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Beat by the best!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Hunter Smith singed the nets for a game-high 20 Saturday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Facts are facts – Bellevue Christian has a very strong boys basketball squad.

Blessed with a six-foot-six guy who can play inside, shoot three-balls and get out and run the floor, plus a pack of speedy gunners to fly cover for him, the Vikings are 7-0 for a reason.

And yet, Coupeville, missing two starters and playing a lineup made up entirely of sophomores at one point Saturday, didn’t get embarrassed.

The Wolves, led by a game-high 20 points from senior Hunter Smith, stayed close through the first half and “won” the fourth quarter.

But, a poor third quarter, in which the visitors went on a 17-3 run and CHS scored on exactly one play in eight minutes, doomed any upset bids and BC left the Island with a 61-38 win.

The non-conference loss, the second in as many nights against a top-level Nisqually League foe, drops Coupeville to 2-5.

The record is a bit deceiving though, as the Wolves sit atop the Olympic League standings at 1-0, and are enduring a rough non-league schedule which should, hopefully, make them stronger when the games start counting towards playoff positioning.

First-year coach Brad Sherman is preaching patience, and using non-conference games as building blocks, and you can see the Wolves making strides.

Saturday, even without starters Cameron Toomey-Stout and Joey Lippo, Coupeville held its own against the much-taller, quicker Vikings.

With Smith rattling home eight points in the first quarter, and Hunter Downes and Jered Brown chipping with a bucket apiece, CHS forced five first quarter ties, and trailed just 14-12 with seconds left on the clock.

Bellevue cashed in with a last-second three-ball to cap the quarter, however, then stretched the lead out to double digits early in the second period.

Coupeville responded by showing toughness in the paint, with Downes converting a put-back off of a rebound before Kyle Rockwell got dynamic.

Taking a pass down low, the senior enforcer squared up Bellevue’s biggest player, backed him down and drained a bank shot while getting hammered on the arms.

Swishing the ensuing free throw, he pulled CHS within 23-17, the closest it would get the rest of the way.

BC, which has eliminated Coupeville from the playoffs the last two years, proved to be too deep and too talented on this night, turning an 11-point bulge at the half into a 25-point lead exiting the third.

The Wolves couldn’t get a thing to drop in the third, with several would-be buckets popping back out under pressure.

Smith broke the skid with a coast-to-coast romp, turning a steal into a breakaway layup, then slipping home a free throw after being mugged on his way to pay dirt.

In the fourth, Sherman gave his young guns some precious floor time, with Brown being joined for several minutes by fellow sophomores Gavin Knoblich, Ulrik Wells, Mason Grove and Jakobi Pilgrim.

Wells earned a well-deserved roar from the crowd when he soundly rejected a BC shot into the cheap seats, while Grove toasted the net on a three-ball for his first-ever varsity points.

Smith’s 20 points gives him 594 for his stellar career, allowing him to pass Gabe McMurray (592) and tie Mike Syreen (594) at #31 on the Wolf boys career scoring list.

Rockwell (5), Downes (4), Brown (4), Grove (3) and Ethan Spark (2) rounded out the scoring attack, while Dane Lucero chipped in with a solid effort on defense.

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Put a scare into them!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Sarah Wright knocked down four points and played aggressively on defense Saturday against highly-touted Bellevue Christian. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s a work in progress, and they showed progress.

Playing aggressively, yet under control, in the first half Saturday, the rebuilding Coupeville High School girls basketball team rattled visiting Bellevue Christian.

And, while the Vikings, who boasted a huge height advantage, eventually pulled away for a 51-29 non-conference win, it didn’t come as easily as the score might indicate.

BC, which improves to 5-2, padded the margin with a string of fourth-quarter buckets.

Otherwise, the game was a pitched battle until Coupeville, now 1-7, suffered through a crippling third-quarter shooting drought.

The Wolves jumped on the Vikings early for an 8-2 lead, and led as late as 15-14 with three minutes to play in the first half.

Ema Smith, joining the starting lineup, gave CHS a jolt of energy, knocking down a pull-up jumper to open the scoring, then draining a pair of free throws.

While all of her points came in the first quarter, the junior fireball played wicked defense all game.

Teaming up with Sarah Wright to form a feisty, elbows swingin’ duo, Smith helped keep Bellevue’s Twin Towers under control for much of the game.

