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Posts Tagged ‘big win’

Beast Mode, indeed!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Gavin O'Keefe, demonstrating Coupeville's take-no-prisoners style in an earlier game. (John Fisken photo)

  Gavin O’Keefe, demonstrating Coupeville’s take-no-prisoners style in an earlier game. (John Fisken photo)

On a Saturday when the Seattle Seahawks advanced to the NFC Championship, one of Coupeville High School’s finest unleashed his own Earthquake-causing play.

Late in a game where every possession mattered, the basketball skidded free and started rolling down the court.

As several players from both teams started to amble towards the ball, Nick Streubel — all six-foot-three, 285 pounds of him — suddenly went fully airborne and crash-landed like a man covering a grenade, or recovering a fumble on the football field.

The resulting boom from The Big Hurt connecting with the hardwood, as Mount Vernon Christian players fled in sheer terror, was still ringing in everyone’s ears long after the Wolf boys held on for a much-needed 50-47 victory.

The non-conference win lifted CHS to 2-8 on the season, doubling its win total of the last two seasons combined.

And while it might not have been the prettiest of wins, it did showcase the resilience of the Wolves.

Outscored 10-0 to start the fourth quarter, Coupeville lost the lead for the first time all afternoon. Suddenly trailing 37-36, the Wolves could have become desperate and pressed too hard, too anxious to get back in the contest.

Instead, led by Streubel’s power moves in the paint and Anthony Bergeron’s slashing drives to the hoop, Coupeville settled right back down and went on an 11-2 run of its own.

Than, after losing Streubel and Joel Walstad to fifth fouls, the Wolves showed a steady hand, closing out the game at the line.

Bergeron dropped one through the net, then Wiley Hesselgrave hit both ends of a one-and-one, to give Coupeville a 50-44 lead.

After a MVC three-pointer slashed the lead in half, Bergeron had a chance to end the game with two more free throws. While he missed them both, he smartly jumped and snatched the ensuing rebound away, dribbling out the clock and sealing the win.

It was that kind of game for the silky-smooth Wolf senior, as he rained down a game-high 17 points on the Hurricanes, who had few answers for his speed.

Streubel crunched MVC for another 15, while Hesselgrave pumped home eight.

Aaron Trumbull popped for five, Gavin O’Keefe (who took an impressive header and lived to laugh about it) and Matt Shank tossed in a bucket apiece, Walstad added a key fourth-quarter free-throw and Morgan Payne kicked in a lively mix of hustle and grit.

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No baskets for you!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , on January 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Skyler Lawrence was one of nine Wolves to score Friday night. (John Fisken photo)

Skyler Lawrence was one of ten Wolves to score Friday night. (John Fisken photo)

A big ol’ goose egg.

That’s what the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team threw at visiting Archbishop Thomas Murphy in the second quarter Friday night.

Holding the Wildcats scoreless for eight long minutes, and keeping the defense almost equally ramped up in the second half, the Wolves slapped ATM hard, sending them reeling back to the bus after a 35-18 CHS victory.

With 10 of their 12 active players scoring, the Wolves spread the offensive joy around and blew the game wide open with 10-1 and 12-1 runs in the second half.

But it was the refuse to bend, refuse to yield ‘d’ in the second quarter that turned the game around.

Trailing 10-7 entering the quarter, Coupeville’s brightest spots had been a pair of perfectly-banked jumpers from Emily Coulter and Skyler Lawrence.

Then the Wolves got nasty.

Blocking out ferociously, fighting for loose balls, contesting every pass, all five Coupeville players on the floor clamped down.

The only slight problem was they couldn’t buy a bucket themselves, as the two teams jointly went scoreless for almost six minutes.

Coupeville finally broke through when Tiffany Briscoe banged home a bucket off of an in-bounds play, then claimed its first lead — which it never gave back — when spark-plug Wynter Thorne nailed a sweet pull-up jumper over the outstretched hands of two defenders.

The Wolves poured it on in the third, with three baskets from Monica Vidoni packaged with buckets from Kailey Kellner, Carlie Rosenkrance and Sophia Jebrail.

Varsity swing players Thorne (8) and Vidoni (7) paced the Wolf attack, while Lawrence, Coulter and Jebrail each hit for four.

Briscoe, Rosenkrance and Kellner — a transfer from England in her first game as a Wolf — popped for two apiece, while Lauren Grove and Jennifer Spark each tickled the twine for a free throw.

Mattea Miller and Erin Josue saw floor time as well.

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Helmstadter, Mitchell brothers hammer Turks!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jared Helmstadter, seen here in an earlier game, scored a team-high 12 Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

Jared Helmstadter, seen here in an earlier game, scored a team-high 12 Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

Now it’s a winning streak.

