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Posts Tagged ‘Lindsey Roberts’

Roberts hits milestone in crucial win

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on February 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Scoring 10 points Friday, Lindsey Roberts rose from #23 to #20 on the CHS girls basketball career scoring list. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

This is how you want to head into the playoffs.

Shaking off a long wait to get on the court Friday at Granite Falls, the Coupeville High School varsity girls hoop squad responded with “great energy,” claiming a 38-29 win.

The victory gives the Wolves a season sweep of the Tigers while lifting them to 6-4 in North Sound Conference play, 8-9 overall.

Coupeville, which was picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches poll, instead heads to districts as the #3 seed from the six-team NSC.

The Wolves open the double-elimination tourney Feb. 4 against the #2 team from the Northwest Conference, Lynden Christian (17-3).

Win or lose, they’ll be back on the court, and on the road, Feb. 6 to play either King’s (16-4) or Sultan (7-13).

While its playoff path was already set before it played Friday, Coupeville wanted to end the regular season on a positive note.

Mission accomplished.

“Long wait for game time. Sat through both JV games and an interrupted pregame due to senior festivities,” Wolf coach David King said.

“We knew the building would be energized for their six seniors and their last home game,” he added. “We matched that energy and then some.”

CHS blew out to an 8-0 lead to open things, hushing the fans and giving the Tigers a taste of what was to come.

Granite wasn’t ready to crack, however, netting a three-ball to finally get on the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter, before banking home a quick bucket to open the second frame.

That was the cue for Wolf senior Ema Smith to go to work, as she rained down 10 of her game-high 12 in the second quarter.

One, two, three, she shredded Granite’s defense for a trio of three-balls, then capped things with a free throw, sending Coupeville to the break up 21-14.

The two teams exchanged body blows in a very close second half, but the Wolves reached deep and always found an answer when they needed one.

Defensive dynamo Tia Wurzrainer got wild on the other end of the floor, popping home a pair of key buckets, while Lindsey Roberts swished a big-time three-ball in the fourth after the Tigers had sliced away at Coupeville’s lead.

The Wolves played with solid energy on defense, typified by Hannah Davidson, who “came up big with four steals,” including one on which she stole the ball at the free throw line, then led the fast break.

“Posts, they always want to play the point guard position,” King said with a big smile.

Coupeville flustered their foes with quick hands (Ema Smith and Chelsea Prescott chipped in with five and four steals, respectively) and hit the boards with intensity.

Ema Smith and Roberts paced the Wolves on the glass, ripping down eight rebounds apiece.

The senior captains also led the team in scoring, with 12 and 10, while Wurzrainer, Scout Smith, and Prescott each had four and Avalon Renninger and Davidson added a bucket apiece.

With a pair of baskets in the first quarter, Roberts passed Cassidi Rosenkrance (423), Mika Hosek (424), and Sarah Powell (425) on the CHS girls career scoring list.

Sitting with 432 points, the four-year varsity player enters her final playoff run as the #20 scorer all-time, coming up fast on #19 Maureen Wetmore (438) and #18 Vanessa Davis (448).

With seven of his eight regular varsity players scoring Friday, and point guard Scout Smith “doing a great job with her passing,” King got the boost he was hoping for as his team preps for the postseason.

“This was a good bounce-back game for us after a tough schedule in our last two games,” he said. “Very proud of the team in the regular season and especially in league play.

“We wanted to get that sixth win vs. playing .500 ball in league.”

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Play the best, sometimes you get zapped

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Lindsey Roberts (left) and Ema Smith were two of the three Wolf hoops stars honored Tuesday on Senior Night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It didn’t go the way they might have hoped.

Run ragged Tuesday by a King’s team with state title aspirations, the Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team got crunched on Senior Night.

Even on an evening when their six-foot freshman prodigy wasn’t at the top of her game, the visiting Knights had an answer for everything the Wolves tried, exiting the gym with a 59-11 win.

The loss, coming after Coupeville put up its fewest points in any game this season, drops CHS to 5-4 in North Sound Conference play, 7-9 overall.

The Wolves, who are guaranteed to be the #3 seed from their league when the double-elimination district playoffs start Feb. 4, close the regular season Friday at Granite Falls.

Things got off to a nice start Tuesday when Coupeville honored seniors Nicole Laxton, Lindsey Roberts, and Ema Smith before tip-off.

After the ball was tossed up in the air, however, things got much tougher.

