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Night of triumph, year of success

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on June 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Grady Rickner tossed in a team-high 12 points Thursday as Coupeville clobbered Concrete, clinching its first winning boys basketball season in more than a decade. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

One part of the mission, accomplished.

Laying waste to winless Concrete on the road Thursday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad clinched its first winning season in more than a decade.

With the 64-14 rout of the Lions, the Wolves improve to 7-4 and head home for their season finale next Tuesday, June 15 against Darrington.

That night, they’ll honor seniors Daniel Olson, TJ Rickner, and Sage Downes, then try to close a pandemic-altered season with one final big win.

The last time the CHS varsity boys hoops program posted a winning record was the 2009-2010 season, when the Wolves went 16-5 in the next-to-last season of Randy King’s 20-year run as head coach.

Thursday’s tilt was a gut-check for Coupeville, coming off a heartbreaking one-point loss in overtime to Friday Harbor Tuesday, a defeat which ended Wolf hopes of winning the Northwest 2B/1B League title.

How would CHS respond, facing a rebuilding Concrete squad which went into its finale carrying an 0-11 record?

The answer? Pretty dang well.

CHS coach Brad Sherman, the #2 scorer on the last Wolf boys team to win a league title in 2002, got floor time for all 12 guys in uniform Thursday, with 10 of them scoring.

The lone Wolf not to see action was sophomore sparkplug Alex Murdy, out with an injury.

Much like the first time these two squads faced off, Coupeville jumped on the Lions quickly, built a substantial lead by halftime, then gave its bench a chance to rack up major minutes after the break.

Up 24-4 after one quarter, with Hawthorne Wolfe, Logan Downes, and Grady Rickner each tossing in six points, CHS pushed the margin to 48-8 with an almost mirror-image second frame.

From there, a running clock ended things quickly, with all of the scoring coming from the Wolf bench.

Sage Downes was a force on both ends of the floor.

Junior captain Grady Rickner finished with a game-high 12 points, while Coupeville’s top two scorers this season — Wolfe and Xavier Murdy — did more passing than shooting en route to a combined 10 points.

Seven of those came from Hawk, and all in the very early going, as he eased into another milestone in his journey up the CHS boys career scoring chart.

Wolfe’s last point of the night, coming off of a free throw in the second quarter, gives him 650 points and counting.

He’s #27 all-time heading into the finale of his shortened junior season, a mere 10 points away from hurdling Jason McFadyen (654), Wade Ellsworth (659), and Pat Bennett (659) on a list which covers 104 seasons.

Two current sharpshooters — Sage Downes and Jonathan Valenzuela — popped for eight points apiece Thursday, with Olson and Wolfe banking in seven each.

Freshman Logan Downes lets it fly.

Logan Downes (5), Cody Roberts (4), TJ Rickner (4), Miles Davidson (4), Xavier Murdy (3), and Logan Martin (2) also scored, with Cole White contributing on defense.

Davidson, who has been sidelined by a football injury for much of the season, made his debut, while becoming the 401st CHS boy I’ve been able to document scoring in a varsity hoops game.

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Wolf rally falls just short

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on June 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Carolyn Lhamon played strongly Thursday, but Coupeville fell at Concrete. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Free throws were a killer.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team almost overcame a terrible start Thursday, rallying from a double-digit deficit and pushing host Concrete hard at the end.

But a 24-point deficit at the charity stripe ultimately doomed the Wolves, as they fell 60-57 to a team they beat by 20 points the first time around.

The loss, Coupeville’s fourth in five games in the month of June, drops it to 4-7 heading into the season finale against Darrington.

That game, which would be Senior Night, except the Wolves have no seniors on their roster, goes down June 15.

Thursday was not what anyone expected, as a Concrete team which only scored 19 points the first time it played Coupeville, suddenly found a roaring offensive attack.

Or at least a trio of refs who helped them along, allowing Concrete to shoot an astounding 45 free throws.

