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Posts Tagged ‘Chelsea Prescott’

An athlete for all seasons!!

Posted in Basketball, Softball, Volleyball, tagged , , , , , , on June 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Chelsea Prescott covers the bag during a softball game last spring. (John Fisken photos)

Prescott, seen here during a volleyball camp, is an athlete for all seasons.

If there’s a sport to be played in Central Whidbey, it’s a fair bet Chelsea Prescott has played it.

The Coupeville Middle School 8th grader frequently operates in a whirlwind, often charging from basketball court to diamond (be it softball or baseball), all while juggling multiple pieces of equipment and different uniforms.

Through it all, her energy never seems to flag and she remains at the forefront of local athletes who will take the step up to high school this fall.

At the moment, Prescott is playing left field and pitching for Central Whidbey’s Babe Ruth baseball team, but she plans to jump back to softball next spring.

“Although I love playing baseball, I’ll switch back to softball for my high school years,” Prescott said. “Go Wolves!”

On the basketball court she can fill the hoop up with the best of them, leading CMS in scoring the past two seasons.

But it’s volleyball, where the high-flying ace once ripped a serve off of an opponent’s face (it went for a winner), which has begun to captivate Prescott.

“I really enjoyed playing volleyball for Whidbey Fury, going to the tournaments,” she said. “We traveled all over, got to see a lot of places with great friends, and we also took third-place at the PSR tourney!

“Although I have been playing baseball and softball since I was four years old, I think volleyball has become my favorite sport, because the action doesn’t really stop,” Prescott said. “I love that it keeps me active, lets me be part of something bigger than myself — hashtag teamwork — and I’m pretty competitive.”

Prescott has height, speed and a strong work ethic.

Which doesn’t mean there aren’t areas she’d like to improve, as you discover if you ask her about her strengths and weaknesses.

“Funny question, because “strength” is the area I want to work on,” Prescott said. “Practice hard, play hard, but have fun!”

In the (brief) moments she’s not playing a sport, she enjoys “listening to country music, reading manga and playing with my boy Bentley,” her faithful canine companion.

As Prescott has pursued her many athletic endeavors, parents Josie and Cory have been with her every step of the way, something the young star deeply appreciates.

She also hails those who help guide her development.

“First and foremost, my parents for always supporting me,” Prescott said. “All my coaches — Kevin McGrenahan, Ron Wright, Scott and Mimi Johnson, Steve Hillborn, Heidi Wyman, Dustin Van Velkinburgh, Ryan King and Bob Martin.

“And a special thanks to the best umpire in the league, Jim Wheat, for all of his words of wisdom.”

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Base-knocks and big pics!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on May 17, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   It was then, late in the third inning of a mid-season game, that Gavin Knoblich began to contemplate the meaning of the universe. (John Fisken photos)

Hawthorne Wolfe streaks for home.

“Are you ready for the high, hard cheese, son? No, no, you’re not.”

“Get on my bat, ball!!”

Chelsea “Cool Rider” Prescott gets ready to slash.

“I believe I can fly and … crud.”

Well, I can’t read a schedule.

Somehow I missed the fact the Central Whidbey Babe Ruth baseball team was playing at home Tuesday, less than a mile from my house.

Thankfully, wanderin’ paparazzi John Fisken is more on top of things, and these pictures, captured as the Wolves bounced North Whidbey in a game called short by darkness, are courtesy him.

To see more (purchases fund college scholarships for CHS student/athletes), pop over to:

http://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/2017-Coupeville-Baseball/20170516-Babe-Ruth-Coupeville-vs-North-Whidbey/

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Winner, winner, two chicken dinners!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on March 23, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Chelsea Prescott, seen here in an earlier game, matched her jersey number Thursday, pouring in 23 points in an OT win. (John Fisken photo)

   Wolves (l to r) Prescott, Bella Velasco, Izzy Wells and Abby Mulholland wait for their game to start. (Susan Hulst photo)

Something for everyone.

Want a rout in favor of the good guys? We got it.