King’s features frosh phenom Jada Wynn, who played in the junior NBA world tournament before attending a single day of high school.

On this night, though, she took a back seat, picking up four fouls, including an offensive charge after Wolf freshman Ja’Kenya Hoskins stood her ground, and scored “just” 10 points.

The Knights, a deep, talented, polished team, merely shrugged, with sophomores Claire Gallagher and Mia Flor tossing in 17 and 12 respectively.

Coupeville, as a team, didn’t crack double digits until the next-to-last play of the third quarter, then went scoreless in the fourth.

Down 8-0 in the early going, but dodging bullets as King’s had some shooting issues of its own, at least for a bit, the Wolves finally got on the scoreboard six minutes into the game.

The first bucket came courtesy Ema Smith, and it gave her 201 points for her prep career, making her just the 55th Wolf girl to top that mark since the modern program began in 1974.

Unfortunately for CHS, that was its only basket of any kind for quite a bit.

By the time Hannah Davidson swooped in, snatched a rebound and went back up strong for a second-chance bucket, the game was 21-2 in favor of King’s and slipping away quickly.

To make sure to drive the point home, the Knights followed up Davidson’s put-back by nailing back-to-back three-balls, two of the eight treys they hit on the evening.

A 27-7 halftime deficit ballooned badly after the halftime break, as King’s, continuing to play with its customary take-no-prisoners style, went on a 25-4 romp in the third.

Two buckets from Roberts, one off a nice dish by Scout Smith, gave CHS fans some brief respite, but, ultimately, it was a game the Wolves will do well to quickly scrub from their brain pans.

But, just because it was a one-sided affair doesn’t mean there weren’t a few bright spots.

Coupeville coach David King praised the play of Roberts, who had to fight through a constant wave of defenders, as well as Davidson’s work on the boards, and defensive dynamo Tia Wurzrainer’s scrappiness while still contesting passes in the late going.

Roberts finished with four points Tuesday, lifting her to 422 for her career.

She needs just two more buckets to pass Cassidi Rosenkrance (423), Mika Hosek (424), and Sarah Powell (425) and become the #20 scorer in program history.

Chelsea Prescott added three free-throws in support of Roberts, with Davidson and Ema Smith providing the night’s other buckets.

Roberts had a team-best eight rebounds, Avalon Renninger yanked down five boards and doled out three assists, with Scout Smith collecting five boards, two blocks and a steal.

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Free-throw woes knife Wolf girls

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ema Smith rippled the nets for 10 points Friday, as Coupeville made a play to upset Cedar Park Christian. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The upset died at the free-throw line.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team played often-superb defense Friday night, hit some pressure-packed shots, and didn’t flinch when facing a very-talented foe.

But the one part of the game that the Wolves totally controlled — walking to the charity stripe with the clock stopped, then sinking shots — failed, and so did any hope of shocking visiting Cedar Park Christian.

Bouncing 12 of 22 free throws off the rim, Coupeville fell 37-28 and saw its chances to finish in the top two of the six-team North Sound Conference vanish.

With the loss, the Wolves drop to 5-3 in league play, 7-8 overall, and clinch third place, a slot better than where the preseason coaches poll had them finishing.

Coupeville, which has two regular season games left, will finish behind league champ King’s (8-0) and CPC (7-2), and ahead of Granite Falls (2-6), Sultan (2-6), and South Whidbey (0-7).

After hosting King’s next Tuesday, and traveling to Granite Friday, the Wolves open the double-elimination district tourney Feb. 4 on the road at Meridian.

If Coupeville had won Friday, it would have gone a half game up on CPC and still been in contention for second-place, and the home playoff opener which comes with that finish.

And, after losing by 20 points in Bothell the first time these teams played, the Wolves looked like a team very interested in playing out that scenario.

Forcing CPC star Irena Korolenko into a poor shooting performance, at least for awhile, Coupeville claimed the early lead and stayed within a bucket late into the third quarter.

Hannah Davidson, who hit the boards with a nice intensity, opened the scoring when she ripped a carom away from an Eagle and went right back up with it for the night’s first bucket.

Add an Ema Smith free throw and the Wolves were up 3-0, and ready to claim the win if the game had been called early.

It was not, however, and CPC reclaimed the lead for good at 4-3 late in the first quarter on a turnaround jumper from Korolenko.

Up 8-3 at the initial break, the Eagles stretched the lead to 10-3, but Coupeville didn’t back down this time out.

