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Posts Tagged ‘Basketball’

She’s a killer and a thriller!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Happy birthday, Softball, Volleyball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Happy birthday, Scout Smith, Softball, thriller on July 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Scout Smith: Rampaging force of nature. (John Fisken and Charlotte Young photos)

Scout Smith: a rampaging force of nature. (John Fisken and Charlotte Young photos)

Scout Smith is the real deal.

As a new pack of Wolves get ready to enter the hallways of Coupeville High School, she is at the forefront of the coming athletic revolution.

A three-sport star (volleyball, basketball, softball), who also played soccer and cheered in her younger days, Smith can do it all, and she can do it all extremely well.

As she celebrates her 14th birthday today, Scout is following in the (very successful) footsteps of older brothers CJ and Hunter, and, frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she outdoes them.

She’s got the same quiet confidence mixed with raw talent that they possess, and gravitates towards being a team leader.

Not afraid to get down and dirty on the field, Smith is that rarity, an athlete who wants the ball at crunch time and never shies away from the heat of the spotlight.

So, exactly like her brothers.

Whether staring daggers at hitters while pacing in the pitcher’s circle, or draining three-balls over outstretched arms, Scout is a killer.

Who also happens to be an extraordinarily nice person away from the arena, a vital part of a close-knit group of young women who excelled in middle school and little league sports by supporting each other and always focusing on team above all else.

You can go down a checklist with Scout, a very similar one to CJ and Hunter:

Smart, well-spoken, high character, mentally tough, hard workers who reflect extremely well on parents Chris and Charlotte, both as athletes and people.

When the Smith family moved to Whidbey during the 2013-2014 basketball season, Coupeville pulled off a major coup and the benefits to our sports teams and our community grow each day.

So, as she prepares to lay waste to high school competition, we just want to take a moment on her cake day to stop and wish the youngest family member all the best, on and off the field.

You’re a hard-court killer and a diamond thriller, Scout, and a whole lot more. Happy birthday, superstar!

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Bucket$ for Bennett!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Fundraisers, tagged Basketball, Bennett Boyles, CMS Wolves, Ebey Academy, Enumclaw, fundraiser on July 28, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Bennett Boyles (Photo courtesy Pat Kelley)

The rock outside CHS shows support for the town’s ailing hoops star.

They’re shooting for their teammate.

Adding a personal spin to the community’s ongoing efforts to help Bennett Boyles and his family, Coupeville Middle School basketball players will be scoring for two reasons this weekend.

The Wolves are sending two squads to Encumclaw for a tourney, and while there, every basket they score will go to help Boyles, their missing teammate.

The 11-year-old is in Seattle, undergoing weeks of treatment for an inoperable tumor on his brain stem.

His mom, CHS grad Lucienne Rivera, quit her job to be with him, and people near and far are stepping up to help the family pay their considerable expenses.

Ebey Academy, where teachers had the joy of welcoming Bennett on a regular basis, has been at the forefront of fundraising operations.

You can help them at: https://gobennett.givingfuel.com/go-bennett

The Wolves hoops squads, coached by Nate Barton and Pat Kelley, will be eight-men strong this weekend.

Matthew Kelley, Alex Jimenez, Jake Mitten, Connor Barton, Danny Barajas, Caleb Meyer, Logan Martin and Miles Davidson will play in a 3 v 3 tourney.

Each player is asking fans to pledge money for baskets scored, with all proceeds going to their missing brother.

The team’s goal is to raise $500 this weekend for Boyles.

“We will take Enumclaw by storm,” Pat Kelley said. “We will play fair but HARD.

“The teams we leave in our wake will fear us and know that our effort and dedication is based on the LOVE we have for Bennett and his family!”

Total baskets from the tourney will be published here on Coupeville Sports after play is done Sunday.

Pledges can either be given to players or dropped off at Ebey Academy (140 SE Terry Road in Coupeville, across from the high school).

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Pretty, pretty, pretty good … but not great!!

Posted in stats, tagged 1A, Basketball, CHS Wolves, rankings, Track on July 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Lindsey Roberts (20) and Lauren Grove (3) were key players last year for both girls basketball and track. (John Fisken photo)

It’s time to take the next step.

Two years ago, Coupeville High School left behind the 1A/2A Cascade Conference and joined Port Townsend, Klahowya and Chimacum in starting the 1A Olympic League.

Since then, the Wolves have acquitted themselves strongly, jumping from 40 league wins and two titles (girls basketball and tennis) in 2014-2015 to 42 wins and a league-best four titles (girls basketball and tennis, plus baseball and boys tennis) this past school year.

