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Low numbers, lots of fight

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Alita Blouin knocked down a team-high 13 points Friday. (Andrew Williams photo)

Rumble with who you have.

Missing two key starters Friday night, the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad pushed visiting Orcas Island to the final moments before falling just short.

While the final score was 37-30 in favor of the Vikings, it was a one-possession game before the visitors closed out the game by netting four free throws in the final seconds.

The loss, coming in the conference opener for Coupeville, drops the Wolves to 4-4 overall, 0-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play.

CHS coach Megan Richter had a short bench Friday, with injured starters Maddie Georges and Carolyn Lhamon both in street clothes.

Their active teammates more than picked up the slack, however, attacking Orcas on both ends of the floor.

A three-ball from team scoring leader Alita Blouin got the Wolves on the board, before Lyla Stuurmans dropped a pair of haymakers right before the end of the quarter to knot things up at 7-7.

The ever-springy sophomore made off with back-to-back steals at midcourt, snatching the ball up and bolting to the other end, where she slapped home running layups.

Orcas, which had its own issues with a short bench, responded however, using an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter to claim the lead, before Blouin knocked down a pair of three-balls to keep things close.

Trailing 19-15 at the half, Coupeville pulled ahead in the third quarter, but just for a moment.

Wolf sparkplug Katie Marti, muscling her way in between a pair of Vikings, yanked down an offensive rebound and put the ball back up and in to get things started.

Then it was time for Stuurmans to start raining down haymakers again.

She banked a runner off the glass, before making off with yet another steal, this time turning it into a three-point play the hard way after being hammered while getting her shot off.

Draining the free throw, Stuurmans staked Coupeville to a 22-21 lead, only to see Orcas nail a pullup jumper to surge back ahead as the third quarter faded into memory.

The final eight-minute segment was a tense, back-and-forth affair, with Marti and Blouin knocking down hook shots under duress to keep the Wolves close.

Blouin’s bucket sliced the Orcas lead to just 29-28 with about two-and-a-half minutes to play, but would be the final Coupeville field goal of the night.

The Vikings got a huge put-back off of a missed free throw and a beautiful bank shot which barely cleared a defender’s outstretched fingertips to get the lead out to five points, and time ran away from the Wolves.

Ryanne Knoblich netted a pair of free throws at the 1:48 mark to pull Coupeville within 33-30, but the game’s final four points all came courtesy Orcas charity shots.

The Wolves were paced by Blouin, who splashed home a trio of three-balls on her way to 13 points, while Stuurmans (9), Marti (4), Gwen Gustafson (2), and Knoblich (2) also scored.

Mia Farris and Madison McMillan both saw floor time, as well, with McMillan making her varsity debut and immediately going high to snatch a rebound out of the hands of a Viking player.

The Wolves have a busy week ahead, with home games against Mount Vernon Christian (Jan. 10) and Darrington (Jan. 13), plus a road trip to Neah Bay (Jan. 14).

Mia Farris, bringing the heat on both ends of the floor. (Andrew Williams photo)

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Don’t kill ’em, Maddie!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Madison McMillan, destroyer of worlds. (Jackie Saia photo)

Madison McMillan blew the joint up.

Having made her varsity basketball debut earlier in the evening Friday, the Coupeville High School sophomore dominated play in the girls JV game.

Throwing down a season-high 23 points, McMillan outscored visiting Orcas Island by herself, sparking the Wolf young guns to a 52-17 win.

The victory, coming in Coupeville’s league opener, lifts the JV to 4-3 overall, 1-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play.

While McMillan and company were scorching the nets, they were also clamping down on defense.

After surrendering 10 points in the opening quarter, the Wolves held Orcas to just a single basket in each of the next three quarters.

That allowed CHS to turn an early 17-10 advantage into a solid 31-12 lead at the half, before bumping the margin to 43-15 through three quarters.

McMillan was an equal opportunity warrior, banging home buckets in all four frames.

She opened with a torrid nine-point performance in the first quarter, tacked on six more before halftime, then banked in four apiece in the third and fourth.

“I promise you, Maddie’s only going to hurt them a little bit … maybe.” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

McMillan got plenty of help, with nine different Wolves scoring for Kassie O’Neil’s squad.

Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo knocked down eight points, with Teagan Calkins and Kierra Thayer each chipping in with six.

Kassidy Upchurch (2), Reese Wilkinson (2), Liza Zustiak (2), Desi Ramirez-Vasquez (2), and Jada Heaton (1) also scored, while Kayla Arnold brought intensity to her defensive efforts.

It was Upchurch’s first points of the season.