More in the mood for a thriller that comes down to the final play but also ends in favor of the good guys? We got that, too.

They got to the finish in different ways, but both Coupeville Middle School girls basketball squads sent their fans home happy Thursday, claiming emotional wins over visiting Forks.

The 7th grade Wolves cruised to a 32-13 win to improve to 5-4 on the season, while the 8th graders (now 2-7) pulled off a come-from-behind 37-35 triumph in a wild affair.

Thursday’s games couldn’t have gone more differently.

7th grade:

Kylie Van Velkinburgh hit a soft one-handed jumper a few seconds into the game, and the rout was on.

With several Wolves anxious to get things finished as quickly as possible (they had an Ariana Grande concert in Seattle to get to), CMS pushed the pace.

Back-to-back buckets from Anya Leavell, set up by strong passes from Audrianna Shaw and Van Velkinburgh, kick-started things, before Ja’Kenya Hoskins threw down three consecutive baskets to stake the Wolves to a 16-5 lead at the half.

Leavell dropped in three more buckets during a 12-0 third quarter run which effectively ended any Forks comeback hopes.

When she wasn’t filling up the bucket, her teammates were equally on fire, with Adair De Jesus tipping a loose ball right into Van Velkinburgh’s hands for a layup and Kiara Contreras rampaging end to end.

Coupeville’s Energizer Rabbit closed the third by ripping a ball free, then zipping to the other end, where she stopped ‘n popped for a sweet basket.

Not content to stop there, Contreras nailed a fourth-quarter jumper after another steal.

Leavell paced the Wolves with 10, while Hoskins (8), Van Velkinburgh (6), Contreras (4), Shaw (2) and Samantha Streitler (2) all scored.

De Jesus, Alana Mihill, McKenna Somes, Lily Leedy and Katelin McCormick all provided hustle and gritty defense, as CMS drove the Forks ball-handlers batty.

8th grade:

Walk away after the first quarter and you might be surprised with the news the Wolves won.

Trailing 13-4, with little to show except a gorgeous pull-up jumper from Genna Wright, things were looking dire.

And then the game changed thanks to a ramped-up defense and an ability to hit free throws.

Facing a fairly rough ‘n rowdy Forks squad, the Wolves went to the line more than normal, and netted 10 free throws, with most of them coming at crucial moments.

Coupeville used a 10-0 run to open the second to retake the lead, only to watch a ref miss a crucial call mere seconds before the halftime buzzer.

Forks, looking dangerously close to being shut-out in the second quarter, hit a miracle three-ball on a play where the shooter somehow escaped being called for a blatant travel.

How blatant? Even the ref’s seeing-eye dog was like, “Hey, man…”

Trailing 16-14 at the break, instead of being up 14-13, Coupeville never blinked, thanks to Mollie Bailey.

Despite not wearing the “superstar” socks older sisters McKayla and McKenzie had bought for her (and being verbally abused from the stands for said decision), the unflappable Wolf point guard went to work.

In between shooting occasional glares at her family, the youngest Bailey won a battle for a loose ball in front of the hoop, then banked it home to knot things at 16.

Very next play, she out-muscled two Spartans for a rebound, then popped the ball into Chelsea Prescott’s hands.

Cue another bucket, as Coupeville’s primary scoring threat knocked down a bank shot, part of a game-high 23-point barrage.

With Prescott singing the net from all angles, and Izzy Wells chipping in with a put-back off of a rebound, CMS twice stretched the lead out to six.

Enter a wicked one-two punch, as Forks used a dagger of a three-ball to cut the lead, before Wolf coach Ryan King was T’d up for protesting Prescott being pummeled and knocked to the floor by rabid Spartans on back-to-back plays.

While her coach was forced to sit for the remainder of the game, Prescott had no such restriction, and she made Forks feel her full fury.

With CMS down 31-28, she circled the defense, spun and dropped an ice-cold trey with 34.8 seconds to play, then stared down the Spartans as she retreated.

