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Posts Tagged ‘crunch time’

She’s a Stone-cold killer

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , , on November 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone is off to a 4-0 start during her senior season at Whitman. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The spotlight found its star.

Saturday night in California, two undefeated women’s basketball teams went down to the wire, but the squad with the Coupeville connection came out on top.

Throwing down 19 of her 21 points in the second half, Makana Stone gave Whitman College a fighting chance against their host, the University of Redlands.

Then, with the Blues clinging to a one-point lead, the former Wolf slammed the door shut, springing forward and rejecting what could have been a game-winning shot with just five ticks left on the clock.

Elevating at the exact right moment, Stone slapped away Redlands bid for a win, then corralled the loose ball, even as she was roughly knocked to the floor.

Tack on two ensuing free throws from fellow Whitman senior Mady Burdett, and the Blues headed to the door with a hard-fought 79-76 win.

The non-conference victory, coming in night one of a two-game trip to Cali, lifts Whitman to a pristine 4-0 on the season.

The Blues play at Whittier College Monday, then head to Texas for two games, as they play their first seven games away from home.

Whitman’s home opener in Walla Walla isn’t until Dec. 13.

Both teams entered play Saturday sporting identical 3-0 marks, and the game was a beautiful battle.

With Burdett trading three-balls with Redlands gunner Alyssa Downs — the duo finished with 26 and 31 points respectively, while netting seven treys apiece — the squads vied for control of a wild game.

Up 22-17 after one quarter, Whitman found itself trailing 42-37 at the half after Redlands momentarily took control.

That was when the Blues handed the ball to Stone, and let the one-woman wrecking crew go to work.

Pounding the ball inside, Coupeville’s progeny couldn’t be controlled in the second half, racking up nine points in the third quarter, then going for another 10 down the stretch.

With the game knotted at 64-64 headed into the fourth, Stone knocked down the first three points of the final frame, before Redlands surged back to take a 71-70 lead.

Cue Stone running wild through the paint, with three layups and a free throw on the offensive side of the ball and a big block on the defensive side, as Whitman turned the deficit into a 77-71 lead.

Things weren’t going to be that easy, however, as Redlands swished a three-ball, then rattled home two free throws, off a fairly bad call, to get back within 77-76.

Both charity shots bent the laws of physics, popping up, rolling around, then somehow crawling back into the net at the very last second.

With Whitman unable to get the ball inside to its red-hot second-half hero in the final moments, the Blues missed a layup, then a three-ball off of an offensive rebound, giving Redlands its final shot.

Not that the Bulldogs had a realistic shot, as Stone sprang on the shot like a jaguar, sending shock waves all the way back home to Whidbey.

The Coupeville grad finished with nine rebounds, three blocks, and two assists, to go with her 21 points, which she racked up by hitting 9-15 from the field and 3-4 at the line.

On the season, Stone has piled up 70 points, 26 rebounds, six steals, five blocks, and three assists, while shooting 27-47 (57.4%) and 16-20 (80%).

Heading into Monday’s game, she sits with 998 career points, a basket shy of becoming just the ninth woman in Whitman history to top 1,000.

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No bend! No break!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Kyla Briscoe has a season-high five points Tuesday, helping tip the Wolf girls over the top against Concrete. (John Fisken photo)

   Kyla Briscoe has a season-high five points Tuesday, helping tip the Wolf girls over the top against Concrete. (John Fisken photo)

Courage under fire.

The Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad showed just that Tuesday night, overcoming three missing players, early foul trouble and a rampaging opposing player to escape with a big win on the road.

The come-from-behind 46-41 non-conference victory over Concrete came thanks to season-best performances from Wolf role players, and a deadly eye at the free throw stripe in the game’s final seconds.

Mia Littlejohn and Mikayla Elfrank combined to drain four straight free throws in the game’s final 20 seconds, silencing the pro-Concrete crowd and sealing the win, which lifts the Wolves to 5-3.

CHS is now off for nine days thanks to Christmas break, not playing again until Dec. 30, when it travels to Orcas Island.

Having rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit, the Wolves were clinging to a one-point lead in the game’s final minute, when they turned the ball over.

Concrete took immediate advantage, knocking down a bucket to reclaim the lead at 41-40.

But, if they expected Coupeville to panic, they were flat out wrong.

Instead of calling a timeout, the Wolves pushed the Lions back on their heels, immediately in-bounding the ball and quickly running a play for their leading scorer, Kailey Kellner.

The senior gunner got the ball on the wing, faked her defender into the third row of the bleachers, drove hard to her right and viciously threw down a back-breaking jumper from just inside the key.

Concrete, by contrast, did blink.

Under pressure from Wolf defenders, the Lions booted the ball on the ensuing play and were forced to foul Coupeville to keep the clock from running out.

Littlejohn, who has been battling illness (like many of her teammates), calmly dropped both ends of her 1-and-1 opportunity through the net, then the CHS defense came up epic again.

Another play under pressure, another turnover for Concrete — this time courtesy of a long pass that caught air and sailed over its intended target by several feet.

Two more free throws, this time from Elfrank, and the deed was done.

