rematch Monday against Oak Harbor, another Whidbey team it also blew out the first time around.

The home non-conference tilt tips at 3 PM.

Facing a South Whidbey squad which is in rebuilding mode, Coupeville put the hammer down and did it quickly.

Using a press powered by Hoskins, Shaw, Leavell, Izzy Wells, and Mollie Bailey, CHS turned steal after steal into layups and short buckets.

The Wolves finished with an astonishing 34 steals on the night, with Leavell making off with nine.

Wells and Lily Leedy were coming up fast behind the fab frosh, picking Falcon ball-handlers six times apiece, while Hoskins made off with five.

“They covered the floor really well, working together to weave a web that South Whidbey couldn’t break through,” said CHS coach Amy King.

“Once we started substituting, and getting up a little more, we stayed aggressive but pulled back on the press.”

South Whidbey came dangerously close to being shut out in the first half, finally dropping a single free throw through the net in the final 30 seconds of the second quarter.

The Wolves slowed their roll a bit after the break, settling for a 10-6 advantage in the second half, but got big play from everyone on the bench.

“We started subbing and with each new rotation, came the same energy, the same teamwork,” King said.

Leedy was a firecracker, mixing steals with kick-outs to her open teammates for shots.

And she wasn’t the only one.

“Alana (Mihill) always plays such great defense and tonight was no different,” King said. “Morgan (Stevens) was strong on defense, stopping drives and rebounding with a “Nicole (Laxton)-like” fierceness.

“Kylie (Van Velkinburgh) helped where needed, as a post but helping with the ball,” she added. “Hurting with shin splints that just won’t go away, she had a hand up to discourage shots, directed teammates and took shots when open.”

Two late plays brought the Wolf faithful to their feet.

On the first, Abby Mulholland, working down low in the key, sucked the defense in, then found Stevens with a “brilliant pass” to set up a crowd-pleasing bucket.

As the clock ticked down on the game, Wells, who was a one-woman wrecking crew with 11 points, 14 rebounds, six steals, three assists and two blocks, ended things with emphasis.

South Whidbey had a perfect pass into the corner on the game’s final play, got the shot off and … WHAM!!!

Wells, “the quiet assassin,” rejected the ball and had “that perfect solid block to end the game.”

Shaw, who played “a very strong game” with “outstanding defense,” was also a terror on the offensive side of the ball, scoring a game-high 12 to go with the 11 by Wells, while Mulholland ruffled the nets for five points.

Bailey (3), Leavell (2), and Stevens (2) rounded out the offense, with Hoskins snatching six boards.

“Ja’Kenya always makes an impact on the court,” King said. “She ripped rebounds, made passes and adds an energy that lifts her teammates up.

“As a coach, I can say I was very proud of every one of them,” she added. “They put together their most complete game all season.”

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You got mashed by Makana (and friends)

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on January 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville grad Makana Stone netted her fourth-straight double-double Friday as Whitman College won by 41 points. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They’re not playing around.

The Whitman College women’s basketball team faced a dangerous foe Friday night, a Pacific Lutheran University team which came to Walla Walla boasting an 11-3 record.

Well, now it’s 11-4 after the Blues put a 41-point whuppin’ on the Lutes.

Paced by Coupeville grad Makana Stone, who went for her fourth-straight double-double, Whitman cruised to a 91-50 victory, maintaining a perfect record in league play.

With the win, their seventh-straight and eleventh in their last 12 games, the Blues are 7-0 in Northwest Conference play, 13-3 overall.

Whitman sits a game up on defending league champ George Fox (6-1) and two ahead of Puget Sound (5-2), which arrives Saturday in Walla Walla.

UPS will find a Blues team that is as hot as any in the land, and one which cracked the NCAA D-III Top 25 rankings this week.

With Stone throwing down 11 points, including hitting her first collegiate three-ball, Whitman controlled Friday’s game from start to finish.

A 26-11 lead after one turned into a 49-29 bulge at the half, then things got nasty during a 24-9 Blues run in the third frame.

That was the quarter Stone elevated and splatted her first trey in a Whitman uniform.

The former Wolf also finished with a game-high 11 rebounds in just 19 minutes of action, helping Whitman crush PLU 46-29 on the boards.

She has eight double-doubles and counting during her junior season.

As Whitman heads into play Saturday, Stone sits with 256 points, 148 rebounds, 25 assists, 20 steals, and 17 blocks on the season.

She’s shooting 106-206 from the floor and 43-55 from the free-throw line.

