Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Basketball’

A win is a win, is a win!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 10, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Defensive dynamo Cameron Toomey-Stout scored a season-high seven points Wednesday as Coupeville clobbered Chimacum. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It wasn’t especially pretty, but we’ll overlook that.

Bouncing back after a rough loss a night before, the Coupeville High School boys basketball squad used a fiery fourth quarter Wednesday at home to stuff pesky Chimacum, nabbing a 67-43 win.

The victory, which was finally sealed with a 20-6 run over the final eight minutes, lifts the Wolves to 2-1 in Olympic League play, 4-8 overall.

It also gives them sole possession of second-place in the four-team conference, a game off of league leader Port Townsend (4-1, 7-5), a team they have split two games with this season.

Klahowya (1-1, 4-7) and Chimacum (0-4, 0-8) currently bring up the rear.

Wednesday’s game, which featured a mind-numbing 52 free throws, almost half of which were missed, started like a rout, turned into a pitched battle, then became more of a runaway in the final moments.

After falling behind 2-1 a few seconds into the game — the only time it would trail all night — Coupeville went on a 12-1 run, highlighted by six points from Hunter Smith, and looked like it would cruise.

Even if not all their shots were falling, and the refs were already starting to call a LOT of fouls on both teams, the Wolves were in control and it didn’t appear the undermanned Cowboys had many answers.

Until they did.

While Chimacum wasn’t the sharpest-shooting team, or the slickest-passing, it did one thing very well — hit the boards and give itself second, third and fourth chances.

That helped the Cowboys slowly amass a 14-4 surge of their own, tying the game at 17-17 early in the second quarter.

Coupeville seemed intent on playing like a yo-yo for much of the game, snapping off sizzling runs, then handing back buckets in chunks to their win-less foes, leaving coach Brad Sherman frequently wearing a look of mild indigestion.

An 8-0 run in a matter of about eight seconds, capped by Smith hitting a breakaway layup, then immediately punching home a three-ball off of a tipped pass, eased the angina. A bit.

But CHS couldn’t seem to put Chimacum away, taking a 14-point lead early in the third, only to then hand back more than half their advantage in the matter of a few plays.

Suddenly clinging to a 43-37 lead with under a minute to play in the third, the Wolves finally found their knockout punch, or punches.

They came courtesy Dane Lucero and Hunter Downes, hard-working rebound hounds, who converted on back-to-back put-backs to end the quarter.

Toss in a patented “Rock Block,” a soundly-rejected shot by senior big man Kyle Rockwell, and the Wolf bruisers fully earned their stripes against a rough-and-tumble Cowboy squad.

Back up by 10, Coupeville found a new gear in the fourth, ripping off 20 points, with five different players scoring, while limiting Chimacum to a single field goal.

“We came out on fire in that fourth quarter and rebounded really well,” Sherman said. “We needed to do that; it was a nice way to finish.”

While the team’s leading scorers this season, Smith and Ethan Spark, combined for 11 points in the fourth, CHS also got big contributions from their fellow battle-hardened seniors.

Defensive dynamo Cameron Toomey-Stout, a pass-first set-up man, went off for five points in the quarter, including a long three-ball, while Downes picked up assists with a pair of sweet dishes to Lucero and Spark.

Smith paced the Wolves, who scored their most points of the season, with 25.

That lifts him to 695, and he passed Virgil Roehl (674), Gavin Keohane (677) and Chris Good (688) Wednesday to claim 17th place on the Wolf boys basketball career scoring list.

Spark rattled home 17, including three treys, while Downes banked home eight (while snatching 12 rebounds) and Toomey-Stout sank a season-high seven.

Lucero (4), Joey Lippo (4) and Rockwell (2) rounded out the scoring.

Coupeville was very effective in disrupting the Cowboy offense, pilfering 20 steals. Smith led the assault with eight, while Spark made off with four.

In a game in which the refs called a foul after a Chimacum player out on the break fell down under his own power, with the nearest Wolf five feet away, the two teams spent an inordinate amount of time at the free-throw line.

The Cowboys shot a slightly better percentage (55% to 52%), but also missed more, hitting 17 of 31 compared to Coupeville’s 11-21.

Read Full Post »

Now that’s what I call a rout!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   With a game-high 10 points Tuesday, Ashlie Shank outscored Port Townsend by herself in a 27-2 win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

So, so close.

Employing a withering defense Tuesday, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball squad came within a single lucky shot of completely blanking visiting Port Townsend.

But, after a bounce here, a bounce there, a wild RedHawk shot found the bottom of the net two minutes into the fourth quarter, and the Wolves had to “settle” for just a 27-2 win.

The victory lifts Coupeville’s young guns to 2-1 in Olympic League play and evens their overall mark at 6-6, best of any of the four Wolf hoops squads this season.

The game was essentially over as soon as Nicole Lester slipped a free throw through the net two minutes into the game.