Coupeville returns to action next week, with a home game Tuesday, Jan. 10 against Mount Vernon Christian kicking things off.

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Wolf wrecking crew drops a beat-down

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“Why yes, Katie. I do think you should go wreck some fools.” (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Call ’em second-half killers.

Breaking open a close game Wednesday, the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad held visiting Granite Falls scoreless for 10 minutes coming out of the halftime break.

Sparked by that defensive stand, the Wolves turned a six-point lead into a resounding 43-21 win over the Tigers, kicking off the new year in style.

The non-conference victory, coming in Coupeville’s first game in 18 days, lifts it to 4-3 on the season and gives the Wolves momentum heading into their league schedule.

First up is Orcas Island, which visits Whidbey Island Friday, followed by Mount Vernon Christian (Jan. 10) and Darrington (Jan. 13), as CHS opens the new year with four straight home clashes.

The matchup against Granite started a bit slowly, as both teams struggled to find their shooting touch in the early going.

Balls spun back off the rim, took weird bounces, and generally refused to play fair, though Coupeville had a little bit better touch.

Alita Blouin slashed past her defender to slap home a game-opening layup, while Lyla Stuurmans snatched a loose ball off the floor and went coast-to-coast to stake the Wolves to an 8-3 lead at the first break.

“You, Stuurmans. I like the cut of your jib! Go score me some points!!”

Attacking the ballhandler, often smothering them with two defenders madly poking at the ball, the Wolves frustrated Granite, and picked up most of their early offense off of turnovers.

Stuurmans, bobbing and weaving and bedeviling anyone foolish enough to dribble near her, hit a pair of second-quarter jumpers to lead the CHS offense.

The first of those shots was one of the most gorgeous of the season, as the Wolf sophomore spun a rival around, stopped ‘n popped, the ball kicking through the bottom of the net with a happy lil’ sigh.

Maddie Georges delivered a dagger, taking a kick-out from Blouin, and splashing home a three-ball, and Coupeville was content to carry a 17-11 lead into the break.

Maybe because the Wolves could sense what was coming — a 10-minute span of utter domination.

Granite went scoreless in the third quarter, then crawled nearly two minutes into the fourth before finally breaking its drought thanks to a rare free throw.

During that time, Coupeville rang up 15 straight points, stretching the lead all the way out to 32-11 and effectively ending the game.

Five different Wolves dropped buckets during the game-busting tear, while everyone on the floor hit the boards (and the floor) with intensity.

None more so than Gwen Gustafson, who launched herself airborne in pursuit of a ball which was madly skipping away, fully intent on bouncing out the gym door and going for an evening stroll.

Gwen Gustafson comes in like a wrecking ball.

Instead, the scrappy Wolf senior bounced off the hardwood, flung her arms out as she skidded face-first towards the rapidly approaching wall, and somehow, against all the rules of science, pulled off the save of the century.

Her breath gently crossing the endline, but not her body, Gustafson corralled the ball while hugging the floor, flipped it towards Georges, then watched as her teammate zipped a pass into the paint to a trailing Ryanne Knoblich.

Who promptly drained a sizzlin’ lil’ turnaround jumper, plopping the cherry on top of the sundae.

It was the biggest, and buzziest, play of the night, but not the only one which brought a smile to Wolf coach Megan Richter’s face.

A few seconds later, Georges backpedaled, planted, and absorbed the pain, drawing an offensive charging foul on an out-of-control Granite player.

Then there was Stuurmans, turning another steal into another breakaway bucket.

Georges rolling to the hoop for a lil’ runner which allowed her to become just the 36th Wolf girl to crack the 300-point club for a program which started in 1974.

Katie Marti getting nicely intense on defense, while teammate Jada Heaton egged her on with a big smile.

Plenty of prime moments to choose from, as Coupeville coasted in for the win.

Granite did finally find some semblance of a shooting touch late in the fourth, briefly cutting its deficit to 14 points.

The answer?

Blouin three-ball. Georges three-ball. And yet another Blouin three-ball.

Coupeville might have had a frosty night at the free-throw line, netting just 3-20 as a team, but the Wolves made up for it from long, and medium range.

Blouin paced CHS with a game-high 12 points, with Stuurmans banking in 10 and Georges tallying nine.

Knoblich (5), Gustafson (3), Marti (2), and defensive dynamo Mia Farris (2) also scored, as Coupeville spread the offensive load.

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New year, same winning style

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Wolf hoops stars Reese Wilkinson (45) and Kierra Thayer (32) battle for control of the paint. (Jackie Saia photo)

Welcome to the Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo experience.

The Coupeville High School foreign exchange student entered Christmas break as a cheerleader and emerged from it a fully formed basketball sensation.

