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Posts Tagged ‘England’

It’s a Stone-cold highlight reel

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone lines up a shot. (Photo property Loughborough University)

She’s flying up the charts.

Four games into her hoops adventure in England, Coupeville grad Makana Stone is drawing notice from National Basketball League coaches, players, and fans.

The former Wolf is second among WNBL Division 1 players in rebounding, snatching 15.3 caroms a game.

Stone is also third in efficiency (103.0), fifth in points (16.3), and seventh in free throw percentage (77.3).

Her school, Loughborough University, is 3-2 overall, 3-1 since the prairie superstar joined the lineup.

The Riders, who are tied with Nottingham for third-place in the 12-team WNBL, get their biggest test of the season this coming Saturday, December 12.

That’s when they face off with league-leader Ipswich (6-0), which is led by Gonzaga signee Esther Little.

As you mentally prep for that titanic tilt, take 30 seconds to marinate in Stone lighting defenders up, all day, every day.

 

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She’s a double-double machine

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 5, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone put up her fourth-straight double-double Saturday in England. (Photo property of Loughborough University)

She’s rampaging across Europe.

Coupeville grad Makana Stone continues to show up and show out, dominating play in Britain’s National Basketball League.

Playing in her fourth game for Loughborough University, the former Wolf collected her fourth-straight double-double Saturday, throwing down 18 points and snatching a game-high 11 rebounds.

Paced by their American assassin, the Riders rolled to an 88-71 win over Cardiff Met.

With the victory, Loughborough is 3-2 on the season, 3-1 with Stone in uniform.

And that only loss came after refs fouled out Stone and a fellow starter, which allowed their foes to go on a game-closing 26-2 run.

Saturday’s game against Cardiff Met went much smoother, with Loughborough outscoring the Archers in every quarter to grab a convincing win.

Up just 20-19 at the first break, the Riders stretched the margin out to 43-37 at the half, then 69-60 after three quarters.

Cardiff was led by the hot-shooting Amber Deane, who torched the nets for a game-high 30 points, but Loughborough countered her by getting solid scoring across the roster.

Molly James tossed in 23 to go with Stone’s 18, while Hannah Bird came off the bench to chip in with 15.

Stone, who was a perfect 8-8 at the free throw line Saturday, has rung up 65 points, 61 rebounds, nine assists, 11 steals, and a blocked shot this season.

She and her mates return to action next Saturday, December 12, when they face undefeated Ipswich.

A week later, Loughborough plays Nottingham, which is led by Stone’s running mate during her four years at Whitman College – three-point bomber Mady Burdett.

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Have ball, will travel

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , on October 2, 2020| Leave a Comment »

CHS grad Makana Stone will study and play basketball in England this year. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Makana Stone is taking her talents to the land of tea and crumpets.

Having graduated this spring from Whitman College, the former Coupeville High School hoops star headed to England in mid-September, where she’ll continue her classroom studies and hardcourt schoolings.

Stone, who earned a B.A. in Biology during her time in Walla Walla, will attend Loughborough University, located in Leicestershire county in the East Midlands.

While there she’ll work towards a Master’s in Exercise Physiology.

Stone used up her American college sports eligibility, playing four seasons at Whitman, where she finished as the #5 scorer and #2 rebounder in program history.

But while in England, she can play for her new school, which competes in a semi-professional league.

Games are currently planned to begin in January.

Loughborough, founded in 1909, boasts one of the more famous chancellors among English schools, with four-time Olympic medal winner Sebastian Coe leading the school since 2017.

Lord Coe, as he’s known these days, was a top middle-distance runner who claimed gold medals in the 1500 meters at both the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

He set nine outdoor and three indoor world records, including a run of three new world records in 41 days back in 1979, then moved into politics as a member of Parliament.

Stone is no slouch herself, however.

One of the most dominant athletes to ever wear the red and black in Coupeville, and also one of the most kind and caring teammates I’ve ever written about, she was a standout soccer, basketball, and track and field star.

She won the first 28 races of her high school track career, a mark no other Wolf has approached, and finished her prep career with 84 wins and seven state meet medals.

And yet, the happiest I’ve ever seen her in an athletic moment involved someone else.

It came during her senior season, when she led teammates in collectively screaming their heads off as CHS freshman Danny Conlisk pulled off a stunning come-from-behind win in a major relay race.

Stone led the CHS basketball team to three-straight Olympic League titles and a trip to state, is the program’s #3 career scorer and (likely) #1 rebounder, and finally let Kacie Kiel get that career-ending locker room hug she so badly wanted and needed.

Klahowya’s basketball players, without telling their coach, brought Makana a Senior Night present, watched her go off for a super-efficient 20 and 20 in a huge Wolf win, and still exited with huge smiles on their face.

After high school, Stone tore up the hardwood at Whitman, making the most starts (92) in program history, helping the Blues go 94-20 and advance to the NCAA tourney three times between 2016-2020.

Whitman was hours away from playing in the Sweet 16 at this year’s tourney when COVID-19 shut down collegiate athletics.

