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Posts Tagged ‘Lakewood’

JV girls hone shooting skills

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Kassidy Upchurch (left) and Kierra Thayer wait for their moment in the spotlight. (Brittany Kolbet photo)

Celebrate the positives.

While the Coupeville High School JV girls’ basketball team wasn’t able to upend large school rival Lakewood Saturday, the Wolves proved to be sharpshooters at the free-throw line.

CHS, a 2B school, fell 52-22 to the Cougars, who rep a 2A institution, but won the battle at the charity stripe.

Led by sophomore Madison McMillan, who banked in eight free throws, Coupeville claimed the advantage at the line, converting 12 bonus shots.

Bryley Gilbert, Kierra Thayer, and Desi Ramirez-Vasquez also netted free throws for the Wolves, with Gilbert a pristine 2-2.

Coupeville’s downfall in its home opener came because Lakewood was hitting a lot of shots from everywhere else.

The Cougars bolted out to a 10-0 lead by the first break, stretched it to 16-4 at the half, then coasted home with a solid second-half performance.

The Wolves popped for 11 points in the third quarter, however, making their best show of the game and keeping things interesting.

McMillan paced CHS with 10 points, while Reese Wilkinson powered her way to a season-high six in support.

Gilbert (2), Teagan Calkins (2), Ramirez-Vasquez (1), and Thayer (1) rounded out the scorers, with Liza Zustiak, Kayla Arnold, Brynn Parker, Kassidy Upchurch, Jada Heaton, and Skylar Parker also seeing floor time.

The Wolves, who sit at 1-1 in non-conference play, return to the court this Saturday, Dec. 10, when they host Sultan.

Tipoff for the JV girls is 4:45 PM.

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Hardwood heroes learning under fire

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Cole White kick-starts the offense. (Morgan White photo)

The first surge, they overcame. The second was a crippler.

Playing with fiery intensity Saturday night, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad pushed visiting Lakewood hard.

But while the Wolves survived a 12-0 Cougar run early, they couldn’t overcome a hail of three-balls in the third quarter, which turned a four-point game into a 16-point deficit.

The result?

A 77-61 non-conference loss to a 2A school, but a defeat which could pay huge benefits down the road.

The Wolves, now 0-2 on the young season, open with a tough non-league schedule.

The goal is to help shape a new-look team under fire, to get them ready to defend their title once Northwest 2B/1B League play starts in January.

The early games, which continue next week with a road trip to Tacoma to play Concordia Christian Academy, followed by a home game with Sultan, is the gauntlet set up to build a strong Wolf team.

And that strong team is already here, at least in parts, as Coupeville played Lakewood to a virtual standstill if you toss out the third quarter.

Having fought back from a 14-point deficit, the Wolves went to the half on the high of a 14-4 run.

It was fueled by seven points off the bench from junior Nick Guay, with the final bucket a three-ball which tickled the twines a millisecond ahead of the buzzer.

The Wolves had whipped the ball around the arc, keeping the leather moving and away from Lakewood defenders, before Guay stepped up and made all the fans scream.

Coming on the heels of another trey, this one from Ryan Blouin, and a short jumper from Cole White off a feed from rumbling big man William Davidson, Guay’s buzzer-beater cut the margin to 32-28.

Coupeville, which got a huge spark on both ends of the floor from Jonathan Valenzuela, looked ready to go toe-to-toe, and shot-for-shot, with Lakewood.

Until the Cougars started dropping daggers.

Led by Benjamin Rucker, who popped five three-balls as part of a game-high 23-point performance, Lakewood suddenly couldn’t miss from long distance as the second half began.

Valenzuela slapped home a pair of buckets, before Logan Downes went off for Coupeville’s next nine points, but the Cougars were collecting two baskets for every one the Wolves scored.

In a game in which the two teams tallied the same exact number of points in the second and fourth quarter, and Lakewood was narrowly ahead 18-14 at the end of the first frame, the third quarter was fatal.

The Cougars finished the eight-minute span with a 25-13 advantage, and the die was cast.

Coupeville still fought impressively in the fourth quarter, from Downes getting back on defense to deliver a resounding blocked shot, to Alex Murdy converting a pair of steals into breakaway buckets.