Ema Smith spiked a CPC shot back up-court, then followed the ball and sank a long three-ball when Scout Smith threaded a pass between defenders and onto her older teammate’s fingertips.

Another Scout Smith special, this one an outlet pass which soared through the air and dropped into the waiting arms of a sprinting Lindsey Roberts, kept the pressure on.

While Korolenko had eight points at the half, that was a bucket less than she scored in just the first quarter the last time the teams met, and a 14-10 deficit at the break certainly didn’t seem insurmountable.

CHS kept up the pressure in the third, forcing the Eagles out of their comfort zone, and staying within a basket until the final minute of the frame.

The Wolves couldn’t quite get over the hump, however, cutting the margin to 14-13 and 18-16, but missing free throws which would have given them the lead.

Meanwhile, Korolenko, who took, and hit, all seven Cedar Park free throws on the night, whistled four straight freebies through the net to close the third, then opened the fourth with a three-point play the hard way.

Suddenly, a one-score game had momentarily gotten out of hand, with the visitors up 27-16 and seemingly pulling away.

But, after some words of wisdom from coach David King, the Wolves got buckets from Ema Smith and Chelsea Prescott, packaged around a free throw, and the deficit was back to a manageable six points.

Korolenko is a star for a reason, though, and, after being “held” to 14 points through three quarters, she torched the Wolves for 11 more in the fourth.

While two long jumpers and a layup off an inbound pass stung, the ultimate killer came on a basket set up when Cedar Park saved a runaway ball at the last millisecond, and, against all odds, turned it into a gut-punch of a bucket.

Scrambling towards the line, Korolenko got her finger on the ball, somehow spinning it back onto the court as she crashed into the back wall.

As the ball hit the court, it took a perfect spin (for CPC), shooting between two Wolves and right to a surprised Eagle, who immediately hit a soft lil’ jumper in the paint.

Coupeville kept coming, with Scout Smith nailing a three-ball from the top of the arc to cut the margin to 33-28, but the Wolves couldn’t score across the final minute-plus, and Korolenko ended things with two more perfect free throws.

CHS, which missed three free throws in the first quarter, four more in the second, three in the third, and two in the fourth, was left to contemplate what could have been.

And what could still be, if the teams meet a third time in the postseason.

Ema Smith, who has been on a shooting tear of late, paced the Wolves with 10 points, pulling her within a single free throw of becoming the 55th Coupeville girl to score 200 in their career.

Davidson (4), Roberts (4), Scout Smith (4), Prescott (3), Avalon Renninger (2), and Ja’Kenya Hoskins (1) also scored, while Roberts and Hoskins snatched eight rebounds apiece.

Renninger dealt out three assists, Scout Smith pilfered two steals, and Ema Smith registered two blocks.

 

No JV:

Cedar Park doesn’t have a second team, so Coupeville’s young guns sat Friday night out.

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Playoffs, we’re coming your way

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

The future is bright for Coupeville’s varsity girls, who clinched a playoff spot Friday by thumping South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

“Just very proud of the effort on a very emotional night.”

Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball coach David King walked off the floor Friday night having seen his team win its third-straight game, sweep the season series with their Island rivals, move into a tie for 2nd place in the North Sound Conference and clinch a playoff berth.

Having pounded visiting South Whidbey 37-16, the Wolves rise to 5-2 in league play, 7-7 overall, with three to play.

CHS is tied with Cedar Park Christian (5-2), two games off of King’s (7-0) and has a week before they get a rematch with CPC.

But like his players, King savored the win while also realizing the night was about far more than just a hoops game.

Friday’s tilt was Coupeville’s Coaches vs. Cancer game, and the school raised $483.20 for Project Violet at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Before tip-off, the Wolf girls paid tribute to Ronald Smith, the grandfather of JV player Kiara Contreras, who lost his fight with Mesothelioma in Dec. at age 77.

They also brought former CHS player Brisa Herrera to the court, welcoming home a young woman who is cancer-free after a four-month battle with ovarian cancer shortly before her 2018 graduation.

Her high school coach, Amy King, hugged her, and a wave of emotion rose from the packed stands, swelling longest, loudest and proudest from the student section, which was full of many who attended classes with Brisa.

As each Wolf starter was introduced before the game, they, and several of the Falcons, stopped to bump fists with Herrera.

And then Coupeville, whole again with the return of injured starters Lindsey Roberts and Hannah Davidson, went to work.