Finishing her American college career with 1,337 points and 837 rebounds, Stone was the Northwest Conference MVP, was selected for the Beyond Sports Women’s Collegiate All-Star Game, and received All-Region and All-American honors.

She was also a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year, a member of the NWC First Team All-Academic squad, and copped Whitman’s Mignon Borleske Award — the school’s highest athletic honor for a female athlete.

When she wasn’t torching the net, Stone participated in the Whitman College mentor program, was an ACE representative, and served as a member of the Whitman Elementary School Science Night Committee.

Using her time well, Coupeville’s progeny was also a presenter at the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, while obtaining multiple internships.

Now, she’s off to England, after using her final Whitman interviews to rave about the skills of Blues teammates, praising the three-ball artistry of Mady Burdett with the same sparkle in her eye she always had when talking up fellow Wolves like Sylvia Hurlburt or Lindsey Roberts.

I’m calling it now. Give her two years and she’s the new Queen.

Look me in the eye. Am I lying?

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She makes it rain (in a good way)!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Happy birthday, tagged , , , , , on March 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Kailey Kellner

Kailey Kellner

It’s kind of fitting that it’s pouring rain today.

Why, you ask?

It’s Kailey Kellner’s birthday, and few, if any, Wolves have her uncanny ability to make it rain buckets on the basketball court.

A tireless worker who scrambles back on defense and is constantly making off with steals, tips and rebounds to set up her offensive game, Kellner is a blossoming talent.

The leading scorer on the Coupeville JV girls’ squad (by a lot) she bounced up to varsity this year and immediately made an impact, draining the first shot she took at that level — a stone-cold three-point bomb in the face of the defense that would have made Larry Bird crack a smile.

Kellner has slipped in and become such a part of the fabric of CHS sports — whether as a player or a fan — that it’s almost hard to remember the easy-going young woman with the quiet smile is still a relative newcomer to the area.

It was just last school year that she and her family arrived from England, part way into the hoops season.

Moving to a new town, any town, is never easy. Making the jump from country to country makes the transition an even bigger one.

Kellner, though, slipped right in, making friends and doing whatever she could to become a solid part of Wolf Nation.

Whether on the basketball court, or doing all the behind the scenes work with last year’s Wolf softball squad as they broke a 12-year drought and went to state, Kailey has been a wonderful addition to the local sports scene.

She’s only a sophomore, which means we have two more years of watching her continue to evolve into the superstar she was born to be. And the amazing person that completes the other half of the picture.

Happy birthday, Miss Kellner.

Two years ago, we had no idea who you were. Now, we couldn’t think of Wolf sports without you being a vital, vibrant part of it all.

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Wolf hoops picks up an English accent!!

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

Kailey Kellner

Kailey Kellner

Kailey Kellner is a quick adapter.

As a military child, she has to be, having spent her first 15 years living in three different countries.

And now, after stints in Japan (four years), Italy (seven) and England (four), she’s landed in a whole different world, arriving in Coupeville, where she made her debut as a Wolf basketball player Friday night.

“I have lived overseas my whole life,” Kellner said. “Life in Coupeville is amazing; it’s really different from being in Europe, and not living in the states my whole life.

“But I think I will have a great experience here with friends and family!”

A freshman at CHS, Kellner played for the Wolf JV squad Friday against visiting Archbishop Thomas Murphy and had an immediate impact.

A scrappy, competitive player, she gave Coupeville a shot in the arm and helped it kick off an aggressive defensive stand that sparked the Wolves to a 35-18 win.

She also netted the first of what could be many baskets to come midway through the third quarter.

While being in the USA is a new experience, being on a basketball court is not. Kellner began playing the sport when she was just two years old and previously played for a high school team in Lakenheath, England.

“I started basketball because it is my sport and the first time I picked up that basketball I knew I wasn’t giving up on that sport!,” Kellner said.

Also a softball shortstop and soccer defender, she lives for the thrill of the hardwood.

“The part of basketball that I enjoy much is having that amazing rush of excitement and playing as a team and winning as a team!,” Kellner said. “That feeling that you can bring up not just yourself but your whole team!

“I think my strengths are being aggressive and being a team player,” she added. “I am very well at playing the position post and handling the ball and putting it in the hoop.”

Joining a new team at a new school in a new country, and jumping in at about the mid-point of the season, it’s been a bit of a scramble for Kellner. But she’s enjoyed the transition.

“I know I’m new, but the girls are amazing,” Kellner said. “I am so happy to work with them for my high school experience.”

Making the move a bit easier has been her family, including parents Tim and Jennifer Kellner, who were in the stands for their daughter’s American hoops debut.

“The people who have an impact on my life are definitely my family and friends!,” Kellner said. “My mom, my grandparents, Diana Marsh and Clint Marsh! My dad! And my cousin, Michaela Camlin.

As she adapts to a new life, she’s settling in at CHS (“I don’t really have a favorite class yet, but, in my spare time I listen to the modern music and hang out with my family and friends”), while honing her basketball skills.

“I am very interested in sports and continuing my life with sports interests,” Kellner said. “Basketball is a big part in my life and I work on it every other day!”

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