Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘girls basketball’

Live by the streak, die by the streak

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Tenley Stuurmans hits nothing but net. (Julie Wheat photo)

I see your surge, and raise you.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team busted out a 10-0 run at one point Tuesday night against visiting East Jefferson.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, the Rivals, who feature a mashup of players from Chimacum and Port Townsend, went on their own 21-2 and 14-2 tears en route to a 59-42 victory.

The non-conference loss drops Coupeville to 1-2, with CHS set to head to Orcas Island Friday for its first road trip, and first Northwest 2B/1B League game of the season.

Playing a third-straight home game Tuesday, the Wolves fell behind 6-0 in the game’s first minute, before finding their best groove of the evening.

Tenley Stuurmans nailed a silky pullup jumper over the outstretched arms of a defender to kick off the aforementioned 10-0 surge, and she and her teammates were off and running.

Teagan Calkins and Haylee Armstrong added buckets during the seemingly game-busting run, with Stuurmans swooping in to deliver multiple crowd-pleasing baskets, and the Rivals were stuck in reverse.

It wouldn’t last, however.

With Coupeville eventually ahead 12-8, East Jefferson went to a full-court press, and it worked wonders.

Throwing off the Wolf ballhandlers and creating a series of rapid-fire steals, it allowed the visitors to retake the lead at 14-12 heading into the first break.

After freshman Kennedy O’Neill banked in a bucket to open the second frame and knot things back up, East Jefferson’s defense got especially brutal, keying a 15-0 run from which Coupeville never fully recovered.

The Wolves, down 33-18 at the half, played the Rivals almost bucket-for-bucket after the break, but could never quite get back over the hump.

CHS cut the deficit down to seven several times in the third, with Calkins and Danica Strong popping three-balls and Armstrong soundly rejecting an East Jefferson shot, but that was as close as Scout Smith’s squad would get.

Another 10-0 explosion from the Rivals in the fourth stretched the margin back out to 19, and the rally died for good.

Penina Vailolo, a senior from Chimacum, was the prime-time killer, knifing Coupeville for a game-high 26 points, while Stuurmans led the Wolves with 15.

Calkins, O’Neill, and Strong each added seven points, while Armstrong hit for six and moved into the top 100 scorers all-time for CHS girls’ basketball, which launched its program in 1974.

Now with 122 career varsity points and counting, the Wolf junior sits at #98 all-time, while Calkins, a senior who has torched the nets for 265 varsity points, moved from #45 to #42, passing Sarah Mouw (259), Carly Guillory (260), and Madeline Strasburg (261).

Ari Cunningham and Lexis Drake rounded out the rotation Tuesday, both bringing heat on the defensive end of the floor.

Read Full Post »

Saturdays are for winning

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Tenley Stuurmans? She already beat you. (Julie Wheat photos)

Raise a glass for Scout Smith.

Two days after Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball coach Megan Richter delivered her second child, her replacement on the sideline this season made some personal history.

Guiding the Wolves to a wire-to-wire 43-32 win over visiting Eastside Prep Saturday, Smith collected her first victory as a varsity basketball coach.

The non-conference W evens Coupeville’s record at 1-1 and means the former CHS Female Athlete of the Year is now a “made” woman in two sports, having won multiple matches during her debut as her alma mater’s varsity volleyball coach in the fall.

Smith, always one of the most cerebral of athletes during her time in the red and black, made a smart choice Saturday — get the ball to her big three and let them rumble.

With Tenley Stuurmans, Haylee Armstrong, and Teagan Calkins combining to score 35 points, and all their teammates coming up huge with clutch supporting performances, the Wolves were unstoppable most of the day.

The air in the gym had the cold tang of winter, but Coupeville’s collective shooting touch was en fuego.

Calkins was in full-on “Red Dragon” mode early, snapping the nets for seven points in the first five minutes, including scoring off of the opening tip.

The Wolf senior, who was a defensive dynamo as well — constantly poking balls free and disrupting passes — also splashed home a three-ball and a jumper while on the move.