The ending was a beautiful capper to a game that wasn’t all that pretty for Coupeville in the first half.

The Wolves jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, off of a put-back from Kyla Briscoe and a jumper by Lauren Grove (set up by a cross-court pass from Kellner), but then things fell apart for awhile.

Foul trouble (Concrete was in the bonus by the end of the first quarter and shot 16 free throws in the first half) hurt Coupeville, as did the Wolves inability to stop Jaycelyn Kuipers.

The Lion post player, who finished with a game-high 26, scored inside, outside and at the line and dominated in three of four quarters of play.

The one quarter she went AWOL though was the game’s turning point.

Down 25-17 at the break, Coupeville came out of the halftime locker room in a different mindset and held Kuipers scoreless during a 15-4 Wolf run.

“We came out in the third with some fire on the defensive end and created some tough shots and turnovers for Concrete,” said CHS coach David King. “This led to some quick buckets for us.”

The Wolves got something from everyone in the quarter, with Kellner hitting for five and setting up a baseline three-ball from Kyla Briscoe with a great set-up pass.

Lauren Grove added four, while Elfrank tossed in three as Coupeville snatched control of the game back.

“We won the quarter with hustle, smart defense and making the extra pass on offense,” King said.

With Lindsey Roberts, Charlotte Langille and Allison Wenzel all missing Tuesday, sophomore Ema Smith got a chance to swing up from JV and make her varsity debut.

“As expected, she gave us some good minutes and hustle,” King said. “She keeps working like she has on the JV team, she may earn the opportunity to be a swing player down the road this year.”

Sarah Wright and Tiffany Briscoe also earned praise, with the duo snatching seven rebounds apiece. Briscoe also had a team-high five steals.

“Tiffany and Sarah probably had their best games on the season. This should launch their confidence,” King said. “Kyla played well; if she keeps making strides like last night, she will be another force coming off the bench and earning more playing time.”

Grove paced CHS with 10 points (she also snagged four boards, dealt out two assists and had Coupeville’s lone block on the night), while Elfrank and Kellner dropped in nine apiece.

Wright (6), Kyla Briscoe (5), Tiffany Briscoe (3), Lauren Rose (2) and Mia Littlejohn (2) also scored, while Kalia Littlejohn chipped in with two assists.

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Never back down! Never give in!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , , , on December 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone rises up and smites Klahowya for two of her game-high 23. (John Fisken photos)

   Makana Stone rises up and smites Klahowya for two of her game-high 23 Friday. (John Fisken photos)

Wolves

   Wolves Kailey Kellner (42), Lindsey Roberts (middle) and Lauren Grove (3) clamp down on defense.

They got tested, and they responded.

Oh, how they responded.

In the kind of moment that can make or break a season, the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad took Klahowya’s best shot Friday and not only weathered it, but stood tall.

The Wolves won 47-38 on their home court to improve to 4-2 overall, 1-0 in Olympic League play.

But it was the way they won that may matter most.

Having to play the final three minutes without their transcendent star, the Wolves not only held their own, they prospered, closing out on a 6-1 spurt fueled by spectacular end-to-end runs by Lauren Grove and Mia Littlejohn.

Coupeville’s worst nightmare came true when Makana Stone, who had poured in 23 points, fouled out with 2:56 on the clock.

With a 41-34 lead and their most reliable scoring weapon reduced to being a very enthusiastic cheerleader, the Wolves could have pulled back and tried to eat clock.

Instead, two of Coupeville’s rising stars seized the spotlight and crushed Klahowya’s spirit, while perhaps giving Wolf coach David King a brief moment or two of angina.

First Grove snatched a rebound, then kicked in her record-setting sprinter speed and artfully weaved her way down the court, slicing all the way to the bucket before King could call for a timeout.

As the ball banked in, Grove spun, steely glint in her gunfighter’s eye, and zipped back down court, where she then poked the ball free, setting up Littlejohn for her own run right into the heart of the beast.

King went up on his toes, but again, one of his feel-no-pressure guards was too quick to give him a chance to do anything but silently marvel as they shot past on their way to pay dirt.

Stone, for her part, was whooping and hollering and high-fiving and then patting Littlejohn on the head, still a leader no matter her own situation.

Two more free throws from Littlejohn and a lock-down defense that throttled Klahowya from the moment Stone left until the Eagles hit a meaningless trey with a second to play, sealed the deal.

The win allowed Coupeville to pick right back up where they left off last season, when they cruised to a 9-0 mark in league play.

Back then they won every conference contest by 15+ points, but Friday’s game was markedly closer.

The Wolves drew first blood, when Stone smacked the opening tip half the length of the court, where Grove snagged it, took half a step and laid the ball up and in before Klahowya’s players could even flinch.

After that, though, the first half was a back-and-forth affair, with the lead never getting bigger than three for Coupeville or one for Klahowya.

Stone threw down nine in the opening quarter, but the Wolves led only 13-11 after they missed six free throws in the first eight minutes.

The Eagles snatched their first lead of the night at 14-13 in the second quarter, and, as the clock ticked down towards halftime, the two teams pulled off back-to-back bombs to enliven things.