The Vikings boast four players 5-10 or taller (to just one on Coupeville’s current roster), and two of those are 6-1 and 6-2.

Smith and Wright tangled with the tall trees, bumping and knocking them out of place on a regular basis, forcing the BC duo to sweat for what buckets they could get.

Wright hit the boards with a wild glee, fighting for every loose ball like her life depended on it, and she banged home a bucket after nabbing a first quarter carom.

Up 8-2, the Wolves hit a bit of a dry stretch, allowing BC to run off nine straight points and regain the lead at 11-8 heading into the second.

Coupeville had an immediate response, however, as Lindsey Roberts drilled a three-ball to kick off the second quarter. The play was a thing of beauty, as the ball skipped from Chelsea Prescott to Wright to Roberts to the bottom of the net.

Breaking Bellevue’s press on back-to-back plays, the Wolves snagged their final lead at 15-14 when Prescott slapped home a layup off of a long pass.

Once again, a very-solid, veteran BC squad held fast, though, closing the half on a 10-3 run.

And yet, there was a hint of trepidation in their eyes as the Vikings exited the floor.

After blowing South Whidbey out by 30 Friday, the second half of their Whidbey doubleheader wasn’t going completely to plan.

Wright came out swinging in the third quarter, backing down her defender and banking home a bucket on the first play to pull the Wolves within 24-20.

Unfortunately, that was the moment Coupeville’s shooting touch decided to vanish.

The Wolves only managed one field goal the rest of the night, a put-back from Roberts late in the fourth.

Other than a string of free-throws, CHS couldn’t get anything to drop over the final 15 minutes, including a three-ball from Mikayla Elfrank which went 95% of the way down, then somehow popped right back out.

While Coupeville couldn’t buy a field goal in the late going, it did enjoy one of its best shooting performances from the free throw line this season, hitting 12-18. That included 7-10 in the second half.

Elfrank paced CHS with nine points. That lifts her to 215 for her career and slides her past former Wolf great Linda Cheshier into 50th place on the Wolf girls career scoring chart.

Prescott and Roberts added five apiece, Wright and Ema Smith both popped for four, and Kyla Briscoe and Scout Smith each dropped in a free throw.

Avalon Renninger was a whirling dervish on defense during her stint on the floor.

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Exit as champs!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Ja’Kenya Hoskins will straight up murder you on the boards. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

   A quick snack and it was on to the championship game. (Stephanie Streitler photo)

Da champs. (Joshua Leavell photo)

Their swan song was a sweet one.

Rolling to three wins in as many games Saturday, the Coupeville 8th grade SWISH girls basketball team won its postseason tourney.

Now it’s on to the middle school season, where practice starts in late Jan.

Saturday, the Wolves opened by blasting the Swinomish Thunder 33-6.

After that came gut-check wins, as Coupeville nipped big city rivals Mount Vernon 22-20 and Oak Harbor 21-18.

The semifinals victory was one which brought a special smile to coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh’s face.

“I tell you what, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more intense, well-played eighth grade basketball game in my life,” he said. “We had some adversity, we have some girls get hurt and we got major contributions from everybody that played.

“In years past, in that game we would have lost by 10 or 12,” Van Velkinburgh added. “This year we stayed the course, hit free throws and did all the right things to win.

“It was a lot of fun to watch!”

Coupeville’s roster included Izzy Wells, Kylie Van Velkinburgh, Abby Mulholland, Ella Colwell, Anya Leavell, Ja’Kenya Hoskins, Samantha Streitler and Audrianna Shaw.

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“These are good tests for us!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Sophomore Jacobi Pilgrim and Coupeville’s other young varsity players got plenty of floor time Friday at Vashon. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The scoreboard doesn’t always tell the whole story.

If that’s all you looked at Friday, it might be a bit of a letdown, as a Coupeville High School boys basketball squad coming off of an emotional overtime win came back down to Earth.

Unable to mount much of a sustained offensive charge against a strong Vashon Island defense, the Wolves fell 52-27 deep on the road.

The non-conference loss drops CHS to 2-4 heading into a home tilt against undefeated Bellevue Christian Saturday. Tip-off is 3 PM.

What knowing just the score won’t tell you is the Wolves were missing starters Cameron Toomey-Stout and Joey Lippo.

One of their replacements, Jered Brown, made it through the first half, before illness left him on the bench after the halftime break.

With three key players either missing or only able to play reduced minutes, CHS coach Brad Sherman went deep into his bench.

Sophomore Mason Grove made his varsity debut, while other young guns like Ulrik Wells, Gavin Knoblich and Jacobi Pilgrim saw substantial playing time.

“Lots of young guys stepped up tonight and gave us some good minutes, which was really nice to see,” Sherman said.

“Getting them some time now, before we hit the league schedule hard, is ultimately a good thing, if we can develop a little more depth in some areas.”

Vashon, which spread its scoring out across the roster, came out on fire in the early going, shooting the Wolves out of the gym before they could get their legs fully under them.

The Pirates turned a 16-4 lead after one quarter into a 35-10 bulge at the half.

Things were different in the second half, however, as Coupeville battled Vashon to a 17-17 stalemate over the third and fourth quarters.

“Really a lot of credit to Vashon. That’s a good basketball team,” Sherman said. “Our guys fought hard. They always fight hard. I love that about them.”

Hunter Smith went for 10 of his game-high 14 points in the second half, including draining 8-10 free throws.

In a game where neither team spent too much time at the free throw stripe, both teams shot especially well when they did wind up there.

Vashon was a flawless 6-6, while Coupeville finished 9-12.

Ethan Spark added eight points, including a pair of three-balls, to back Smith, while Kyle Rockwell banged down low for a season-high four points.

“Kyle played tough, he’s doing well,” Sherman said. “It’s been nice to see.”

Dane Lucero tickled the twines on a free throw to round out the scoring and defensive buzz-saw Hunter Downes spent the night terrorizing the Pirates on the boards and in the paint.

Coupeville, which plays its next five games at home, sits atop the Olympic League in the early going, tied at 1-0 with Klahowya. Port Townsend (1-1) and Chimacum (0-2) bring up the rear.

With the Wolves playing virtually all their league games at the end of the schedule — eight of their final 10 games are conference clashes — the early part of the season gives CHS a chance to prepare for the games which will dictate their playoff fate.

“Always hurts to leave without the win, but we have to be forward-looking,” Sherman said. “What’s ultimately important in these is that, win or lose, we are getting ourselves ready for our league schedule.

“We play a tough non-league schedule and that’s a good thing,” he added. “These are good tests for us and each time we get to evaluate where we can improve, to get to where we know we want to be sitting at the end of the year.”

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Undermanned Wolves go down swinging!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Koa Davison dropped in four points Friday in a Wolf JV loss at Vashon. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The trip to Vashon Island can be a brutal one.

Case in point – two separate ferries, and a considerable chunk of time spent on the bus, might have conspired to sap the legs of the Coupeville High School JV boys basketball players Friday night.

Run off the floor in the first quarter, they worked their way back into contention the rest of the way, but couldn’t overcome an early deficit, falling 54-30.

The loss drops the Wolves, who return to action Saturday at home against Bellevue Christian, to 1-5 on the season.

Not only were they fighting the after-effects of an epic journey, but the CHS young guns were also at less than full force.

Leading scorer Mason Grove and bangers Ulrik Wells and Gavin Knoblich all saw limited playing time, so they could be available to swing up and also play varsity.

With Jake Pease gone on vacation, that left Wolf coach Chris Smith missing much of his scoring and rebounding.

Vashon exploded out to an 18-4 lead after one quarter, then stretched the lead to 29-12 at the half.

Grove caught fire in the third quarter, one of just two periods where he saw floor time, outscoring the host Pirates 14-13 by himself.

That included four successful shots from behind the three-point arc for the Wolf gunner.

He finished with a team-high 16 points a game after raining down 10 three-balls and banking 34 points in a full game against Port Townsend.

Wells and Koa Davison backed him up with four points apiece, while Tucker Hall, Jean Lund-Olsen and Knoblich each added a bucket to the cause.

Edgar Hernandez, playing the entire JV game, went off for a game-high 23 to pace Vashon.

While Coupeville struggled with Vashon’s press in the first half, the Wolves responded much better after the break, something their coach hailed as a positive.

“Overall I was happy how we responded in the second half, moving the ball around well and continuing to play tough defense,” Smith said. “Everyone on the bench saw the floor tonight, so that was a small victory!”

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