Three Wolves — Chase Anderson, Jermiah Copeland, and Davidson — notched their first varsity points as well, but CHS ultimately couldn’t get its deficit back down to single digits.

While Rucker finished with 23, Downes almost matched him, tossing in 16 of his team-high 22 points in the second half.

Many of his buckets came on bold rampages through the paint, as the junior crashed hard to the hoop again and again, often with the refs ignoring the multitude of defender arms hitting him in the face.

Valenzuela, who snatched rebounds off the glass and prowled like a panther unleashed, finished with 10 points for CHS, with White (8), Guay (7), and Murdy (6) also coming strong.

Blouin (3), Anderson (2), Copeland (2), and Davidson (1) rounded out the offense, while Dominic Coffman and Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim provided a defensive spark.

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Rough loss, but plenty of fight

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Alita Blouin leads Coupeville’s varsity girls in scoring through the first two games. (Morgan White photo)

One bad stretch.

A span of five minutes and change — that’s what killed the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball squad Saturday night.

Take away that segment, when visiting Lakewood went on a 28-3 run to end the first quarter, and it was a much different, far closer contest.

But they count every point, so the 2B Wolves ultimately absorbed a 70-37 loss to the 2A Cougars.

The non-conference defeat evens Coupeville’s early-season record at 1-1, with a week to work on things before Sultan visits Whidbey Island Dec. 10.

CHS coach Megan Richter and her players will be able to look at the game film from Saturday’s tilt and pick out a lot of positives.

Though they may want to fast forward through the second half of the opening quarter.

Things were looking pretty good, with the score knotted at 5-5 after Alita Blouin plucked a steal and beat a pack of defenders down court for a layup.

Gwen Gustafson opened the night’s scoring with a pullup jumper, before Carolyn Lhamon added a free throw, and the Wolves were aggressive on both ends of the floor.

But then the roof fell in.

Lakewood ramped up its defense and stifled Coupeville, holding it without a field goal for the remainder of the first quarter, while scoring quickly and efficiently from multiple angles.

The Cougars splashed home a trio of three-balls during the 28-3 run, but it was a string of steals and breakaway lay-ins which really stung.

Then things went back to almost normal.

The scoring across the final three quarters of the night still came out in favor of Lakewood, but only to a 37-29 tally.

The Wolves, who were being hacked and pummeled all game, hit the majority of their free throws, while also breaking out some well-run plays to crack Lakewood’s press.

A 7-0 surge midway through the second quarter, with Lhamon slapping runners off the glass on feeds from Gustafson and Maddie Georges, was quality work.

As was Katie Marti’s debut as a WWE wrestler, on a play when the rough ‘n rowdy defensive dynamo flipped not one, but two Lakewood players end-over-end while battling for, and winning, control of a loose ball.

Lhamon and Mia Farris both pounded home multiple buckets in the paint in the second half, while Georges flipped the net on a long, low three-ball, but the deficit ultimately proved too much to overcome.

Still, Coupeville fought until the end, with its players still crashing the boards and pestering Lakewood ballhandlers even as the final buzzer loomed.

Blouin paced the Wolves in scoring for the second-straight game, rattling home 10 points, while Lhamon backed her up with a season-high nine.

Georges (6), Farris (4), Ryanne Knoblich (3), Marti (2), Gustafson (2), and Lyla Stuurmans (1) also etched their names in the scorebook, as all eight Wolves to see floor time scored.

With her six points, Georges moves into 40th place all-time on the CHS girls’ hoops career scoring chart, which dates back to 1974.

The senior guard sits with 265 points, passing program legends Madeline Strasburg (261) and Carly Guillory (260) Saturday night.

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Young Wolves show heart, hustle

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on November 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville Middle School 6th grader Liam Lawson is here to singe the basketball nets, just like mom Kassie and aunts Kayla and Katie did back in the day. (Photo courtesy Kassie O’Neil)

Use every step to build for the future.

There will be stumbles along the way, but the key is to focus on the positives, while being mentally strong enough to identify and work on correcting the negatives.