Klahowya hit a long trey to knot things at 19, but Coupeville immediately responded on the final play of the half.

Kailey Kellner curled into the deepest, darkest corner on the right sideline, where she flat-out drilled a three-ball with a sweet shot that would have made Larry Bird cry sweet tears of appreciation.

Riding the electricity from her shot, the Wolves broke things open in the third, scoring on their first three possessions.

Littlejohn netted a breakaway layup off of a Kellner steal, then Stone scored back-to-back buckets on a give-and-go and a play where she exploded from the top of the key to the hoop before a single Eagle could think about moving.

From there, Coupeville never lost the lead again, stretching it out to 10, giving a few back, then making their stand once the refs KO’d Stone.

Afterwards, King praised his younger players for stepping up, his blue collar rebounders (Tiffany and Kyla Briscoe) for out-battling their foes all night and Littlejohn for continuing to show leadership under fire.

“This was a gut check for them and they responded nicely,” he said. “That’s what they need to do.”

Littlejohn finished with nine to back Stone’s 23, while Grove and Kellner had six apiece.

Freshman Lindsey Roberts hit a key fourth-quarter bucket in traffic off of a feed from Littlejohn (Kyla Briscoe started the play by going around a Klahowya player to snare a board), while Tiffany Briscoe rounded out the scorers with a free throw.

Coupeville is now off for 11 days, not returning to action until Dec. 22, when it travels to Vashon Island for a non-conference game. After that, another week-long break before hosting La Conner Dec. 30.

The break comes at a perfect time for a Wolf squad which opened with six games in 10 days and currently has several banged-up players.

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Wolves want it more!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , , , on January 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Amanda Fabrizi (John Fisken photo)

Amanda Fabrizi (John Fisken photo)

Amanda Fabrizi wants to end her high school basketball career in the playoffs.

That much is certain, because Tuesday night, with a rivalry game against South Whidbey slipping away in the fourth quarter and Coupeville High School’s playoff hopes sliding from solid to troublesome, Fabrizi suddenly snapped on her Beast Mode face.

Hitting back-to-back crunch-time buckets, part of her seven points in the final quarter, she crushed the hopes and dreams of her Langley hosts and shut the Falcons fans up as quickly as they had started to get annoying.

With the one-two punch of senior captains Fabrizi and Breeanna Messner combining for 11 points, the Wolves closed on an 18-4 run to snag a 48-38 victory.

Lifting Coupeville to 7-8 overall, 4-6 in Cascade Conference play, it stakes them to a three-game lead with four to play over their Island rivals (2-13, 1-9) in the race for a 1A playoff berth.

It also gave CHS a season sweep of South Whidbey and means one more Wolf league win, or one more Falcon loss, and it’s a done deal — we’re talking about the playoffs.

Things weren’t looking great at the start of the fourth, however.

CHS coach David King had been slapped with a technical by a thin-skinned ref, shots suddenly weren’t falling and a back-and-forth game was starting to trend towards the Falcons, who notched a free-throw to open a 34-30 lead.

Without flinching, Coupeville dug down and found the heart of a champion that Wolf super fan Steve Kiel was hollering for them to locate.

Fabrizi hit three free-throws, Madeline Strasburg knocked down another one and Messner made not one, but two, huge shots under extreme duress as the Wolves ripped off an 8-0 run.

Messner’s first came when she snagged an air ball on a three-point shot, and made the miss look like an unexpected pass, as she hit a running layin.

The second bucket was even more spectacular, as she grabbed a deflected shot and put it up over her head while floating under the backboard with little room to see the hoop.

Twice the scrappy Falcons responded, hitting short jumpers to cut the lead to a bucket, and twice Coupeville hit right back.

The first came on a Makana Stone put-back off on an offensive rebound, then, after South Whidbey trimmed the lead to 40-38, Fabrizi grabbed center stage and flexed some muscle.

She nailed a pull-up jumper off of a Stone rebound and quick pass, then broke free and streaked down-court on the next play, catching Stone’s graceful outlet pass in mid-stride, before slicing between two defenders for the game-icing layup.

Before they hit a rough spot in the second quarter, the Wolves had opened strongly.

Coupeville went on a 7-0 run to end the first quarter, with a pair of free throws from Stone, a tough offensive rebound from Messner and then a rainbow of a three-point bomb from the ice-water-in-her-veins Fabrizi.

South Whidbey’s lone senior, guard Madi Boyd, spurred her team with a variety of slashing buckets, however, and the Falcons reclaimed the lead right before halftime.

The third quarter was a tussle, with Julia Myers keeping Coupeville alive with a pair of sweet jumpers and a ferocious blocked shot.

Coupeville spread the offensive wealth around, with the trio of Messner, Fabrizi and Stone each hitting for 10. Strasburg popped for eight, Myers banked home six and Kacie Kiel — a dynamo on the boards — rounded out the scoring tally with four.

Wynter Thorne, Monica Vidoni, McKayla Bailey and Carlie Rosenkrance all saw playing time, as well, with each Wolf chipping in and filling their role for a team that now sits on the cusp of a playoff berth.

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