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Posts Tagged ‘Granite Falls’

Mollie Bailey is money

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on February 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Kylie Van Velkinburgh had six points and two blocks Friday as the Wolf JV closed its season with a road victory. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

After beating Granite Falls, the young guns finished 9-7, best record of any CHS hoops team this season. (Amy King photo)

Best record in town.

Kicking off a four-games-on-one-court evening Friday at Granite Falls, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team got things going with a jolt.

Riding a game-winning three-ball in the final seconds from Mollie Bailey, the Wolves escaped with a 29-27 win, got a sweet bit of revenge, and capped a winning season.

The victory, which was payback for a loss to Granite earlier in the season, allows the JV to close at 5-3 in North Sound Conference play, 9-7 overall.

Despite playing less games than Coupeville’s other squads, thanks to Cedar Park Christian not having a girls JV team, the Wolf young guns have the most wins, and the highest winning percentage, of any CHS hoops team this winter.

The finale was a nice cap to another season under long-time Wolf basketball whisperer Amy King, who got her team going with a small challenge.

“Four games back-to-back (on the same court). I told the JV girls, who had the first game of the night, that their game would set the tone for the rest of the evening.

“And the battle began.”

The two teams went back and forth, exchanging big buckets and ferocious defensive stops all night.

Anya Leavell banked in a three-ball in the opening quarter, one of her two on the night, but the Wolves trailed 9-8 at the first break.

“We pressed, we got some steals, but struggled against their two posts, who used a high-low offense when possible for easy baskets,” King said. “We ran our offenses, got great steals – blocked and just worked together all night.

“Kylie Van Velkinburgh had some key blocks and hit a couple of shots tonight,” she added. “Anya had some nice fast breaks, slowed down for control and hit the layups.”

Coupeville flipped the script in the second quarter, taking a one-point lead to the locker room, only to see Granite knot things up at 20-20 heading into the final quarter.

With the two teams standing in the middle of the ring and exchanging rib shots, a big play here or there was liable to be the deciding moment.

Enter Bailey, the coolest cucumber in the bunch, the drummer who bops to her own beat, long braids slapping a rhythm on her back as she glides through life.

Clock madly churning down, the Wolves pulled off of a nifty fake on an inbound pass. Three players dove towards the girl with the ball, but Bailey went her own way.

A jab step forward, a pirouette back behind the arc, ball lands on her fingertips, eyebrow arches slightly, ball flips skyward, splashes through net, world goes bonkers, Bailey slightly nods.

As excited as Coupeville was when the three-ball rippled through the net, turning a one-point deficit into a two-point lead, there were still a few ticks left on the clock.

Granite got the ball up floor, but aggressive pressure from Wolf frosh Audrianna Shaw threw the Tigers off their pace and a potential game-tying shot was not going to drop.

“Time runs out and we all go crazy,” King said. “It was an awesome game to end our season. Very proud of these girls.”

Leavell paced the Wolves with 10 points, four steals and three assists, while Izzy Wells added seven points and four rebounds.

Van Velkinburgh (6), Bailey (5), and Shaw (1) rounded out the scoring attack, with Shaw filling up the stat sheet with four rebounds, three steals and three assists.

Abby Mulholland (three rebounds), Ivy Leedy, Morgan Stevens, Ja’Kenya Hoskins (two rebounds, two steals), Lily Leedy, and Alana Mihill all saw floor time, while injured stars Kylie Chernikoff and Kiara Contreras provided vocal bench support.

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JV boys close with a bang

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on February 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Daniel Olson scored four points Friday as Coupeville’s JV capped season with a win at Granite Falls. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nothing sweeter than ending a season on a win.

With Xavier Murdy and Grady Rickner combining to rain down 33 points Friday, the Coupeville High School JV boys basketball team did just that.

Riding an explosive second quarter, the Wolves crunched host Granite Falls 45-36, snapping a five-game losing skid and sending everyone back to the bus with an extra skip to their step.

The wins lifts the JV’s final record to 3-7 in North Sound Conference play, 7-10 overall.

After the long trip to Granite, the Wolf boys came out a bit cold in the early going, falling behind 7-3 at the first break.

But then, with a bit of floor time beneath their feet, the young guns rediscovered their shooting touch and hit the hapless Tigers like a runaway tsunami reaching shore.

Murdy went off for 11 of his game-high 21 in the second quarter, while TJ Rickner, Daniel Olson and Sage Downes all chipped in with buckets during the second frame.

By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, CHS had ridden an 18-5 surge to a nine-point lead, and never looked back.

The two teams played dead even in the second half, but the Wolves closed strongly, with Grady Rickner at the top of his game.

The fab frosh hit from every angle in the fourth quarter, dropping in a pair of free throws, a pair of field goals and a long three-ball as he accounted for nine of his team’s 13 points down the stretch.

Chris Smith’s squad got something from everyone in its finale, with Murdy (21), Grady Rickner (12), Olson (4), Downes (3), TJ Rickner (3), and Cody Roberts (2) all scoring.

Tucker Hall, Logan Martin, Chris Ruck, and Miles Davidson rounded out the active roster, each one harassing the Tigers with an intensity which bodes well for the future of Coupeville basketball.

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Young guns taste sweet victory

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ben Smith nailed several big fourth-quarter shots Saturday, helping the Coupeville C-Team topple South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Revenge!

A day after Coupeville’s JV boys basketball squad lost to South Whidbey, the Wolf C-Team swept in and got some payback.

Playing at a tournament in Granite Falls Saturday, the Wolves put on a defensive clinic in the second half, toppling a Falcon squad which featured 9 of its school’s 14 JV players, including the leading scorer from Friday night.

Coupeville’s own seven-player team took a hit in the nightcap, losing its top player to an early injury and eventually falling to the tourney hosts, but CHS coach Scott Fox came away pleased with the day-long excursion.

“Got the monkey off our backs!”, he said. “We put together a great win against South Whidbey!

“Team played awesome defense in the second half.”

The Wolf C-Team, now 1-7 on the season, returns home to host Oak Harbor Monday. Tip-off is 5 PM.

How Saturday played out:

 

South Whidbey:

The game was a tale of two very different halves, as the Wolf comeback kings stormed from behind to net a 28-16 win.

Jaylen Nitta tossed in four of his game-high 14 points in the opening quarter, but Coupeville found itself in a 12-5 hole at the first break.

Things didn’t get much better, though not necessarily all that much worse either, during a second quarter which was brutal for lovers of offensive play.

The Falcons garnered the only points of the frame with a lonely field goal, but, as they went to the locker room up 14-5, little did they know they would never, ever hit from the field again.

Perhaps inspired by a Lombardi-style speech from their coach, or just revived by the intermission, the Wolves attacked ferociously once play started back up.

With Nitta running wild, dumping in six more points in the third, CHS used a 10-0 run to turn their deficit into a one-point lead.

After that, it was time for “Big Game Ben” Smith to take over, as he rifled in a pair of shots from way outside in the fourth, keying a 13-2 surge to nail down the win.

South Whidbey’s only second-half points came courtesy two free throws, as the Falcons failed to hit a single field goal after the halftime break.

Nitta finished with 14 points to lead the way, while Smith (6), Chris Cernick (3), Jonathan Partida (3), and Tony Garcia (2) also scored.

Brayden Coatney and Andrew Aparicio rounded out the plucky Wolf squad, coming strong on defense alongside their teammates.

 

Granite Falls:

Nitta went down early, and without their leading scorer, CHS fell 43-22.

After trailing 13-2 at the first break, the Wolves cut the lead back to seven by the half, and were still within single digits until the game slipped away in the fourth quarter.

While Granite had a 10-6 advantage in players, Partida, in particular, didn’t back down.

Nailing a trio of three-balls, he scored in every quarter while tickling the nets for a season-best 15 points.

Coatney, Aparicio, and Garcia chipped in with two apiece, while Cernick swished a free-throw to cap the Wolf scoring.

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Tigers chomp undermanned JV girls

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Audrianna Shaw knocked down an especially impressive bucket Tuesday, but the Coupeville JV couldn’t hold off Granite Falls. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

No excuses, ever.

Despite playing basically four players down Tuesday, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team fought visiting Granite Falls from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

But, with two of its top players limited to a single quarter of action, and two more in street clothes, the Wolves suffered a third-quarter let-down and fell 33-20.

The loss, which largely hinged on an 11-2 run by Granite coming out of halftime, drops Coupeville to 3-2 in North Sound Conference play, 6-6 overall.

The Wolves were without the injured Abby Mulholland and Kylie Chernikoff, while starters Izzy Wells and Ja’Kenya Hoskins only made brief cameos so they could remain eligible for extended duty in the varsity game.

That forced CHS coach Amy King to shuffle her roster, and she did, patching together a variety of lineups, while giving Morgan Stevens her first career start.

The high-energy freshman brought a nice intensity to the defensive side of the ball, as did her fellow hustlers like Lily Leedy and Alana Mihill.

Much of Coupeville’s offense came courtesy Anya Leavell, who knocked down eight points with a variety of sweet moves.

She went coast to coast for one bucket, had a pair of baskets on plays where she rolled hard to the hoop, lofting the ball up and over her defender’s fingertips, then capped things with a pull-up jumper.

The game’s best bucket came from Audrianna Shaw, who threw down a wicked mini-hook shot on the move, slicing off a chunk of the backboard before finding pay-dirt.

With the game tied 6-6 after one quarter, Coupeville said farewell to Hoskins. Then, trailing just 18-16 at the half, it was time to bid adieu to Wells.

That gave Granite a chance to bang the ball inside to its big players — one Tiger was six-foot in her socks and camped out all game right beneath the rim — and use a power game to pull away.

The game took a nasty turn in the final moments when Wolf guard Kiara Contreras was launched skyward during a battle for a rebound, before landing hard, smacking her head on the floor.

To their credit, the Tigers, to a player, came over after the game to check on the scrappy CHS ball-hawk, with the Granite player who inadvertently yanked Contreras off her feet offering profuse apologies.

Leavell’s eight points paced the Wolf scoring attack, with Shaw (4), Mollie Bailey (2), Contreras (2), Wells (2), and Hoskins (2) also scoring.

Kylie Van Velkinburgh played strongly on defense, rising up to reject a Tiger shot while the game was still a one-score affair.

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“Ja’Kenya the Tiger Killer” strikes

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ja’Kenya Hoskins, seen last year as an 8th grader, scored her first high school varsity points Tuesday, and they couldn’t have come at a bigger time. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Everyone contributes.

From the senior captains to the freshmen swing players, the Coupeville High School girls varsity basketball squad gets something from all of its players, and it’s paying off.

Tuesday night was a prime example, as the Wolves, playing without two starters for the second straight game, pulled together, showed incredible grit and determination in the fourth quarter, and escaped with another win.

This time, it was a 40-33 victory over visiting Granite Falls, thanks to superb plays from young guns Chelsea Prescott and Ja’Kenya Hoskins and surprisingly good free-throw shooting in the game’s final moments.

The win lifts CHS to 4-2 in North Sound Conference play, 6-7 overall, and solidifies its hold on third-place in the six-team league.

The Wolves trail King’s (6-0) and Cedar Park Christian (5-1), while sitting well ahead of Granite (2-4), Sultan (1-5), and South Whidbey (0-6), who they play Friday at home.

A win in that game, against a team it beat by 35 points the first time around, and Coupeville clinches a playoff spot.

Tuesday night, the Wolves were back on their home court for the first time in nearly a month, but minus two major weapons, senior Lindsey Roberts and junior Hannah Davidson.

Roberts, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, suffered a nasty finger injury early in Coupeville’s last game, while Davidson is recovering from a hurt ankle.

Unable to call on either veteran, CHS coach David King went to his bench and gave junior defensive whiz kid Tia Wurzrainer her first career start, then employed freshman Ja’Kenya Hoskins for her longest varsity stint.

Both players responded in style.

“Tia and Ja’Kenya did a really good job and brought a lot of energy,” King said. “We talked about having each player step up and play a little bigger and add a little more to their game.

“It’s not to be put on just one or two players,” he added. “Tonight the players did a little more and shared in picking up what Hannah and Lindsey bring us.”

Coupeville’s support crew stood tallest in the crucible of the fourth quarter, rising to the moment after the Wolves frittered away a 10-point lead.

Granite opened the final frame with an 11-4 surge, using two free throws with a little over four minutes to play to knot things at 31-31.

Having seen a 25-15 advantage vanish into the wind, the Wolves could have broken. Could have fallen apart, and said, well, we tried, and taken the moral victory.

Except they weren’t having it.

Prescott, working hard down in the paint, with three Tigers hanging on her, pummeling her from head to toe, promptly broke her foot off in Granite’s collective posterior.

Finding the smallest crack in the defense, the super sophomore slipped through a tangle of arms, draining a gorgeous spinning shot and effectively winning the game on the spot.

The visitors didn’t go down that easily, of course, netting a free throw to cut the lead back to one, but that was just the cue for Hoskins to hit the shot of the year.

The fab frosh had spent the night being a whirlwind, crashing the boards, poking balls free, forcing bad shots and then getting out on the run.

She had capped the first quarter with a breakaway layup, scoring her first-ever varsity points, but for her second act, Hoskins decided to get downright dramatic.

With CHS clinging to a one-point lead, and likely the fifth shooting option of the five players on the floor, the lil’ sister of former Wolf hoops star Jai’Lysa Hoskins announced her own arrival with a shot which probably caused King’s stomach to lurch a bit.

Everyone in the gym expected the freshman to kick the ball back out, but instead “Ja’Kenya the Tiger Killer” spun and banked a turnaround jumper off the glass.

The ball arced up, King looked like he needed some Pepto-Bismo, and then the ball kissed the backboard and softly plopped through the net, sending the fans into delirium and drawing a smile from her now-relieved coach.

Riding an emotional high, the Wolves closed the game’s final minute like stone-cold killers.

A CHS team which had hit just two of 11 free throws to that point swished five of their final six freebies to ice the win.

Prescott had dead-aim on two charity shots, while Scout Smith tossed in the game’s final three points, each shot caressing the net as the ball slid through the twine.

The strong finish capped a game which took a few wild swings.

Coupeville came out strongly, with Prescott drilling a jumper from the side to open scoring, followed by back-to-back buckets from left-handed assassin Avalon Renninger.

Toss in a three-ball by Ema Smith, the first of her three treys on the night, and Hoskins layup, and CHS exited the first quarter up 11-4.

And then the offense stalled-out for a bit.

Other than a second three-ball from Ema Smith, the Wolves couldn’t buy a bucket for the first seven minutes of the second quarter, and actually fell behind 15-14 at one point.

That narrow deficit would be the one and only time Coupeville was on the wrong side of the score, however, as CHS ended the half with a couple free throws and a lunging lay-in from Prescott off a sizzlin’ in-bounds pass.

The Wolves put the hammer down in the third, opening with a 7-0 run to stretch the lead out to 10, before settling for a 27-20 advantage headed into the fourth.

Ema Smith hit on her final trey, sending the ball through the net with a single second left on the shot clock, while Wurzrainer and Nicole Laxton added big buckets.

Laxton slapped home her basket after getting the ball off of a note-perfect drive ‘n dish from Scout Smith, while Wurzrainer’s jumper bounced around the rim 2,437 times before splashing home.

That set up the fourth quarter, where things veered from scary to serene.

Even as the lead slipped away, the Wolves continued to hit big shots, though, with Scout Smith lofting a rainbow jumper off the sweet spot of the glass, while Prescott yanked a rebound free and powered back up for a key put-back.

With Roberts and her 11 points a night scoring average on the bench in street clothes, Coupeville spread out its offense.

Ema Smith paced the Wolves with 11, while Prescott banged home 10 and Scout Smith rustled the nets for six.

Renninger (4), Hoskins (4), Laxton (3), and Wurzrainer (2) also scored, while Mollie Bailey, Izzy Wells, and Anya Leavell all chipped in with scrappy, ball-hawking defense during their stints on the floor.

Proving guards can clean the boards, Scout Smith hauled in a team-high nine rebounds to go with four assists, while Hoskins snatched seven caroms and Ema Smith collected six.

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