That’s the mission for this year’s batch of Coupeville Middle School boys’ basketball players, a collection of hoops stars who don’t have much on-court experience as a group but do have a burning desire to keep on growing.

Some days, like Tuesday’s home opener against visiting Lakewood, are bound to be rough.

The Cougars funnel players to a 2A high school, while the Wolves will be competing two rungs below that — at the 2B level — when they cross the gym hallway and become high school athletes.

That means Lakewood has a lot more bodies at its disposal, and a lot more players with prior hoops experience.

As a group, the Cougars are currently faster, tougher, more tenacious, and more skilled at things like snatching rebounds, running offensive sets, and playing heads-up defense than the still-developing Wolves.

But this is how you learn.

So, while Coupeville lost all three games Tuesday, and by fairly large margins, you hope once the lopsided scores vanish from the scoreboard, they partially fade from memory.

All I’m going to say here is that all three tilts went to a running clock, which happens in middle school basketball when you trail by 30 points,

But otherwise, I’m choosing to redact the final tallies.

Instead of dwelling on the score, we’ll focus on the moments players and coaches should remember.

Like when Wyatt Fitch-Marron went sliding across the floor, face-first, surfing the hardwood as he and a rival player fought for a loose ball.

The young Wolf bounced back to his feet, brushed off any pain from bouncing across the floor, and charged right back into the fray, even as mom and grandma (and a few other fans) gasped and winced.

Or we can stop to appreciate a solid move for a bucket in the day’s opening game from Joshua Stockdale.

Taking the ball down low and rolling through the paint for a layup to (momentarily) halt the Lakewood scoring express, it bodes well for the future.

The same with Cyrus Sparacio drilling the bottom of the net out with a three-ball from the top, then flexing for his fan club, or Riley Lawless swishing a sweet pull-up jumper in the paint while surrounded by defenders.

Young Coupeville players like Liam Lawson and Chayse Van Velkinburgh played with passion, driving the ball again and again into the heart of the storm, even while being smacked by a forest of Lakewood arms.

And shine a light on the Joltin’ Jacobsen brothers, as both Kenneth and Johnathan brought maximum effort to the floor, chasing after rebounds and poking balls away from the Cougar sharpshooters.

From Charles Hart to Hunter Atteberry, from Zach Blitch to Jacobs Meadors and Khanor Jump, the Wolves couldn’t be faulted for their effort, their hustle, and their desire.

The heart is there, and the skill will follow.

Tuesday also saw two more Wolves net their first points of the season, as Nic Laska and Stockdale each banked home a bucket.

That puts 14 Coupeville players in the scoring column two games into an eight-game season.

Games pick back up after the Thanksgiving break, with the Wolves heading to the wilds of Sultan Nov. 29, before hosting King’s Dec. 1.

 

Season scoring stats:

Cyrus Sparacio – 13
Carson Grove – 10
Jayden McManus – 10
Riley Lawless – 6
Chayse Van Velkinburgh – 5
Jacob Barajas – 4
Brantley Campbell – 4
Davin Houston – 3
Sage Arends – 2
Nic Laska – 2
Liam Lawson – 2
Nathan Niewald – 2
Joshua Stockdale – 2
Dylan Robinett – 1

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Wolves maul Cougars

Posted in Middle School, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on October 3, 2022| 1 Comment »

Emma Leavitt was a terror at the service stripe Monday, peppering Lakewood with a series of aces. (Leann Leavitt photo)

Great coaches and great players make for great wins.

Opening a brand-new season of serves and sets Monday, the Coupeville Middle School volleyball squads swatted visiting Lakewood, rallying to knock off their big school rivals in a pair of three-set thrillers.

The match marked the return of spiker guru Cris Matochi and the coaching debut of Raven Vick, teaching the sport she loves to a new generation of girls in the same gym she once played in herself.

The 2020 Coupeville grad is now one-eighth of the way through her first season on the bench, and she likes the view.

“Overall, I think the girls played really well today,” Vick said. “It’s good experience playing against a much bigger school, and they were strong.”