Making her hardwood debut for the Wolf JV Wednesday, Marcos-Cabrillo threw down a team-high 11 points, sparking Kassie O’Neil’s squad to a 39-36 win over visiting Granite Falls.

The non-conference win, coming in Coupeville’s first girls’ hoops game since Dec. 17, lifts the Wolves to 3-3 on the season.

Next up for the young guns is a home game Friday against Orcas Island, in what will be the team’s first league clash.

Wednesday’s return to the floor was a tense, back-and-forth affair capped by Marcos-Cabrillo going off for back-to-back breakaway buckets, followed by Liza Zustiak proving her chops as a stone-cold killer.

The Wolf freshman nailed a long pullup jumper, her feet just inside the three-point arc, staking the Wolves to a 39-34 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

While Granite Falls did tickle the twines for a pair of free throws with 15 seconds to play, the Tigers could get no closer thanks to a ferocious Wolf defense.

Teagan Calkins went airborne to pick off a pass, and multiple Coupeville players slammed into the floor to fight over a loose ball as the clock madly ticked away.

Given a final chance to tie, thanks to a questionable decision by the refs, Granite Falls bounced its one, and only, three-ball attempt of the night off the top of the backboard.

The furious finale arrived some two hours after a surprise opener, with Marcos-Cabrillo trading her cheerleader outfit for a basketball jersey, joining the hardwood starting five to the great delight of her former cheer teammates.

Carlota Marcos-Cabrillo made her Coupeville basketball debut Wednesday, and immediately wowed Wolf Nation. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Coupeville fell behind early, trailing 6-0 until Madison McMillan and Kierra Thayer got rolling.

The duo combined for all the buckets during a 10-0 run, changing the flow of the game.

With McMillan crashing hard through the paint en route to three baskets, and Thayer using her long arms to snatch a pair of offensive boards and put them back up and in, the Wolves were on the move.

Marcos-Cabrillo netted her first points as a Wolf on a steal and breakaway bucket, but Granite Falls refused to go down easy.

The Tigers actually regained the lead at 14-12 right before the end of the first quarter, before Coupeville once again went on a tear.

The Wolves opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run, with McMillan, Reese Wilkinson, Calkins, and Jada Heaton all scoring, and never gave the lead back.

Granite hung around, staying within 24-22 at the half, and tying the game at 30-30 with under a minute to play in the third quarter.

But sparked by their defense, whether it was Kassidy Upchurch pulling down multiple rebounds or Kayla Arnold and Desi Ramirez-Vasquez frustrating Tiger ballhandlers, the Wolves had an answer at every turn.

CHS closed the third quarter with an exclamation point, as Thayer fired a half-court outlet pass onto the fingertips of a rumblin’ McMillan, who sliced ‘n diced the defense for a layup.

The ball hit glass, then dropped sweetly through mere moments before the buzzer sang the song of its people, setting off a celebration down the Wolf bench.

The good times continued from there, with Marcos-Cabrillo and Zustiak sticking in the final daggers for a win fueled by rock-solid effort from every player on the active roster.

McMillan banked in 10 to go with Marcos-Cabrillo’s 11-point debut, while Thayer (6), Heaton (4), Calkins (4), Zustiak (2), and Wilkinson (2) also scored.

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Wolf girls bounce holiday tourney

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Maddie Georges and Co. are staying home for the holidays. (Andrew Williams photo)

Only one team is going East.

Both Coupeville High School varsity basketball squads were scheduled to play in holiday tournaments this week, but the Wolf girls have changed their plans.

Citing a number of nagging injuries, Megan Richter’s team will stay home and rest up, instead of traveling to Ellensburg.

The Wolf boys are still scheduled to get on the bus Monday for a trip to Leavenworth, where Cascade High School will host a four-team rumble.

Brad Sherman’s squad faces Kittitas Tuesday, then plays either Cascade or Manson the next day.

Brad Sherman and his pack are off to Eastern Washington. (Andrew Williams photo)

The Wolf girls were set to play Chelan Tuesday, then face off with either Sultan or tourney host Kittitas Wednesday.

Instead, the Wolves will take some extra time to get right before action gets hot and heavy in the new year.

“We should all be healed up and ready to go by league,” Richter said.

Coupeville’s varsity girls’ team, which is 3-3 on the season, kicks off 2023 with four-straight home games.

The Wolves host Granite Falls Jan. 4 for a non-conference tilt, then play Northwest 2B/1B League rivals Orcas Island (Jan. 6), Mount Vernon Christian (Jan. 10), and Darrington (Jan. 13).

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