The Lions netted 30 of those shots, and while 67% at the line isn’t Earth-shattering, it’s a heck of a lot better than 25%, which is what Coupeville shot, making just 6-24.

The free throw disparity put a damper on a stirring comeback and a career night for Wolf gunner Anya Leavell.

The junior entered Thursday with 24 career points at the varsity level, then went bonkers in front of a sparse crowd, raining down four three-balls on her way to a game-high 21 points.

Three of those treys came during an 11-point explosion in the final quarter, as Leavell couldn’t miss.

Coupeville’s torrid finish, even while it fell short, was a nice turnaround after the Wolves started ice-cold in the opening quarter.

“We came out flat and never recovered,” said CHS coach Scott Fox. “Anya and Lyla (Stuurmans) played extremely well and kept us in it.

“Always disappointing to lose a winnable game, but at least the kids were fighting hard to claw back.”

The Wolves couldn’t get a shot to drop from the field for much of the first quarter, with just a Savina Wells free throw keeping their half of the scoreboard from registering zero.

But Leavell’s first three-ball of the night finally got things clicking for Coupeville, and, while it trailed at the end of the first quarter, the 15-8 margin wasn’t insurmountable.

Concrete pushed the lead, ever so slightly, out to 28-19 by the half, but the Wolves used a 19-13 third-quarter run to trim things back to 41-38 heading into the final frame.

Five different Wolves scored in the third, something Coupeville repeated in the fourth.

But free throws kept them at bay, with Concrete star Kylie Clark leading the way, netting 13-15 freebies on her way to a team-best 20 points.

Leavell’s 21 earned top honors for CHS, with Wolf 8th grader Savina Wells throwing down nine of her 12 points in the second half.

Audrianna Shaw (9), 8th grader Stuurmans (6), Izzy Wells (4), Carolyn Lhamon (4), Ryanne Knoblich (2), and Ja’Kenya Hoskins (1) rounded out Coupeville’s best offensive showing of the season.

Maddie Georges, Kylie Van Velkinburgh, and Gwen Gustafson all saw floor time as well.

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Wolf sharpshooters rain pain on Concrete

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on May 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville junior Hawthorne Wolfe is the 48th CHS boy in 104 years to crack the 500-point scoring club. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Hawk got historical, then he got off the floor.

Coupeville High School junior Hawthorne Wolfe cracked the 500-point career scoring club Tuesday, then he and the other starters handed the game over to their teammates.

Jumping out to a 31-2 lead after one quarter, with Wolfe and Grady Rickner each tossing in 10 points, CHS eventually coasted in with a resounding 71-17 thumping of visiting Concrete.

The win evens Coupeville’s record at 2-2 heading into another home game Thursday, with La Conner set to visit Whidbey.

Everything was dropping for the Wolves Tuesday, especially in the early going.

Xavier Murdy, Logan Martin, and Wolfe all hit three-balls, as seven different Coupeville players got into the scoring column in the first quarter.

With the game already all but decided just eight minutes in, Coupeville coach Brad Sherman went deep on his bench, getting all 12 players a chance to score.

The Wolves pushed the lead out to 47-6 at the half, then the starters took a seat and let their backups play most of the second half.

That allowed the scoring to be spread out all the way across the scorebook, keeping June Mazdra and her well-sharpened pencils busy.

Grady Rickner paced Coupeville with a game-high 15 points, while Wolfe’s 12 points all came in the first half.

That was enough to lift him to 504 points, making him the 48th CHS boy in the 104-year history of the program to crack the exclusive club.

Wolfe passes Jason Bagby (499) and David Lortz (502), moving into 47th place on the career scoring chart.

Xavier Murdy added nine points in support of his Class of 2022 teammates, with Logan Downes and Jonathan Valenzuela adding seven apiece.

Alex Murdy (5), Daniel Olson (4), TJ Rickner (3), Martin (3), Cole White (2), Cody Roberts (2), and Sage Downes (2) rounded out the explosive offensive barrage.

