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“We played tough!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Jake Pease (left), seen here in an earlier game, was a beast on the boards Saturday night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Mason Grove has a love affair with the bottom of the net.

Continuing his hot early-season shooting, the Coupeville High School sophomore went for 19 points, including five three-balls, Saturday in a 52-34 loss at South Whidbey.

That gives him 22 treys through the first four games of the season for a Wolf JV squad which sits at 1-3.

Coupeville’s young guns came out strongly against the host Falcons, jumping to a 13-9 lead after one quarter of play.

The Wolves couldn’t keep it up, however, as South Whidbey used a 32-13 surge over the middle two quarters to take control of the game.

“We played tough and I am very proud of the guys and how we played,” said Coupeville JV coach Chris Smith. “We played hard all game and I just couldn’t outwit some of the adjustments they made to slow down our offense.”

While Grove has been the go-to man for the Wolves, Smith has been working on mixing things up, combining strong inside play with the rainbows from behind the arc.

“I like how we attempted to get our big guys involved in the offense,” he said. “Jake (Pease) and Jean (Lund-Olsen) were rebounding machines on both ends of the court.”

Lund-Olsen dropped in six points to back Grove, while Sage Downes (3), Pease (3), Ulrik Wells (2) and David Prescott (1) also etched their names in the book.

Alex Jimenez and Daniel Olson also saw floor time for the Wolves.

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“After that, the wheels fell off…”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Sarah Wright knocked down four points and played strongly on defense Saturday in a Coupeville loss. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

For one minute, maybe a minute-and-a-half, things were as good as they get.

And then everything went haywire in a way not previously seen this season.

The Coupeville High School girls basketball squad has lost several times in the early weeks of the campaign, but those were close defeats which came down to the final few possessions.

What unfolded Saturday in Langley was the exact opposite – a team crumpling in on itself in a blowout loss.

South Whidbey strolled to a 42-22 victory, but the host Falcons did less to earn the win than the Wolves did to lose it.

Now 1-5, a still-jelling CHS squad heads into its Olympic League opener Tuesday against Port Townsend looking for answers.

For a program which has won 15 or more games in each of the past three seasons — all which ended with conference titles — it’s an unexpected place to be.

Saturday, for a brief slice of time, the Wolves, who are still adapting to replacing four starters, looked like a vintage version of themselves.

Coupeville scored three consecutive baskets off of forced turnovers to open the game, preventing the Falcons from even getting a shot off.

Mikayla Elfrank was the Wolf with the quick ‘n deadly hands, and things looked bright and promising.

“After that the wheels fell off,” said CHS coach David King in a bit of an understatement.

The Falcons finally connected on a jumper, and liked it well enough, they rolled off 10 straight points to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Scout Smith stopped the bleeding with a single free throw to close out the first quarter, but Coupeville would hit only five field goals over the final three quarters.

A couple of South Whidbey three-balls slipped through the net, stretching the lead out, and, from there, the Wolves disintegrated for a good chunk of the game.

“Once they took the lead, we started complaining about calls, even had a T called on us for making a remark,” King said. “For some reason we believe we do no wrong and complain.

“This has been a bad habit all year,” he added. “The wasted, negative energy hasn’t gotten us any points, an extra rebound or even a steal or assist.

“At some point we need to figure it out and just play basketball.”

Some positives did arise, as King praised Lindsey Roberts and Ema Smith for their work on defense.

“Ema did a great job on their tall post player,” he said. “Over-matched in height, she got a couple of blocks and held her own. Even caused an offensive foul.”

Elfrank finished with eight points to lead the Wolves, while Kalia Littlejohn (5), Sarah Wright (4), Scout Smith (3) and Kyla Briscoe (2) also scored.

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“They played hard until the end”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Wolf sophomore Ulrik Wells made his varsity debut Saturday night in Langley. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

There are wins, there are losses and then there are nights you just flip the score-book to another page and say, “Next…”

For a Coupeville High School boys basketball team which has played stellar defense so far this season, Saturday night will not go in the highlight reel.

Unable to stop host South Whidbey in the paint, from behind the arc or from out in the parking lot if the Falcons had chosen to shoot from there, the Wolves fell 73-12.

The non-conference loss drops Coupeville to 1-3 on the season, and undoubtedly stings.

But reality is, Tuesday brings the first Olympic League game, with Port Townsend visiting Cow Town, and having a short memory about Saturday’s debacle will be super important.

What loomed as another exciting chapter in a long and storied rivalry quickly took a dark turn for Coupeville.

South Whidbey came out flying, with Kody Newman hitting a runner in the first tenth of a second of the game.

OK, it might have taken just a wee bit longer than that, but not much.

After that, the Falcons, who finished the night boasting a 5-0 record, put the game away faster than their fans could clap-clap-clap every time their team was on defense.

A 15-0 lead midway through the first quarter turned into a 39-4 edge at the half, and nothing got better for Coupeville from there.

The Falcons were exactly who they were supposed to be.

Lewis Pope was electric, Newman was a slick-passing, dagger-dropping assassin and a gaggle of young but lanky “bigs” dominated on the glass.

Other than a sweet pull-up jumper from Cameron Toomey-Stout, some nice work on the boards from Kyle Rockwell and the varsity debut of sophomore Ulrik Wells, there wasn’t much joy for Wolf fans.

“Not much you can say about that one,” said CHS coach Brad Sherman. “Just not our night, against a very good basketball team.

“Proud of our guys. They kept their heads up and played hard until the end.”

Pope finished with a game-high 31, while Wolf senior Hunter Smith scored every Coupeville point which didn’t come via Toomey-Stout’s jumper.

His 10 on the night lifts his career total to 534.

With that, Smith passes ’90s big man Brad Miller (526) to claim 37th place on the CHS boys career scoring list.

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Double your hoops pleasure!!

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on December 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Makana Stone tossed in a game-high 14 points Saturday, sparking Whitman to its eighth-straight win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Winner, winner, chicken dinner for Wolf grads everywhere.

Both of Coupeville’s college basketball-playing whiz kids came away with victories Saturday, while playing in different states.

Makana Stone and Whitman College rolled to a tourney win in Spokane, their eighth-straight triumph.

Meanwhile, out in Pennsylvania, Kailey Kellner and D’Youville College snapped a losing skid and go into a nearly month-long break flush with a conference win.

Stone: 

Whitman, ranked #7 in the most-recent NCAA D-III women’s basketball poll, bounced Colorado College 75-42 to sweep through the Holiday Classic presented by Red Lion River Inn.

The Blues improved to 8-1, and will take a week-and-a-half off before playing in the Trinity University Classic in San Antonio Dec. 20-21.

Saturday, Whitman leaned on All-American Casey Poe and their sophomore sensation, Stone, who made for a very-effective one-two punch.

The duo dropped 14 points apiece, while Stone added four rebounds, four assists and a steal.

After a quick start (Whitman rolled out to an 18-9 bulge after one quarter), the Blues put it on cruise control for the rest of the afternoon.

The second half was a thing of beauty, as Whitman rolled up a 43-18 advantage after the break.

Through nine games, Stone, who was voted tourney MVP for her work this weekend, leads the Blues in scoring, tallying 129 points.

She also has 52 rebounds, 19 assists, six steals and a blocked shot.

A key to her success this season has been her sizzlin’ shooting touch. Stone is hitting 65% from the field, on 55 of 84 shots, and 73% from the free throw line (19-26).

Kellner:

The freshman Spartan snagged two rebounds, as D’Youville held off a furious fourth quarter rally in a 53-50 win at Pittsburgh-Greensburg.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak and lifts the Spartans to 3-6 overall, 2-1 in league play.

Up by three at the half, D’Youville crushed it in the third, rolling up a 22-9 advantage.

Then, the Spartans almost gave it all back, allowing their hosts to go on a 19-6 run in the fourth which fell just short of a miracle comeback.

D’Youville is now off until Jan. 4.

Through the first nine games of her college career, Kellner has made four starts and is averaging 3.3 points and 2.2 rebounds a night.

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Never stop fighting!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Wolf frosh Mollie Bailey, seen here in an earlier game, dropped in 10 points Friday against Sequim. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Never say die.

It’s one of the trademarks of any Amy King team, and Friday was no different.

Shaking off an extremely lackluster first quarter, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team spent the rest of the night fighting to get back into its game against visiting 2A Sequim.

Give them two or three more minutes, and we might be talking about a win.

Instead, after slicing a 12-point deficit away, the young, thin Wolves finally ran out of time and luck, falling 41-36 to the invaders.

The loss drops Coupeville to 2-2 headed into another non-conference game Saturday, this one coming on the road at South Whidbey.

Friday, the Wolves, who played very, very early (a 3:30 PM tip), took eight minutes to wake up.

Down 15-3 at the first break, Coupeville was in trouble.

“We came out so slow tonight,” King said. “Our defense in the first quarter really did not exist.

“On offense, we had turnover after turnover on our first four to five possessions,” she added. “Both offense and defense for us were passive and just not clicking.”

Coupeville desperately needed a spark, and it arrived in the form of swing player Avalon Renninger.

Needing to save playing time in case the varsity needed her services later (it did), the sophomore sensation sat out the first quarter. Once in the game, though, she was raring to shake things up.

“Avalon made a noticeable difference with the energy,” King said. “She instantly scored and had fresh legs for defense that seemed to help energize her teammates.”

With energy crackling from one end of the floor to the other, Renninger’s teammates fed off of her go-go-go attitude.

Mollie Bailey and Kylie Chernikoff “hit a few really pretty shots,” Nicole Lester knocked down a bucket, then Chelsea Prescott went off, rattling the rim with shot after successful shot.

Coupeville came all the way back to claim a short-lived lead in the fourth quarter, off of a Prescott bucket set up by a Renninger pass and a Bailey screen.

Sequim, blessed with a much deeper bench (CHS was missing four players), used its fresh legs to reclaim the lead, however, and held on down the stretch.

King still walked away happy, pleased with her team’s refusal to go down easy.

“I know a few of the girls were not feeling well tonight and we’re still short-handed, but the girls fought their hardest,” she said. “I was happy for them with their comeback. They are learning with every game.”

Prescott led the way with 13 points, 11 rebounds, a steal and a block, while Bailey torched the nets for 10 points.

Renninger (5), Chernikoff (4) and Lester (4) rounded out the scorers, with Maddy Hilkey (in her season debut) and Julia García Oñoro also seeing floor time.

Playing a strong all-around game, Chernikoff snared five rebounds and delivered two soul-searing blocks.

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