But, just in case that 1-0 lead wouldn’t hold up against the super-cold-shooting RedHawks, Mollie Bailey pulled up and netted a sweet jumper while on the move to seal the deal at 3-0.

From there, it was nothing but easy street for the Wolves, as they stretched the margin to 7-0 after one, 15-0 at the half and 22-0 after three quarters.

Port Townsend had at least two shots start to go down, then pop straight back up and out, as Coupeville’s mysterious invisible defender did her job superbly.

On offense, it was the Ashlie Shank show, as the Wolf guard rained down a game-high 10 points, while twice beating the clock.

Shank closed the second quarter by driving right up the middle against a fleeing defense as the clock ticked madly away, getting hammered on the arms on a buzzer-beating three-ball try.

While her trey didn’t drop, all three of her free throws whispered sweet nothings to the net as they softly slipped through.

Just to prove she truly has the heart of a killer lurking underneath her friendly exterior, Shank pulled up and splashed a jumper a half tick before the clock hit 0:00 in the third.

That rightly earned an appreciative nod and smile from her dad, Coupeville Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Shank.

The Wolves spread their scoring out, with seven of the eight players in uniform scratching their names into the scoring column.

Lester hit five free-throws, while Maddy Hilkey (3), defensive beast Tia Wurzrainer (3), Bailey (2), Avalon Renninger (2) and Genna Wright (2) all tallied points.

Spanish sensation Julia García Oñoro came dangerously close to netting her first American basket.

While the ball wouldn’t drop for her, the foreign exchange hoops star, who is learning the game as she goes, provided hustle on defense and an enthusiastic welcome back to the bench for each of her teammates.

Read Full Post »

Welcome to the Mason Grove Experience!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Mason Grove tossed in 33 points Tuesday, with seven three-point bombs, in a narrow JV loss. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Mason Grove has solved the Port Townsend defense.

Scorching the RedHawks for a second time in as many games this season, the Coupeville sophomore rained down 33 points, and seven three-balls, Tuesday in a narrow 56-52 road loss for the Wolf JV boys.

That performance comes on the heels of a 34-point, 10-trey showcase back in mid-Dec., and Grove will get a final run at PT Jan. 26.

While the loss drops the young Wolves to 0-2 in Olympic League play, 1-9 overall, they didn’t give up without a considerable fight.

“Heart breaker! Great battle right up to the end,” said CHS coach Chris Smith. “We had a number of chances to put the game on ice but just couldn’t get it done.”

If nothing else, the Wolves were remarkably precise, scoring exactly 13 points in each of the four quarters.

“The defense ran a zone press all game and that gave us a lot of offensive opportunities,” Smith said. “Mason flat-out went off.”

Grove mixed things up, scoring 11 in the first quarter while hitting just a single three-ball.

After that, he added nine, seven and six going forward, with his most productive stretch from behind the arc coming in the second quarter, when he rained down a trio of treys.

Ulrik Wells backed him up, banging down low for six points, while Alex Jimenez (3), Koa Davison (3), Daniel Olson (3), Jacobi Pilgrim (2) and Jean Lund-Olsen (2) also scored.

Read Full Post »

Brush it off!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   After beating Port Townsend in overtime during their first meeting, Dane Lucero and the Wolves had less luck Tuesday in a rematch. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Forget about tonight, on to the next game.

That was the mantra Tuesday as the Coupeville High School boys basketball squad headed home from Port Townsend.

A rough shooting night doomed them against a confident RedHawks team in a 55-27 loss, but, tomorrow is, as they say, another day.

Wednesday will put the Wolves, now 1-1 in Olympic League play, 3-8 overall, back in their home gym.

And, instead of Port Townsend (4-1, 7-5), the foe will be Chimacum (0-3, 0-7).

Sitting in a tie with Klahowya (1-1, 4-7) at the moment, Coupeville has a prime opportunity to claim sole possession of second-place in league play with a win against the downtrodden Cowboys.

To do so, the Wolves will need to play like they did in the first quarter Tuesday.

Just maybe not like they did in quarters two and three, and definitely not like they did in the final eight minutes.

Up 12-11 at the first break, with senior guard Hunter Smith already having tossed in nine, things seemed to be going swimmingly for CHS.

Then a lid dropped on the rim for the Wolves.

Outscored 15-4 in the second, things went downhill steadily from there for Coupeville.

A 19-11 RedHawk run in the third stretched the lead out to a comfortable margin for the home fans, before a 10-0 fourth quarter added a bit of salt to the wound for the Wolves.

There weren’t a whole lot of bright spots for CHS, but it did out-shoot its hosts at the free throw line, tossing in four of five freebies to Port Townsend’s 2-5 showing.

Smith paced the Wolves with 13, which lifts him to 670 for his career.