The Wolves forced a crucial traveling call with 15 ticks left to send the game to overtime, a three-minute period they played with brutal efficiency.

Trailing 35-32 after the larger Spartans went inside for two quick buckets, CMS closed the game on a 5-0 tear.

Prescott slid two free throws through the twines to get the Wolves close, then things got frantic.

Heidi Clinkscales made off with a steal and took it coast to coast for a layup that would have put Coupeville up by a point, only to have the lead ref wave off the bucket.

This time, he claimed, he did see a travel.

Not thrown off in the slightest, Clinkscales promptly pilfered the ball on the very next play, leading another wild chase down the floor.

This time, no travel, though she did get knocked to the floor by three Spartans at the end of her journey.

Facing a one-and-one, Clinkscales drilled the first attempt to tie things at 35, sending a jolt of energy through the Wolves, who all promptly ran back on defense, forgetting they had a second free throw opportunity awaiting them.

While that charity shot rolled around and popped off the rim, CMS held firm on defense, with a loose ball leading to the game-winner.

Out on the break, Bailey led Wells perfectly, dropping the ball into her hands, then pumping her fist as the 7th grader, who plays up a grade, hit a running layup.

Forks had a three-pointer at the buzzer to win, but couldn’t stick the mood-killer, leading the giddy Wolves to charge off the floor, win in hand.

Coupeville got points from five of its eight players, with Prescott’s 23 backed by Wells (6), Wright (5), Bailey (2) and Clinkscales (1).

Abby Mulholland, Bella Velasco and Kaitlin Painter all saw floor time for the victorious Wolves.

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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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Our gym, our time!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on February 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Audriana Shaw (John Fisken photos)

Audrianna Shaw prepares to break some ankles. (John Fisken photos)

Kylie Van Velkinburgh

   Defensive dynamo Kylie Van Velkinburgh (right) gets up in the grill of a Stevens ball-handler.

Ja'Kenya Hoskins

Ja’Kenya Hoskins powers to the hoop for two.

"Little help. Guys ... LITTLE HELP!!"

“Little help. Guys … LITTLE HELP!!”

Sometimes it’s better to ignore the scoreboard.

Thursday was one of those days, as the Coupeville Middle School girls’ basketball squads ran into a buzz-saw in the form of ginormous Stevens.

The school, which feeds 2A Port Angeles High School, is deep in numbers and loaded with talent, and the visitors took advantage of both to run the fairly inexperienced, thin-in-numbers Wolves off the floor.

Both games were virtual mirror images of each other, as the CMS 7th graders fell 47-8, before the “8th graders” lost 48-8.

I put quotes around 8th graders, since the Wolves have just four of those playing this season, which requires coach Ryan King to use a mix of younger players to fill out his roster.

Two of those 7th graders, Izzy Wells and Ja’Kenya Hoskins, each knocked down a bucket in the 8th grade game, while grizzled vets Genna Wright and Chelsea Prescott provided the other two.

In the seventh grade game, the scoring was also split between four Wolves, with Anya Leavell leading the way with three points.

Audrianna Shaw (2), Samantha Streitler (2) and Kylie Van Velkinburgh (1) rounded out the attack.

Stevens used a mix of deep shots (four treys) and inside buckets to romp in the opener, while the nightcap was one layup after another from a confident, polished squad that moved as one.

If there was one positive on the day for King and CMS 7th grade coach Megan Smith, it was that their teams didn’t crumble under pressure, and actually played stronger in the later stages.

The Wolf teams combined to score the majority of their points in the second half, rattling home 11 of 16 after the break.

Coupeville also got scrappy play from a number of girls, with Kiara Contreras and Heidi Clinkscales leading the charge on diving for loose balls.

The games were the home opener for CMS, which drew the attention of wanderin’ paparazzi John Fisken, who provides the pics above.

To see all of his photos from the game (purchases fund college scholarships for Wolf student/athletes and inspire him to return to Coupeville more frequently), pop over to:

http://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/20162017-Coupeville-BB/MSGBB/20170223-vs-Stevens/

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