It was the first varsity points for Valenzuela and White, who joins dad Greg on the Wolf boys career scoring chart.

With Cole’s bucket, the CHS assistant coach father-freshman son duo now have a combined 606 varsity points to their credit.

Coupeville had a strong shooting performance in every aspect of the game, hitting 13 of 17 from the free-throw line, while six different players nailed a three-ball.

Raining down treys were Valenzuela, Logan Downes, Wolfe, Grady Rickner, Xavier Murdy, and Martin.

 

JV grabs some pine time: 

Concrete only goes one team deep, with a thin roster at that, so the younger Wolves had the night off.

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Slow start, hot finish

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on May 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville 8th grader Savina Wells scored 10 points Tuesday, including hitting a pair of three-balls. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Not great, but good enough.

Overcoming a rough start Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball squad turned on the heat in the second half and romped past Concrete late, pulling out a 39-19 win.

The Wolves closed with a 17-2 run, busting open a close game and lifting their record to 2-2 on the season.

“This seems to be our theme this year — to start off sluggish and then play much better in the second half,” said CHS coach Scott Fox.

The Wolves, playing in front of their home fans for the first time this season, struck first, with sophomore gunner Maddie Georges rippling the nets on a jumper after a feed from 8th grader Savina Wells.

But then the offense flat-out disappeared, as Coupeville couldn’t get a bucket to fall for much of the first quarter.

Concrete slowly built a 7-2 lead, but it always seemed like just a matter of time before things would change, and they did.

Audrianna Shaw flipped the nets high on a jumper with a tick over a minute left on the clock, then Wells dropped in a three-ball off an inbounds play, and the score was back to 7-7 at the end of the quarter.

The Wolves couldn’t seem to pull away, however.

Georges nailed a three-ball of her own in the second quarter, but a 12-7 lead sputtered into just a 15-13 edge at the half.

Worse, Coupeville lost its point guard when Georges turned her ankle midway through the quarter, and she never returned to the game.

Missing their sparkplug, the Wolves gave more floor time to youngsters like Ryanne Knoblich, Gwen Gustafson, and Lyla Stuurmans, and the bench injected a bit of get-up-and-go.

Wells opened the second half with her second trey, but Concrete continued to hang around, cutting the deficit back to 22-17 midway through the third on a long outlet pass and layup.

That seemed to trigger something deep inside the Wolves, as they promptly went into lockdown mode from that point, starting a 17-0 run which stretched into the final seconds of the game.

Shaw swished a jumper and Carolyn Lhamon put back an offensive rebound to end the third, then CHS went to work in the fourth.

Junior post Ja’Kenya Hoskins picked up her first points of the season, and liked it so much, she finished with five in the fourth, while Lhamon, Shaw, and Knoblich also scored.

Concrete finally broke through in the final minute, hitting a pair of free throws to stop the bleeding right before the final buzzer blared.

Wells and Shaw tied for game-high honors, netting 10 points apiece, while Lhamon (6), Hoskins (5), Georges (5), and Knoblich (3) rounded out the offensive attack.

Everyone on the roster played, and everyone contributed, with Morgan Stevens, Izzy Wells, Kylie Van Velkinburgh, Anya Leavell, Gustafson, and Stuurmans all getting quality floor time.

Things get tougher next, as Coupeville welcomes Northwest 2B/1B League ruler La Conner to town Thursday.

The Braves, who have a win over 1A power King’s this season, bopped Orcas Island 83-21 Tuesday to raise their record to 5-0.

 

NO JV:

Concrete doesn’t have a second squad, so Coupeville’s young guns sat this one out.

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Too tough to tackle

Posted in Football, tagged , , , , on May 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Ben Smith breaks loose. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

One last rumble into the heart of action.

Football season is done, but this collection of images, snapped by John Fisken as Coupeville’s Ben Smith wins a battle with a would-be tackler, is still waiting for its moment in the spotlight.

So here you go.

 


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