He passed Wade Ellsworth (659), Pat Bennett (659) and Foster Faris (668) Tuesday, moving into 20th place on the Wolf boys basketball career scoring chart.

Joey Lippo backed Smith with seven points, while Ethan Spark (5) and Hunter Downes (2) rounded out the somewhat-limited offensive attack.

Read Full Post »

Back where they belong!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Kyla Briscoe scored seven points in a game-busting 9-0 run to end the third quarter Tuesday, as Coupeville held off Port Townsend 40-39. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

One day at a time. One win at a time.

In this most unpredictable of seasons, the battered but unbowed Coupeville High School girls basketball team still has a lot of life left in it.

That was proven yet again Tuesday, as the Wolves, playing without leading scorer Mikayla Elfrank, spread the buckets among seven different players, using a superb second-half run to nip visiting Port Townsend 40-39.

A bit of sweet revenge after the RedHawks handed CHS its first-ever Olympic League loss back in mid-Dec., the victory lifts Coupeville to 2-1 in conference play, 4-9 overall.

It also moves them back into a first-place tie with Chimacum (2-1) heading into a road game Wednesday with those same Cowboys.

It’s actually a three-way logjam, but Port Townsend (3-2) trails by percentage points (.600 to .667), while Klahowya (0-3) comfortably sits in the cellar at the moment.

The Wolves, who have won back-to-back games for the first time this season, and three of their last five, recaptured a huge dose of the mojo which carried the program to undefeated league titles the past three years running.

Specifically, they flashed the kind of heart and grit needed if they want to make it four years straight.

Down by four at the half, Coupeville came out of the break aggressive, confident and ready to tear up both the floor, and the RedHawks standing on that chunk of hardwood.

Using a 9-0 run at the end of the third quarter, with Kyla “Dead-Eye” Briscoe rattling down seven of those points, the Wolves snatched a lead they would never relinquish.

Briscoe went coast-to-coast on a steal, then knocked down a jumper off of a rebound, before pausing for a moment to let freshman Chelsea Prescott get in on the scoring fun, as she banked home a runner off of a nice cut and catch in the paint.

Then, bam, the ball went back to Briscoe, who knocked most of the air out of Port Townsend with a three-ball which nestled through the bottom of the net a tick or two before the quarter-ending buzzer.

Up 29-24 heading into the fourth, CHS kept up the assault, as Ema Smith sank her own trey to stretch the run to 12-0.

After a Port Townsend basket stopped the bleeding, Lindsey Roberts went to work, knocking down back-to-back buckets to push the lead out to its largest margin at 36-26.

The first basket came courtesy a sizzling set-up pass from Scout Smith, while the second one was all Roberts, as she attacked the hoop and ripped through a pair of defenders who weren’t doing a whole lot of … defending.

In years past, when the Wolves sliced ‘n diced the Olympic League, the game would have been likely over at that point.

But, this year is its own thing.

Coupeville had to replace four starters entering the season, and has lost two more as the games have played out.

Which means the current Wolves are a fairly young, still-developing squad and tend to play in spurts, some incredibly good, some incredibly nerve-wracking for their coaches.

So when they gave back a sizable chunk of the lead, it wasn’t surprising.

But the ability to fade, but not totally fade out — one the defensive-minded Wolves fully displayed down the stretch Tuesday — is hugely encouraging.

Sarah Wright was a whirlwind on defense, harassing RedHawks and poking the ball away repeatedly, before she and Roberts iced the game with big-time buckets in the final minute.

The Roberts basket came off of a nifty Prescott pass, while Wright got hers the old-fashioned way — go rip a rebound out of someone’s hands, then slam it back into the hoop.

Port Townsend’s star, Kaitlyn Meek, slashed the lead to 40-36 on a layup, before a desperation three-ball from Jaz Apker-Montoya with seconds to play cut the final margin to a measly point.

The CHS players, who could have, and should have, let the clock run out without in-bounding the ball, chose to tempt fate, but it worked out fine, as the RedHawks were unable to get a steal on the final play of the game.

While Port Townsend controlled the flow of the game in the first half, Coupeville stayed within shouting distance, trailing just 9-8 after the first quarter.

The Wolves shooting touch deserted them a bit in the second quarter, allowing the RedHawks to claim their biggest lead of the game at 18-11 with a minute left in the half.

Prescott swished a free-throw, then Coupeville’s defense forced one of many turnovers, resulting in a Briscoe-to-Roberts bucket to close out the half.

The Wolves spread their offensive love around, with Roberts leading the way with 10.

Briscoe added eight, with defensive hell-hound Ema Smith tossing home seven before tweaking her knee and heading to the bench for some ice.

Prescott (5), Scout Smith (4), Wright (4) and Hannah Davidson (2) also etched their names in the scoring column, while Allison Wenzel brought intensity on defense and Avalon Renninger was a vocal supporter from her perch on the bench.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »