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Roger that, we have a legend incoming!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , on March 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   The 1952-53 CHS boys basketball squad, which made Langley cry a school-record four times in one season. (Photos courtesy Brad Sherman)

There is no Coupeville without the Sherman family.

They have carved out an enduring legacy over the decades, as farmers, community leaders and athletes.

Today, we take a moment to welcome one of their best and brightest, to our little Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Of course, with or without my acknowledgement, Roger Sherman’s lifetime of achievement can more than stand on its own.

But, for what it’s worth, I’m very happy to reach back in time to the early ’50s and shine a spotlight on a four-sport star who will forever tower large in Wolf lore.

After this, you’ll find him camped out at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, where he becomes the fifth Sherman inducted, joining Brad, Haley, Marilyn and Mary.

Name a sport and Roger was front and center for Coupeville until his graduation in 1953.

He played basketball, tennis and baseball all four years, while also starring on the gridiron as a sophomore and junior.

In a bit of a departure from norm, instead of me rambling on, we’re going to take advantage of the enterprising work of Brad Sherman and showcase Roger’s senior year through the use of glossy pics from the 1953 CHS annual.

So hop in the time machine and return with us to the days when a legend was born.

Roger Sherman, matinee idol and well-rounded scholar athlete.

Sherman and fellow Hall o’ Famer Tom Sahli top the stat sheet.

   Sherman (5) played for a young coach, Mert Waller (far right, back) just starting his own Hall o’ Fame career.

What a racket.

Diamond dandies.

Gridiron giants.

Caught in the spotlight.

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Wolves wage the good fight!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , on March 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Audrianna Shaw, seen here in an earlier game, scored nine points Thursday. (John Fisken photo)

Stevens is the big kid on the block, the one prone to sitting on the other kids and giving them wet willies.

A ginormous 600+ student middle school that funnels its players to 2A Port Angeles, it is easily the largest, most imposing foe dinky Coupeville Middle School plays.

So, you look for your positives where you can.

There weren’t any road wins Thursday for the Wolves, but there was improvement, and sometimes that’s enough to get you through to the next game.

The biggest bright spot came courtesy the 7th grade CMS squad, which kept things close in a 42-27 loss after being roughed up the first time these schools met a month ago.

Course, if we’re going by the book, where the Stevens score-keepers only recorded 19 of their team’s 42 points, maybe Coupeville won after all…

Back in reality, the Wolves got big games from Kiara Contreras and Audrianna Shaw, who each rattled home nine points.

Shaw was hot early, singing the nets for five in the first quarter, while Contreras, an Energizer Rabbit of a player who ratchets up her intensity as she goes, hit for six of her points in the fourth.

Anya Leavell (4), Ja’Kenya Hoskins (2) and Kylie Van Velkinburgh (1) rounded out the scoring, while Adair De Jesus, Samantha Streitler, Katelin McCormick and McKenna Somes all saw floor time.

The CMS 8th graders got roughed up a bit more, falling 51-10 to a brutally-efficient Stevens squad.

Chelsea Prescott paced the Wolves with a team-high seven, while Genna Wright knocked down a bucket and Izzy Wells swished a free throw.

Mollie Bailey, Abby Mulholland, Bella Velasco, Heidi Clinkscales and Kaitlin Painter rounded out the CMS roster.

Coupeville returns to action Monday, Mar. 20, with a road game at Sequim, then closes the season with back-to-back home games Mar. 23 (Forks) and 27 (Port Townsend).

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Girls, hoop it up!!

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

Release the Kracken!

Want to play select basketball but don’t want to spend every day traveling off Whidbey for practice?

You’re in luck, at least if you’re a girl in grades 2-7 (or the parent of said girl).

Whidbey Elite, a competitive AAU program, is launching in Oak Harbor, and hopes to draw players from the entire Island.

Tryouts are Mar. 28 at Oak Harbor High School and the season runs April-August.

The squad will practice twice a week, with an optional third training day, and compete in tournaments throughout the Pacific Northwest,

For all the particulars, info registration or to contact team officials, hop over to:

http://www.whidbeyhoops.com/

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Young guns blazing!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , on March 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Mollie Bailey (left) and Genna Wright — serious on the court, goofballs off. (John Fisken photos)

They’re on their way to taking over the world.

   Lily Leedy (left) and Adair DeJesus, seen in an earlier game, both played strongly Monday.

The game turned, and it turned fast.

Attacking relentlessly in the early moments Monday, the Coupeville Middle School 7th grade girls basketball team knocked visiting Chimacum back on its heels.

With five different players scoring in the first quarter, the Wolves built a lead and never relinquished it, rolling to a 42-25 win.

The nightcap wasn’t quite as successful, as the CMS 8th graders ran into a much-more polished Cowboy squad, falling 50-18.

Now boasting a three-game winning streak, the 7th graders sit at 4-2, while the undermanned 8th graders are 1-5.

7th grade:

The Wolves got on the board early when Samantha Streitler ripped a rebound away from a Cowboy rival and banked it home, then the floodgates opened.

Sparked by a feisty defense, CMS started droppin’ buckets from all angles.

Kylie Van Velkinburgh tickled the twines with a sweet one-handed jumper off of an in-bounds play, before Anya Leavell and Kiara Contreras threw down breakaway buckets off of steals.

Even when they slowed down the pace — for a second — the Wolves were locked in.

Audrianna Shaw, after taking an entry pass from Leavell, who had her most explosive game of the season, backed her defender down, then banked the ball off the glass with a flick of her wrist.

Up 10-6 after one and 20-12 at the half, Coupeville put the game firmly in the win column with a dominant third quarter.

It wasn’t just the 12-4 scoring margin, but the way Ja’Kenya Hoskins took over the boards and Leavell set the nets on fire.

Pouring in eight of her game-high 14 in the second half, the sweet-shooting Leavell was straight-up money for the Wolves.

She got plenty of help, as seven of the 11 Wolves to hit the floor put the ball through the net.

Hoskins banged home eight, while Streitler and Contreras dropped in six apiece.

Shaw (4), Adair DeJesus (2) and Van Velkinburgh (2) also scored, with McKenna Somes, Alana Mihill, Katelin McCormick and Lily Leedy bringing hustle and hard work.

8th grade:

The “older” squad, which is a mix of players since the Wolves have only four 8th graders, had their moments.

Coupeville got three-balls from Genna Wright and Abby Mulholland, scrappy play from hard-charging Heidi Clinkscales and one gorgeous pass and bucket that earned an appreciate “Ooh!” from visiting high school round-ball guru David King.

On that play, Chelsea Prescott pulled the defense to her, then whipped a pass that started as a laser, before softly dropping right at the end onto Izzy Wells waiting fingertips.

Catching the ball and laying it up in one smooth move, Wells bucket was easily the prettiest of the night.

Unfortunately, Chimacum couldn’t miss in the early going, rampaging out to a 24-9 lead after one quarter.

Coupeville’s defense got stingier as the game went, reducing the Cowboys point total in every quarter, a testament to the never-say-die ethos of the team.

Wells paced the Wolves with six points, while Wright bombed away for five.

Mulholland (3), Prescott (2) and Clinkscales (2) rounded out the attack, while Mollie Bailey, Bella Velasco, McCormick and Leedy all saw floor time for CMS.

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Stone closes book on smash debut!!

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Makana Stone made a quick transition from high school to college, playing a major role for a Whitman College team that went to the Elite Eight. (John Fisken photo)

The end, when it came, arrived in a hail of missed shots.

A tired, racked-by-illness Whitman College women’s basketball squad hit an ice-cold 27% from the field Saturday, falling 65-48 to undefeated St. Thomas in the fourth round of the NCAA D-III basketball championships.

The Elite Eight defeat, in which Coupeville grad Makana Stone racked up six points, five boards and two blocked shots playing against an All-American, ends Whitman’s season at 26-5.

It was the best finish for the Blues since 2014, when they lost in the national title game.

St. Thomas, which entered the tourney ranked #2 in the nation, improves to 31-0 and advances to the Final Four in Grand Rapids, Michigan Mar. 17-18.

Whitman, ranked #16, rolled to five straight postseason wins, capturing the Northwest Conference tourney, then sweeping through its first three foes in the NCAA championships.

But playing on back-to-back nights in frigid St. Paul, Minnesota, on the home court of its opponent, the Blues could not buy a shot.

Whitman’s big three — Chelsi Brewer, Casey Poe and Emily Rommel — who were all averaging double digits in scoring, went a combined 4 of 26 from the field Saturday, while the Blues missed all 15 of their three-point attempts.

Stone, making the 14th start of her freshman season, opened the game on a tear.

She rejected the first shot of the game, then dropped Whitman’s first two buckets. First she hit a sweet jumper from the left side, before neatly dropping in a running layup.

But already Whitman was showing signs of cold shooting, trailing 11-4 early in a game in which it never held the lead.

St. Thomas didn’t pull away quickly, but continued to creep out a bit more here and there.

A 17-10 lead after one quarter turned into a 33-23 margin at the half when St. Thomas gunner Lucia Renikoff drilled a three-ball right on the final play of the first half.

It was a huge crusher, as Whitman had just rallied to within seven after Stone snatched up a loose ball and took it coast-to-coast for a layup with 43 ticks to play.

Whitman got stabbed right in the chest again at the end of the third quarter, as Maddie Wolkow buried a trey with a second to play, lifting St. Thomas to a 48-36 lead.

As the hometown crowd celebrated a second straight buzzer-beater, all the Blues could do was shake their heads and go to the bench.

Rommel, Stone and Poe all fouled out in the fourth quarter in a game that felt like it was called fairly one-sided. But, a look at the stats (22 fouls on Whitman to 17 by St. Thomas) turns out to be much closer than expected.

The pride of Coupeville had a highly-successful debut season in college ball, playing in 30 of 31 games (concussion protocol kept her benched one night).

While on the floor, Stone poured in 208 points (6.9 a night) and hauled down 191 rebounds (6.4).

She was #2 on the team in rebounding and field goal percentage (hitting 48.4% on 92 of 190 shots), while racking up 31 assists, 16 steals and 13 blocks.

Stone played 576 minutes, the most of any of Whitman’s seven freshmen.

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