Playing an inspired middle two quarters Tuesday night, the Coupeville High School JV boys’ basketball team bounced visiting Sultan 44-32 to claim its second straight victory.

Getting points from eight different players, the 1A Wolves went toe-to-toe with the 2A Turks and never backed down.

Instead it was Coupeville going strong to the hoop most of the time, with Jared Helmstadter and the Mitchell brothers, Dante and DeAndre, consistently getting in the paint and putting the ball in the hoop.

The trio combined for 29 points, topped by Helmstadter‘s 12. The sophomore was a consistent threat all night, scoring in all four quarters, including two key buckets during a game-clinching run in the fourth.

Sultan had ripped off five straight points to open the final quarter, cutting Coupeville’s lead to six.

Instead of panicking, the Wolves ramped up the speed of their attack and the Turks crumbled, as Coupeville used an 11-2 spurt to claim control of the outcome.

Helmstadter and Dante Mitchell threw down four points apiece during the run, while DeAndre Mitchell popped for a bucket and Brian Shank slid a free throw through the net that kicked off the rally.

The Wolves scored the game’s first bucket — a pull-up jumper from Helmstadter — and led most of the way.

With Oscar Liquidano scoring in the paint off of rebounds and CJ Smith, Clay Reilly and Gabe Wynn setting up their teammates with precision passes, Coupeville forced the flow of the action most of the way.

The start of the game was bumped back a few minutes after a fire alarm went off right before tip-off, forcing the gym to be cleared.

Basically the flashing lights and sirens could have been a victory celebration, just 32 minutes early.

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Islanders return in style!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged , , , on January 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

In this photo from May (when it was much warmer), two of Sunday's heroes are on the ends. Far left is Jennifer Spark, far right Paige Waterman. (Kali Barrio photo)

  In this photo from May (when it was much warmer), two of Sunday’s heroes are on the ends. Far left is Jennifer Spark, far right Paige Waterman. (Kali Barrio photo)

Patience, control and anticipation.

That’s what Whidbey Islanders GU18 soccer coach Sean LeVine was looking for from his players as they headed back into competition, and they delivered Sunday.

Sparked by an improved defense that shut down the visiting Tracyton Velocity, the Islanders rode a goal from Paige Waterman to a 1-0 victory, their first (of hopefully many) wins in 2014.

Waterman’s game-breaking score came off of a corner kick by Jennifer Spark, and the duo were among the players praised afterwards by their coach.

“I would like to recognize our entire defense today,” LeVine said.

Spark and Becca Pabona teamed to solidify the center of the field, while Alyssa Cross virtually shut down the left flank.

Morgan Zylstra was a wonder on both ends of the field, chipping in with solid defense, while also moving up and smashing several shots, including one that smacked off the post, narrowly missing being a second Islander goal.

Along with the stingy team-wide defense and inspired goal-scoring touch from Waterman, LeVine was also pleased with his girls sportsmanship.

Tracyton had a player go down with injury, and, with no subs, would have been a player down. Instead, the Islanders opted to pull one of their own players and went 10-on-10 the rest of the way.

“We didn’t have to do that, but I heard not one single question or complaint from our players,” LeVine said. “You stepped up to the challenge and kept playing hard! I love this team!”

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“We played hard, gritty and in control!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

DeAndre Mitchell, locked and loaded. (John Fisken photo)

DeAndre Mitchell, locked and loaded. (John Fisken photo)

It was a very good day to be a Wolf.

With Orcas Island in town Saturday for the makeup of games that were snowed out right before the start of winter break, all three Coupeville High School basketball teams to take the court (Orcas doesn’t have a girls JV team) came away with big wins.

And, while they played in the side gym, the Wolf boys’ JV squad put on maybe the most impressive display of the day, thoroughly thumping the visiting Vikings 62-14.

With coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh out of town visiting a sick relative, hoops guru Ryan O’Keefe slid into the lead chair and let things fly.

“I was very pleased from top to bottom on how our kids played,” O’Keefe said. “We played hard, gritty and in control. Everyone played, and we took care of business.”

Jared Helmstadter and Gabe Wynn, who both saw action later in Coupeville’s varsity win, led the way offensively.

Helmstadter threw down a career-high 15, while his running mate popped for 14.

Hot on their heels was DeAndre Mitchell, who tickled the twine for 10, while Clay Reilly notched six.

Recent transfer CJ Smith tossed in five, Isaac Vargas banged home four, Dante Mitchell and Brian Shank hit for three apiece and Darius Maxie banked home a bucket.

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