Wolf seniors (l to r) Tiffany Briscoe, Lauren Grove, Kailey Kellner and Skyler Lawrence. (John Fisken photo)
One chapter is coming to a close.
Four CHS girls hoops players, who have been a vital part of a program which is celebrating its third-straight league title, will get their moment in the spotlight six days from now.
Senior Night for the Wolf girls is Saturday, Feb. 4 (3:30 JV/5:00 varsity).
In anticipation of that, Wolf hoops guru David King is devoting his Coaches Corner this week to looking back at what the Fearsome Foursome have accomplished.
A busy past week with three games, then looking ahead to our upcoming week (three more), it got me thinking about four players.
They’re closing in on their final home game, so I thought I would share a few words on each.
Skyler Lawrence:
She wasn’t able to play this season due to a nagging injury, but she’s still part of our team.
She has been invaluable as a manager for us. Doing whatever is asked of her throughout.
Everything she does she does with a purpose and the biggest thing she’s brought is someone that accepted her role this season and took over being our away game scorekeeper.
Her freshman through junior years, she gave her team and teammates everything she had in practice and on the court.
Throughout her playing time, she was asked to handle the ball, be the in-bounder against a press. Play the post on defense and offense.
Not once did she question any of this.
Defensively and rebounding she was a force.
Despite not being the tallest post player, she did everything fundamentally sound and was able to put herself in the right spot more often than not while on the court.
Kailey Kellner:
She showed up in Coupeville a few months into her freshman year.
When she got here, she was a one-dimensional player; she could score and shoot well from the outside.
As she integrated into the system and played more with her teammates, that one-dimensional player started to develop into an all-around player.
Her sophomore and junior seasons she made strides and continued to work on her game. One player that showed up to almost all available open gyms and extra activity we had.
Fast forward to her senior season and her game has taken the biggest leap from years past.
She can still score and shoot from the outside. But she has developed her inside game, is able to put the ball on the floor and drive.
Her effort in the rebounding area is outstanding.
But one area that has really impressed me is her desire to improve her defense. She wants to guard the best offensive player on the other team.
What a turnaround from her freshman year.
Lauren Grove:
As a freshman and sophomore she was so dynamic on defense. At times she was a one-person press that caused havoc for the other team.
One of the quickest and fastest players in the program, Lauren had to learn over time that the game of basketball had different speeds.
Once she did that, her game got better and better.
As a freshman and sophomore she played a lot of point guard for the JV teams.
This minimized her offensive game, but she did what was asked for the team.
Her junior year and this year, she stepped into a starting role on varsity and has been a big contributor to the team.
When we wanted to shut down an opposing player, Lauren is the one we turned to each and every time.
Offensively she has worked on her form and shot and she is shooting with confidence this season.
One final note about Lauren — the younger players should watch her effort as a rebounder.
She isn’t the biggest or strongest player, but what she does well is anticipate and creates her own opportunities.
Tiffany Briscoe:
Talk about an undersized post player. Tiffany is one of the first players to come to mind when I think about undersized post players.
From day one of her freshman year, Tiffany has never been out-worked by a teammate.
She has always put the team above anything she does as an individual player.
I’ll take players like Tiffany every day.
Even though she is undersized in the post, Tiffany is a battler. She is a prideful player and her forte was on the defensive end.
As a freshman and sophomore her offensive game didn’t exist. Receive a pass or get an offensive rebound, she wanted to give the ball up as quickly as possible.
I think it was last year when she moved up to varsity, starting I might add, she and I talked about her only playing half of the game.
She was only playing defense and we needed her to become more offensive-minded.
It took time, but if the fans really watch Tiffany’s game this year, she works so hard on defense still, but she has made herself into someone that looks at the basket and will take the open shot.
She didn’t do it for herself, but for her team and that’s what Tiffany is all about.
I am also writing this about these four because they should be celebrated as young women and as athletes.
Each one wants to be the best they can and would put any personal stats on the back burner and cares about the team competing and playing well.
I’m hoping the stands are packed for the double header games on Monday night (boys Senior Night), and then again on Saturday for our final home game and the senior night for these four players.
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