Coupeville Sports

CHS basketball coach Brad Sherman was the #2 scorer on the program’s last league champion team in 2001-2002. Now he has the Wolves in contention for another title. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nine days to play, two titles up for grabs.

Technically.

A person might come along and randomly look at the Northwest 2B/1B League basketball standings for the first time today and think both races are all-out wars.

It’s not true, though.

While the Mount Vernon Christian girls are a very-good team, and do sit just a half-game off of La Conner, I am here to tell you to take all your money to Vegas and bet on the Braves and not the Hurricanes.

The one loss for MVC came against La Conner, and it wasn’t close, with the Braves rolling to a 58-33 win.

That’s the second-closest any team has come to toppling the 2B powerhouse, with the other being 1A royalty King’s, which fell 44-39 in a war of teams which would be playing for state titles in a non-pandemic world.

La Conner and MVC face off a second time, in the season finale June 15, and I could turn out to be an idiot.

If the Hurricanes win, I’ll tip my hat to them.

But I don’t think I’ll need a hat that day.

On the other side of the standings, it is a legitimate war, but, after a 3-0 week, the Coupeville boys control their own destiny.

While MVC has the same 6-3 record as the Wolves, CHS swept the season series with the Hurricanes, and will play three more games to Mount Vernon’s two.

Win out, while playing Friday Harbor (5-3), Concrete (0-9), and Darrington (2-3), and Coupeville, which is on a four-game winning streak, can’t be stopped.

The first, and biggest of those contests comes Tuesday on Whidbey, followed by a road trip Thursday to the wilds of Concrete.

Senior Night arrives the following Tuesday, June 15, four days after graduation, and could be one of the biggest nights in Coupeville boys basketball history.

Where things stand through June 6:

Northwest League boys basketball:

Northwest League girls basketball:

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Gwen Gustafson and Co. have won three of their last four games. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Halfway home, and the battle rages on.

Both Coupeville High School varsity basketball teams sit at 3-3 with six games left to play, though the odds of a conference title for the Wolves greatly varies.

The CHS boys, who could be 5-1 if two plays go differently, are two games back of first-place, and have a legitimate shot of shaking the standings up in the second half.

The Wolves have already handed Mount Vernon Christian its only loss, and the Hurricanes gave Orcas Island its lone defeat.

The Vikings may sit atop the standings at the moment, but nothing seems safe as the hunt for a boys title continues.

On the girls side, however, it’s a two-team race to hang a banner, and no one else is getting into the mix.

Coupeville is a game out of third, but there is no realistic way its gets a top-two finish.

La Conner and MVC are both 5-0 in league play, 6-0 overall heading into a Tuesday clash, and have decimated the other Northwest 2B/1B League schools.

Counting their non-conference tilts (the Braves beat Kings, the Hurricanes KO’d Lummi Nation), La Conner has outscored its foes 438-106, while MVC is at 386-96.

The Wolf girls have a tough week ahead, as they face La Conner and MVC back-to-back, playing the former on the road Wednesday, before hosting the latter Thursday.

A road trip to Orcas Saturday to square off with the team they’re chasing for third-place caps a busy schedule.

The CHS boys play the same trio, at the same locations, with a chance to make some waves.

The La Conner rumble is a rematch, after they lost 59-57 on a last-second bucket at home this past Thursday, then the Wolves go toe-to-toe with the current top two in the standings.

Let the basketballs hit the nets!

Where things stand through May 30:

Northwest League boys basketball:

Northwest League girls basketball:

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