CHS, despite trailing Klahowya 445-227 in the latest Washington Interscholastic Activities Association student body counts, has more than held its own with the Eagles, and, as a school, is well ahead of its other two league mates.

Not bad, especially when you realize Coupeville is the 6th-smallest true 1A school, and Klahowya is the 2nd-biggest.

What has been missing for the Wolves, though, is major postseason success.

A study posted today by The Columbian in Vancouver breaks down success at state tournaments across 15 sports, and it finds Coupeville was the 50th most successful 1A school (out of 64) over the past two years.

Not surprisingly, ritzy private school King’s tops the chart (by a lot), while Klahowya is #22.

That’s based largely on state titles won by the Eagles soccer programs, since the chart gives five points for a team championship.

The Wolves racked up three points in two years, earning a single point apiece for three separate teams which finished between 9th and 16th at state.

The CHS girls’ hoops program, which lost to Cashmere in the Regional (final 16) round of the state tourney this winter, nabs one.

The other two points come courtesy the Wolf track teams, with the girls (11th at state this year) and boys (15th) being recognized for their work in Cheney this spring.

So, what’s the positive?

Easy, Coupeville got some points, unlike five schools — Bush, Eastside Prep, Stevenson, River View and Wahluke, which were blanked over the past two years.

That’s got to really sting for Wahluke, which at 422.5 students, is the fifth-biggest 1A school in student body size.

But there’s also a heck of a lot of room for improvement for Coupeville to make.

The Wolves need to make that next step, turning league success into postseason success, much as they did in the early-to-mid 2000s.

A 3rd place finish by the 2002 softball squad.

Three top-eight performances by the girls’ basketball program from 2002-2005.

A long string of success in the Cheney sun by the track teams.

It’s happened before, and it can (and should) happen again.

Coupeville just needs to take that next step.

To see the Columbian story, pop over to:

How prep athletic programs rank statewide in each classification

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The little sister lights up the joint, too!!

Posted in Happy birthday, Softball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Happy birthday, Julian Welling, Melia Welling, Venom on July 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The impeccably-dressed Melia Welling. (John Fisken photos)

“Is mom working at PC right now, cause I’m parking this ball somewhere around the produce section.”

I like Melia Welling.

Regardless of whether or not she continues to become a big athletic star and ends up giving me plenty to write about over the next four years (and I think she will), she’s just a great young woman.

Like older brother Julian, she projects a friendliness that is infectious, and you can’t help but root for her.

Melia is on her way to becoming a freshman at Coupeville High School, with a pit stop in Birthday Land today, and she’s already made an impression as an athlete.

Volleyball, basketball, and, most recently, as a softball slugger for Central Whidbey Little League’s high-flying Juniors squad, the Venom, Welling has jumped in feet first.

She hails from an athletic family, which includes big bro and her cousins, Mitchell and Shane Losey, and she’s upholding tradition well.

Her biggest moment so far probably came when she thumped a two-run double in a Venom game.

The blow made Julian come dangerously close to flipping off the top row of the bleachers at the CHS softball diamond, as he screamed like a banshee while Melia beamed from ear to ear at second base.

Whether crunching big hits or giggling away with Cassidy Moody as the duo kept score at middle school boys’ basketball games, Welling is a talented, hard-working young woman who has made a very good impression on those of us in the cheap seats.

From all of us, happy birthday Melia. May the best be yet to come.

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Hoops stars sharpen skills!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Lindsey Roberts, summer camp, Western Washington University on July 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Wolves (l to r) Lindsey Roberts, Kailey Kellner and Sarah Wright hang out between drills. (Sherry Roberts photos)

Avalon Renninger (right) learns the game from college players.

The players huddle up before taking the floor.

Renninger and coach are joined by Genna Wright.

The team that laughs together, kicks butt together.

The Wolfpack.

They sacrificed some of their free time for future success.

Four Coupeville High School basketball players and one plucky middle school hard-court ace traveled to Bellingham this week to attend a summer hoops camp at Western Washington University.

Wolf senior Kailey Kellner, sophomores Lindsey Roberts and Sarah Wright, freshman Avalon Renninger and 8th grader Genna Wright all gave up a bit of their vacation time for the popular event.

It was the first time at the camp for the two youngest Coupeville hoops stars, while the older trio were all returning veterans.

The camp made all the players stretch their skill-set, with most of them put in control of the ball as a point guard.

An increase in battle-hardened ball-handlers could pay huge dividends for the Wolves going forward.

And it’s not the only camp in play this summer for Coupeville girls.

Six Wolves — Kellner, Tiffany Briscoe, Kalia Littlejohn, Allison Wenzel, Kyla Briscoe and Mia Littlejohn –are tentatively slated to attend a shooting clinic at King’s High School in August.

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