A long shot off the fingertips of Chelsea Prescott knotted the game at 2-2, and then Avalon Renninger stroked a pull-up jumper and the Wolves never looked back.

While they let the Falcons stay close for a quarter, taking just a 7-4 lead into the second quarter after Davidson capped things by rolling hard to the hoop for a bucket off a Prescott pass, that quickly changed.

Death came from above, as three separate Wolves successfully launched three-balls to cap a game-busting 13-0 run midway through the second frame.

Roberts hit from the top left, Scout Smith nailed hers from the top right, then Ema Smith casually flicked her trey in while on the move at the top of the arc.

As shot after shot went high into the heavens and then splashed down, the delight of the Wolf fans grew, and the slump in the shoulders of the Falcons grew.

Shutting down South Whidbey’s top post player, Lexi Starets-Foote, Coupeville denied South Whidbey much of anything.

“Our posts, Hannah and Nicole (Laxton), brought their A-game,” King said. “They battled all game long.

“I (also) liked our effort in the press once we started to cover the middle.”

Up 20-6 at the break, the Wolves stretched the lead out to the 19-22 point range in the second half, and spread their offensive attack out, with nine of 12 CHS players scoring on the night.

Roberts, who suffered a nasty finger break/fracture at Sultan, had fingers on her left hand taped together for her return, but was electric as usual and didn’t seem overly bothered by the injury.

Her track speed is still at 100% and she used it for one superb breakaway, pulling in an outlet pass from Scout Smith and beating the pack for a loping layup.

“It was great having both Hannah and Lindsey back,” King said. “It solidifies our rotation and gives us a bigger presence in the middle.”

Ema Smith, who has stepped up big-time over the past week-and-a-half, knocked down three treys on her way to a game-high 11 points.

While Roberts, who tossed in six points Friday, gets justifiable props for being #23 on the CHS girls career scoring list, the Emanator has quietly risen to #56 all-time.

After tallying 94 points as a junior, Smith is at 95 and counting for her senior campaign. With 189 career points, she’s just 27 shy of breaking into the career Top 50.

Scout Smith, who had a team-high six rebounds and five steals, banked home five points in support of her veteran teammates.

Prescott (4), Davidson (4), Tia Wurzrainer (2), Anya Leavell (2), Renninger (2) and Laxton (1) also scored, while Ja’Kenya Hoskins snatched four rebounds, Izzy Wells snared two boards, and Mollie Bailey ran the offense in the late going.

While the final stretch of the regular season won’t be easy, with games against Cedar Park, King’s and Granite Falls, Coupeville is guaranteed to advance to the double-elimination district tourney regardless of how that stretch plays out.

The Wolves, who sit three games up on Sultan (2-5) and Granite Falls (2-5) and five up on South Whidbey (0-7), can finish no lower than fourth in the six-team league.

CHS swept the season series from Sultan, won the first meeting with Granite and needs just one win, or one Granite loss, to guarantee a top-three finish.

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Shots today pay off tomorrow

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 14, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Wolf basketball captains Ema Smith (left) and Lindsey Roberts are among their team’s best free throw shooters. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

One after another, the shots went up for a good cause.

Putting a different spin on the fundraiser concept, Coupeville High School girls basketball players raised money for their team recently by lofting free throws.

With 16 players taking part in what has become an annual event for the Wolves, 1,600 free throws sailed through the air after practice, with 856 splashing home.

Senior captain Lindsey Roberts emerged as team champ, hitting 13 in a row at one point as she narrowly edged sophomore Chelsea Prescott 71-68.

Hannah Davidson actually had the longest hot streak for the Wolves, netting 17 consecutive shots, while first-year player Morgan Stevens hit on 11 straight.

Rounding out the top five behind Roberts and Prescott were Ema Smith (61), Izzy Wells (59), and a tie between Davidson and Abby Mulholland with 58 apiece.

The fundraiser had a two-fold purpose.

First, players collected pledges for their free throw shooting, with the proceeds going to fund purchases for the girls hoops program.

And secondly, the contest gave players a chance to refine their shooting touch at the line.

The benefits of that could be seen as recently as Friday, when the Wolf varsity girls pulled out a huge two-point road win at Sultan thanks to laser-like precision at the charity stripe.

Prescott and Wells hit pressure-packed free throws in that contest, while Scout Smith won the game by draining two freebies with just 10 ticks left on the clock.

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