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Posts Tagged ‘Hunter Smith’

Wolves survive, but don’t thrive, on longest day!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Mikayla Elfrank

   Mikayla Elfrank had five points and seven rebounds in a loss at Bellevue Christian Friday night. (John Fisken photo)

Down the road, when historians look back at the 2016-2017 Coupeville High School basketball season, they might just want to skip over Dec. 16.

Facing a brutal schedule — four games in one gym with start times ranging from 3:30-8:00 PM — the Wolves took a hard hit at Bellevue Christian, being routed every step of the way.

Since I am brutally sick (I blame the germ-riddled Coupeville Middle School gym), we’re going to combine all four games into one story, deal with things and then move on quickly, never to speak of this day again.

Things will get better.

Girls varsity:

The worst first-half shooting performance in David King’s time as CHS coach doomed the Wolves.

“Not too much positive when you are held to two points in the first half,” he said. “You have to be able to put the ball in the basket. If not, the other team is going to come at you and keep coming. That’s what happened tonight.”

Coupeville went 1-12 from the field (including missing three shots in the paint) before the halftime break, and a 23-2 deficit eventually morphed into a 49-14 beat-down.

The loss drops the girls to 4-3 on the season.

Turnovers and an inability to deal with Bellevue Christian’s defense hampered CHS all game.

“BC pressed and played hard on-ball defense and we played like it was the first time we had seen defensive pressure,” King said. “The players have some homework to do over the weekend.

“Come Monday I expect a spirited practice and practice with a purpose,” he added. “We can’t get down early and think there is some light switch we can turn on and begin to play.”

Mikayla Elfrank paced the Wolves with five points and seven rebounds, while Kailey Kellner banked home four and snared five boards.

Sarah Wright and Kalia Littlejohn each dropped in a bucket and Tiffany Briscoe netted a free-throw to round out the scoring.

Boys varsity:

The game was like a yo-yo, as terrible first and third quarters blunted a pretty good second and fourth in a 66-38 loss.

The loss drops Coupeville to 1-6 heading into a home non-conference match-up with Vashon Island Saturday afternoon (JV 4:30/varsity 6:00.)

Unable to buy a bucket for much of the first eight minutes, the Wolves found themselves in an 18-2 hole at the first break, and never really recovered.

After a slow start, CHS got all of its scoring from the trio of Hunter Smith (15), Ethan Spark (13) and Gabe Wynn (10).

Spark threw down 10 of his points in a torrid stretch in the fourth, and finished the game with three of Coupeville’s six treys.

Hunter Downes did the dirty work for the Wolves, racking up nine rebounds, a block and a steal, while Wynn corraled five boards and Cameron Toomey-Stout snared four.

Smith had a team-high four steals.

Girls JV:

Coupeville’s second squad managed to outdo its varsity counterparts, but in a bad way, scoring only a lone point in the first half.

The Wolves picked up the pace (a bit) in the second half, but slid to a 26-12 loss that leaves them at 3-2.

“First half was rough,” said CHS coach Amy King. “No rhythm in offense and struggled on defense.”

Coming out of the break, Ema Smith and Maya Toomey-Stout “really dug in on defense” and they got a big boost from teammates Tia Wurzrainer and Emma Mathusek.

“It’s nice to see a spark light up with the younger girls,” King said.

Toomey-Stout nailed a three-ball for her first points of the season, while Maddy Hilkey, Ashlie Shank and Scout Smith all earned praise from their coach for their second-half effort.

“All in all, much better second half then first. A lot of heart and no giving up,” King said. “We have a few more games and a few weeks of practice to get better before more league games.

“We’ll get there, we have full confidence.”

Wright pounded home a team-high five, while Scout Smith (4) and Toomey-Stout (3) rounded out the offensive attack.

Boys JV:

The young guns were the only team to keep things close, falling 47-38.

Freshman Sean Toomey-Stout put up a double-double to pace the Wolves, and that’s about all I know at the moment.

The loss drops Coupeville to 4-3.

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Not this time, Eagles!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Cameron Toomey-Stout (John Fisken photo)

   Cameron Toomey-Stout hit a huge three-ball and played blistering defense Tuesday, spurring Coupeville to its first win of the season. (John Fisken photo)

It would have been easy to get a bit worried.

Playing against Klahowya for the second time in five nights, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad seemed to be stuck on repeat in the early going Tuesday night.

This time they were at home playing in front of a pro-Wolf crowd, but, just like last Friday, CHS couldn’t buy a bucket.

Then, it fell behind 16-2 after one quarter and never fully recovered in a road loss.

Tuesday, however, the Wolves roared back from an early deficit, finally found their shooting touch midway through the second quarter, then pulled away for a convincing 53-41 victory over the Eagles.

The win lifts Coupeville to 1-5 overall, 1-2 in 1A Olympic League play.

It also pulls them into a tie for third-place with Klahowya, a half game out of second.

Things will sit that way for awhile, as the Wolves next four games are non-conference affairs. Add in the Christmas break, and CHS doesn’t play another league game until it hosts Port Townsend Jan. 3.

Getting a win was huge for many reasons, and right at the top was the surge of confidence cracking the win code gives an inexperienced, very thin squad.

Junior Hunter Smith, one of only two returning varsity players, was front and center Tuesday, pouring in a season-high 25, punctuated by four three-point bombs.

He had plenty of help, though, with every player on Coupeville’s short bench coming up big.

The most important basket of the game probably came off of Hunter Downes‘ fingertips, a bucket that was one part talent, one part luck, and all part hex-busting.

Held to just a Smith trey through the game’s first 10 minutes, Coupeville was only in the game because its defense was vigorously contesting everything Klahowya put up.

Trailing 10-3 and in need of a spark, the Wolves got it when Downes put up a short runner.

It caught the rim, bounced straight up a mile in the air, hung motionless for about an hour, then somehow, improbably, plunged straight down through the waiting net.

After that, CHS seemed to relax and started clicking on both sides of the ball.

The Wolves snatched the lead away for the first time, but just for a heartbeat, at 17-14, when Smith nailed a trey from the top of the arc.

Klahowya, a team comprised of sweet shooters, responded immediately with its own three-ball to knot things back up, but the genie was out of the bottle at that point.

Coupeville scored the first half’s final eight points, on two Smith treys wrapped around two free throws from Downes, to stake itself to a 25-17 lead at the break.

Things just got sweeter in the third quarter, despite it being the only stretch where Smith largely ceded the offensive burden to others.

He still pulled off a dazzling three-point play the hard way, beating two Eagles to a loose ball, then bolting past them for a swooping layup while being hit in the head by a defender’s arm.

Draining the free throw (Coupeville was a stronger-than-normal 15-22 at the charity stripe) to complete the play, Smith then turned things over to his comrades.

Five of the other eight Wolves put up points in the third, led by six from a rampaging Brian Shank, as CHS stretched its lead out to 16.

Cameron Toomey-Stout got an assist from the glass, banking home a three-ball of his own, while Downes, Ariah Bepler and Joey Lippo were lights-out at the free throw line.

Once they had the lead up in double digits, the Wolves never let it slip below 10 and coasted in for the win with a mix of buckets set up by smart passes (Lippo dealing to Smith and Toomey-Stout setting up Shank) and consistent free-throw shooting.

Gabe Wynn closed the night with two flawless charity shots, putting an emphatic (if restrained) exclamation point on the W.

While he was happy with a victory of any kind, Coupeville coach Anthony Smith was even happier to see his squad accomplish it by cutting down turnovers, working together and bringing the defensive heat.

He praised Toomey-Stout in particular for his work in relentlessly shadowing Klahowya gunner Sawyer Snope, who had stung the Wolves harshly the first time around.

While Snope hit a few buckets, and was denied one gorgeous trey only by a technicality when it hit the basket support wire before dropping through, he wasn’t able to riddle Coupeville as much this time around.

Hunter Smith’s 25-point performance was backed by Shank (10), Downes (8), Toomey-Stout (5), Wynn (2), Bepler (2) and Lippo (1).

Ethan Spark and Steven Cope didn’t score, but both provided invaluable hustle on the defensive end for the Wolves.

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Cold, hard numbers tell the tale!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hunter Downes

   Junior Hunter Downes is #5 on the scoring chart for the Wolf boys. (John Fisken photos)

Mikayla Elfrank

   Mikayla Elfrank, here tracking down a runaway ball, is the #3 scoring threat for the CHS girls team.

History seems to be repeating itself.

While we’re only a few games into the season, the Coupeville girls and Chimacum boys, both two-time defending champs, sit atop the current 1A Olympic League basketball standings.

Of course, with all four teams having seven or eight league games left on their schedule, anything is still possible.

Tuesday night brings Coupeville vs. Klahowya and Port Townsend vs. Chimacum, girls and boys, another chapter in the still-to-be-written story of the hoops season.

Here’s where things stand through Monday:

Olympic League girls basketball:

School League Overall
COUPEVILLE 1-0 3-2
Port Townsend 1-0 2-1
Chimacum 0-1 3-2
Klahowya 0-1 2-2

Olympic League boys basketball:

School League Overall
Chimacum 1-0 1-4
Port Townsend 1-0 2-0
Klahowya 1-1 2-4
COUPEVILLE 0-2 0-5

And scoring stats for Coupeville’s varsity players:

Girls:

Mia Littlejohn – 40
Kailey Kellner – 36
Mikayla Elfrank – 29
Lauren Rose – 18
Lindsey Roberts – 15
Tiffany Briscoe – 12
Kalia Littlejohn – 7
Lauren Grove – 6
Allison Wenzel – 2
Sarah Wright – 2
Kyla Briscoe
Charlotte Langille

Boys:

Hunter Smith – 65
Gabe Wynn – 41
Brian Shank – 33
Ethan Spark – 24
Hunter Downes – 6
Jered Brown – 5
Steven Cope – 4
Ariah Bepler – 3
Cameron Toomey-Stout – 3
Joey Lippo – 2
Kyle Rockwell

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No hope against Pope!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 10, 2016| 1 Comment »

Ethan Spark hit for 10 Saturday, but Coupeville couldn't derail South Whidbey. (John Fisken photo)

   Ethan Spark hit for 10 Saturday, but Coupeville couldn’t derail South Whidbey. (John Fisken photo)

Let’s give credit where it’s due.

Lewis Pope is the best high school basketball player on Whidbey Island, and Kody Newman could not miss a three-ball right now if you paid him to do so.

Riding their terrific twosome, who are backed by a deep collection of tree-toppers, the big, fast, hyper-efficient South Whidbey High School boys’ basketball squad pulled away after a close first quarter Saturday and buried host Coupeville 80-45.

The loss drops the undermanned Wolves, who are playing with an eight-man roster, to 0-5 on the season.

The two teams played fairly even for eight, maybe nine minutes, than the Falcons found a different level and didn’t look back.

Brian Shank dropped in three buckets in the first quarter, and Coupeville led three separate times, the last at 8-7.

Trailing 12-10 at the first break, the Wolves were keeping it a game at 17-13 early in the second, only to then witness the Pope and Newman show come to life.

The final link in arguably South Whidbey’s most successful athletic family, Kody Newman revived memories of his many older siblings, drilling treys from every angle imaginable.

If the net moved even once as he drilled five three-balls on his way to a game-high 21, I didn’t see it happen.

Things were set up for him by Lewis Pope, son of the late, well-loved SWHS coach Henry Pope, who continues to develop into a premier player in every way.

A step ahead of everyone, and always planning out three moves ahead while gliding down the court, he picked apart Coupeville’s defense, both with his shots and his set-ups for his teammates.

The Wolves, while over-matched, didn’t back down, putting together their best run in the fourth quarter, when they fought to a 14-14 tie.

CHS junior Hunter Smith did what he could, throwing down a team-high 19, including two long treys of his own.

Shank, who has come alive on the offensive end in the past few games, attacked the basket relentlessly, eking out 12, while Ethan Spark banked home 10.

Cameron Toomey-Stout sank a three-ball on the game’s final play for his first points of the season, while Gabe Wynn added a free throw to round out the scoring.

Ariah Bepler, Hunter Downes and Kyle Rockwell also saw floor time, with Downes netting attention for two plays.

On one, the Wolf quarterback threw a full-court pass to Smith, who hauls in his bombs on the gridiron as well.

On the other, he put a wayward Falcon down hard to the floor during a battle for a rebound, drawing favorable comparisons to the work of former CHS enforcer Julia “Elbows” Myers, who was in the crowd and gave the play a smile of approval.

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Nipped in the end!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Brian Shank (John Fisken photo)

   Brian Shank, seen here in practice, knocked down a season-high 13 Wednesday night at Chimacum. (John Fisken photo)

Talk about riding the see-saw.

Playing their first league game of the year Wednesday, the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball team played superb defense in the first and third quarters at Chimacum.

Unfortunately, the Wolves couldn’t stop the host Cowboys in the second or fourth, and fell 48-40.

The loss drops Coupeville to 0-3 overall, 0-1 in 1A Olympic League play.

Facing off with the two-time defending league champs, the Wolves came out strongly, holding an 8-5 lead at the first break.

But then the see-saw crashed in the second, as the Cowboys rode a 19-10 surge over the next eight minutes to stake themselves to a 24-18 lead at the break.

Even as the score was slipping away a bit, one bright spot in the second was the play of Brian Shank.

The Wolf senior, who had three points through the first two games, erupted for seven in the quarter in a bid to keep the Wolves close.

Shank dropped another four in the third, while Hunter Smith picked up the hot hand, drilling nine of his team-high 15 as CHS put together its best run of the night.

A 13-5 advantage in the quarter put Coupeville up by a bucket entering the final eight minutes, but the pendulum swung back just as fast.

Using three treys and eight free throws down the stretch, the Cowboys matched their second quarter output, and a 19-9 closing run gave them the win.

Smith’s 15 paced Coupeville, while Shank banked home 13, Gabe Wynn hit for six, Hunter Downes popped for four and Ethan Spark netted a pair of free throws to round out the scoring.

JV nipped:

Incompetent scoreboard operating prevented the Wolves from possibly forcing overtime in a 60-57 loss.

Since the board said 63-55, CHS coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh had no clue a trey in the final seconds would have allowed Coupeville to knot things up.

After the final buzzer sounded, both team’s scorekeepers pointed out the mistake, but, by then it was too late.

The loss drops the Wolf JV to 1-2 overall, 0-1 in league play.

Freshmen Jered Brown went off for 23 in a game in which 10 Wolves scored.

Sean Toomey-Stout hit for seven and Kyle Rockwell knocked down six while Jacobi Pacquette-Pilgrim, Mason Grove and Ulrik Wells each chipped in with four apiece.

Koa Davison (3), Tucker Hall (3), Dawson Houston (2) and Nikolai Lyngra (1) also scratched their names in the book.

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