When her shot wasn’t open, Calkins found Armstrong zipping past the defense, with the junior guard adding five points of her own as CHS staked itself to a 13-4 lead.

Eastside was pesky, though, closing the first quarter with five straight points, then tossing in six straight to end the second frame.

That kept the Eagles within 19-15 at the half, even as Danica Strong drained a superb turnaround jumper, Ari Cunningham provided a jolt on defense, and Stuurmans begin to heat up.

If the visitors had any hopes of making the day super-competitive, that fell apart quickly as the second half began with a Wolf assault on the hoop.

Armstrong banked in another three-ball, doing a lil’ strut back up court afterwards, while Stuurmans got three the hard way, fighting her way to a breakaway bucket and free throw combo which showed off her speed, nimble nature, and often-surprising toughness.

By the time the buzzer sounded on the third, Eastside Prep had little pep left, having fallen behind 37-19 as the Wolves dominated on both ends of the floor.

The final score was a little closer than you might have thought, but only because the Eagles suddenly discovered their shooting touch from long-range in the game’s final two minutes.

Not to be lost in the moment was scrappy Wolves Lexis Drake and Ari Cunningham scoring their first varsity buckets, becoming the 254th and 255th CHS girls to join that club since the program was launched back in 1974.

Teagan Calkins, starting to get kind of legendary.

Stuurmans and Armstrong tied for top honors with 12 points each, while Calkins popped for 11.

Toss in four from Strong and two apiece from Cunningham and Drake, add quality work from Sydney Van Dyke, Capri Anter, and fab frosh Kennedy O’Neill — who was a whirlwind on defense — and it made for the kind of balanced team-wide performance any coach loves to see.

Plus, Smith wasn’t the only one making some hoops history.

Armstrong’s 12 points gives her 116 for her career, leaving her a three-ball shy of moving into the top 100 career scorers, while Calkins moves up from #49 to #45 thanks to her matinee performance.

With 258 points and counting, “The Red Dragon” passes Chelsea Prescott (249), Danette Beckley (249), Julie Wieringa (252), and Lyla Stuurmans (257).

Calkins played alongside Lyla Stuurmans — Tenley’s big sis — for multiple seasons, while Beckley is Danica Strong’s mom.

Read Full Post »

CHS young guns learn under fire

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Finley Helm fires a pass. (Julie Wheat photo)

Two teams, two different game plans.

There wasn’t a high school JV girls’ basketball game originally on the schedule for Saturday, as Eastside Prep initially said it only had a varsity.

But the Eagles changed their minds late, giving Coupeville’s second unit some unexpected, and appreciated, floor time.

How did Eastside Prep swing the change? By basically playing its varsity in both games.

Almost everyone on the Eagles roster crossed over, with several key varsity players sparking a game-busting 18-0 run in the second quarter in a game eventually won 40-30 by the visitors.

Coupeville, which has no players currently swinging between varsity and JV, and features multiple 8th graders on its JV, got off to a strong start, jumping to a 12-5 lead by the first break.

But the second quarter tsunami swamped the Wolves.

Despite fighting back to outscore their private school rivals 18-17 in the second half, Alita Blouin’s squad fell to 0-2 with the non-conference loss.

Coupeville’s girls, repping a 2B school, have opened with back-to-back games against 1A opponents, and will get a third one Tuesday when East Jefferson comes to Cow Town.

The Wolf JV spread out its offense between four hot shooters, with middle school ace Cameron Van Dyke leading the way with 11 points.

Fellow 8th graders Anna Powers and Finley Helm added eight and four points respectively, while sophomore sparkplug Ava Lucero poured in seven.

Willow Leedy-Bonifas, Olivia Hall, Emma Cushman, Zayne Roos, Taylor Marrs, Elizabeth Marshall, and Allie Powers also saw floor time for the Wolves.

Read Full Post »

Some milestones, some pain

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Wolf hoops hotshot Haylee Armstrong cracked the 100-point career club in Tuesday’s season opener. (Photo courtesy Michelle Armstrong)

The net was unforgiving.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team suffered through a cold-shooting night for much of Tuesday’s season opener, and if you can’t score, you can’t win.