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Playoffs, we’re coming your way

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

The future is bright for Coupeville’s varsity girls, who clinched a playoff spot Friday by thumping South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

“Just very proud of the effort on a very emotional night.”

Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball coach David King walked off the floor Friday night having seen his team win its third-straight game, sweep the season series with their Island rivals, move into a tie for 2nd place in the North Sound Conference and clinch a playoff berth.

Having pounded visiting South Whidbey 37-16, the Wolves rise to 5-2 in league play, 7-7 overall, with three to play.

CHS is tied with Cedar Park Christian (5-2), two games off of King’s (7-0) and has a week before they get a rematch with CPC.

But like his players, King savored the win while also realizing the night was about far more than just a hoops game.

Friday’s tilt was Coupeville’s Coaches vs. Cancer game, and the school raised $483.20 for Project Violet at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Before tip-off, the Wolf girls paid tribute to Ronald Smith, the grandfather of JV player Kiara Contreras, who lost his fight with Mesothelioma in Dec. at age 77.

They also brought former CHS player Brisa Herrera to the court, welcoming home a young woman who is cancer-free after a four-month battle with ovarian cancer shortly before her 2018 graduation.

Her high school coach, Amy King, hugged her, and a wave of emotion rose from the packed stands, swelling longest, loudest and proudest from the student section, which was full of many who attended classes with Brisa.

As each Wolf starter was introduced before the game, they, and several of the Falcons, stopped to bump fists with Herrera.

And then Coupeville, whole again with the return of injured starters Lindsey Roberts and Hannah Davidson, went to work.

A long shot off the fingertips of Chelsea Prescott knotted the game at 2-2, and then Avalon Renninger stroked a pull-up jumper and the Wolves never looked back.

While they let the Falcons stay close for a quarter, taking just a 7-4 lead into the second quarter after Davidson capped things by rolling hard to the hoop for a bucket off a Prescott pass, that quickly changed.

Death came from above, as three separate Wolves successfully launched three-balls to cap a game-busting 13-0 run midway through the second frame.

Roberts hit from the top left, Scout Smith nailed hers from the top right, then Ema Smith casually flicked her trey in while on the move at the top of the arc.

As shot after shot went high into the heavens and then splashed down, the delight of the Wolf fans grew, and the slump in the shoulders of the Falcons grew.

Shutting down South Whidbey’s top post player, Lexi Starets-Foote, Coupeville denied South Whidbey much of anything.

“Our posts, Hannah and Nicole (Laxton), brought their A-game,” King said. “They battled all game long.

“I (also) liked our effort in the press once we started to cover the middle.”

Up 20-6 at the break, the Wolves stretched the lead out to the 19-22 point range in the second half, and spread their offensive attack out, with nine of 12 CHS players scoring on the night.

Roberts, who suffered a nasty finger break/fracture at Sultan, had fingers on her left hand taped together for her return, but was electric as usual and didn’t seem overly bothered by the injury.

Her track speed is still at 100% and she used it for one superb breakaway, pulling in an outlet pass from Scout Smith and beating the pack for a loping layup.

“It was great having both Hannah and Lindsey back,” King said. “It solidifies our rotation and gives us a bigger presence in the middle.”

Ema Smith, who has stepped up big-time over the past week-and-a-half, knocked down three treys on her way to a game-high 11 points.

While Roberts, who tossed in six points Friday, gets justifiable props for being #23 on the CHS girls career scoring list, the Emanator has quietly risen to #56 all-time.

After tallying 94 points as a junior, Smith is at 95 and counting for her senior campaign. With 189 career points, she’s just 27 shy of breaking into the career Top 50.

Scout Smith, who had a team-high six rebounds and five steals, banked home five points in support of her veteran teammates.

Prescott (4), Davidson (4), Tia Wurzrainer (2), Anya Leavell (2), Renninger (2) and Laxton (1) also scored, while Ja’Kenya Hoskins snatched four rebounds, Izzy Wells snared two boards, and Mollie Bailey ran the offense in the late going.

While the final stretch of the regular season won’t be easy, with games against Cedar Park, King’s and Granite Falls, Coupeville is guaranteed to advance to the double-elimination district tourney regardless of how that stretch plays out.

The Wolves, who sit three games up on Sultan (2-5) and Granite Falls (2-5) and five up on South Whidbey (0-7), can finish no lower than fourth in the six-team league.

CHS swept the season series from Sultan, won the first meeting with Granite and needs just one win, or one Granite loss, to guarantee a top-three finish.

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