Raven Vick, ready for her coaching debut. (Maria Reyes photo)

Vick’s sentiment was shared by fellow coach Matochi, especially on a day when the Wolves had 14 active players and faced Lakewood, which lists 54 spikers on its roster.

“Every one of the girls did their part for us,” he said. “They all filled their roles and had an impact. You like to see that.”

How the day played out:

 

Red Team:

Coupeville’s first six players battled back from a set down to win 21-25, 25-22, 15-10 in a barnburner.

The Wolves dug deep at the end, pulling off an 11-4 run to close the match, with Rhylin Price, Adeline Maynes, and Capri Anter coming up huge at the service stripe.

Tenley Stuurmans dropped in a dead-eye spike to kick-start the final run, with teammate Haylee Armstrong punctuating things with a ferocious winner, the ball slicing off a Lakewood kneecap or two as it skidded away from the Cougars.

The final stand brought the Wolves the W, but CMS battled with intensity all match.

The opening set featured eight ties, the final one at 21-21 after Coupeville fought back from five points down.

Armstrong and Price delivered big hits, while Lexis Drake hustled for every shot, but Lakewood managed to slip away at the end, thanks to some pinpoint serving.

The final point was agonizing, with a Lakewood serve slapping into the top of the net, then flopping over the obstacle at the last moment, dropping in for a surprise ace.

With all six Wolves on their heels, they were unable to counter the sudden reversal of fortune and could only watch in frustration as the ball limply smacked into the court.

It could have been a killer, but Coupeville’s six-pack of sluggers brushed the moment away and immediately fired right back up.

The second set was all Wolves, all the time, as Anter went on a torrid run to help spark her team to a 14-6 lead.

The CMS 8th grader blasted aces, one hitting a rival in the head, while also dropping a pair of note-perfect lob shots for winners while playing defense.

She got help from Armstrong, zinging winners, and Maynes, serving nuclear bombs which exploded, covering Lakewood hitters in shrapnel.

The Cougars were a tough team in their own right, however, and came all the way back to claim an 18-17 lead, despite losing one point when they served the volleyball directly into the ref’s crotch.

Faced with a deficit, Anter simply said, “Nope. Not today.”

Another run of points at the service stripe, with Armstrong soaring to flick a tip winner after a back-and-forth rally, and Coupeville headed back to the bench with the match knotted at a set apiece.

That set up the final frame, where the Wolves, drawing support from an enthusiastic crowd, swept the Cougars away.

 

Black Team:

Coupeville used a mix of players in the day’s second match, and again rallied from a set down, this time winning 9-25, 25-23, 15-8.

CMS 6th grader Emma Leavitt opened the match strongly, slamming a pair of aces on her first two serves, reminiscent of how older sister Jaimee once stalked the service stripe.

From there, Lakewood’s second squad, which featured a parade of under-handed servers methodically launching moonballs, got on a hot streak and ran away with the set.

Willow Leedy-Bonifas and Alexis Hewitt nailed drop-shot winners for the Wolves, with Leedy-Bonifas launching hers over her shoulder, but the Cougars were on a roll.

Which largely stopped in the second set, with Coupeville regaining control of the match at the service line.

Leavitt, Anter, Armstrong, Leedy-Bonifas, Maynes, and Stuurmans all collected points on their serves, while Isabella Bowder, Cheyanne Atteberry, Alyssa McGee, KeeArya Brown, and Olivia Martin scrambled on defense and made their coaches proud.

Plus, extra credit to Martin, who assisted the local media by matching jersey numbers up with player names pre-match.

She was the real hero, for me at least.

Trailing 2-1 in the third set, CMS grabbed the lead for good with Stuurmans twirling the ball and peppering Lakewood with aces.

Middle school rules limit servers to five points at the line, but that was enough, as Tenley staked the Wolves to a 6-2 advantage.

Lakewood fought hard, but to the horrified gasps of its fans, the Cougars were soon heading back to the bus with a two-loss day.

Leavitt drove the final stake in, closing the day with four straight aces to end the match.

Two of her service winners ripped off a chunk of the back line, earning a resounding “Yes!” from mom Leann, back in the gym, ready for another tour of duty as a volleyball mom.

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