The second quarter particularly stung the Wolves, leaving a new-look CHS squad on the wrong side of a 45-28 score in an Island rivalry rumble with visiting South Whidbey.

Coupeville, which is being coached by Scout Smith this season as Megan Richter takes a leave of absence to deliver her second child, could not get anything to drop in the first quarter.

Haylee Armstrong made off with a steal and slapped home the bucket midway through the frame, but that was it for the Wolves, as everything else slid off the rim, popped back out, or simply refused to fall through the bottom of the net.

Thankfully for CHS, its defense was on point, and the deficit was a modest one at 6-2 when the first break came roaring up on the teams.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, while their own shooting woes continued into the second quarter, South Whidbey found a bit of a groove, dropping in a pair of three-balls during a 19-9 surge.

The second quarter added physical pain to mental pain, as sparkplug sophomore Adeline Maynes, who hit three free throws in her varsity hoops debut, got crunched and spent the remainder of the game with an ice bag on her forehead.

Coupeville pulled off a pair of highlight reel buckets, with Tenley Stuurmans scoring off a ball saved by a major hustle play from Capri Anter, and Kennedy O’Neill converting a bucket set up by a zippy pass from Armstrong.

But the Falcons were scoring in gobs and stretched the lead out to 25-11 at the half and 34-11 late in the third.

Showing a scrappiness reminiscent of the playing style of their acting coach, the Wolves did rally, closing the third on a 7-1 run before battling to a 10-10 stalemate across the final frame.

Coupeville’s leading returning scorer, senior Teagan Calkins, who was held down in the first half, popped in a pair of second half buckets off of stellar set-up passes from Ari Cunningham and Stuurmans.

That allowed “The Red Dragon” to move into the top 50 on the CHS girls’ career scoring chart.

Calkins, who finished with five points in the opener, now has 247 for her varsity career, putting her in a temporary tie with CHS grads Mia Farris and Marlys West at #49 on a chart which began back in 1974.

Stuurmans paced the Wolves with eight points, while Armstrong pumped in six to crack the 100-point club — she has 104 and counting heading into Coupeville’s next game Saturday at home against Eastside Prep.

Maynes (3), O’Neill (2), Sydney Van Dyke (2), and Anter (2) also scored for CHS, with Danica Strong, Cunningham, and Lexis Drake all seeing floor time as well.

Read Full Post »

Strong start, tentative finish

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

8th grade ace Cameron Van Dyke, seen here during volleyball season, made her high school hoops debut Tuesday night. (Julie Wheat photo)

Victory was in their grasp but slipped away.

Playing with four 8th graders in the lineup Tuesday, the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team led at the end of the first, second, and third quarters.

Just not the fourth.

Using a 9-2 tear to end the game, visiting South Whidbey made off with a 32-27 win on opening night to claim the advantage in the Island rivalry.

With former Wolf hoops star Alita Blouin making her debut as JV coach, CHS edged out to a 6-4 lead by the first break, before stretching the advantage to 19-12 by halftime.

The second half was firmly in favor of the Falcons, however, as the visitors sliced away at the lead with an 11-6 run in the third quarter before holding the Wolves to just a single bucket in the final frame.

CHS did have balanced scoring, getting points from six of the nine players in uniform.

Ava Lucero paced the Wolves with a team-high eight points, while Willow Leedy-Bonifas knocked down seven.

Anna Powers (6), Cameron Van Dyke (2), Finley Helm (2), and Ellie Marshall (2) rounded out the offensive attack, with Emma Cushman, Allie Powers, and Zayne Roos also seeing floor time for Blouin’s squad.

Van Dyke, Roos, Helm, and Anna Powers are all 8th graders, and get to double up, playing high school ball before having the chance to also play at the middle school level when that season unfolds in 2026.

The Wolf JV, which is currently scheduled to return to action next Tuesday, Dec. 9 against East Jefferson, may actually get to play before then.

Eastside Prep, which comes to Coupeville Dec. 6, originally said it wouldn’t have a JV squad, but that may have changed.

If so, the move will be confirmed later this week.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »