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Posts Tagged ‘Mia Littlejohn’

Mia Littlejohn

Mia Littlejohn

There are two versions of Mia Littlejohn.

There is the “Jersey Girl,” the fast-walkin’, fast-talkin’, trick-dribblin’ hoops phenom who lives for the chance to break your ankles.

But there is also the quiet, sweet young woman who bakes cookies for her teammates and then runs back and forth through the bleachers, not stopping until she’s made sure that each and every one of those girls got their treat.

Mia, who celebrates a birthday today, is an electrifying athlete, one who is confident in her skills and insistent in never backing down from a foe.

Basketball, soccer, softball, fishing. Keep naming the sports and she’s ready to kick your butt in each and every one of them.

She’s also a genuinely caring person who instantly stops what she’s doing to run over and hug her relatives when they come to watch her play.

Mia will jab relentlessly at younger sister Kalia as the duo go at each other on the court, then dote on her when they’re done playing.

Talent flows through her veins, yet she showed a willingness during basketball season to work hard on her game, to tweak things that needed improvement, to learn to work inside the flow of a team game while still letting her individual talents blossom and shine through.

Miss Littlejohn is part of a bright future for Wolf sports, a key member of a pack of young female athletes who are the most promising Coupeville High School has seen since the glory days of the late ’90s and early 2000’s.

That she manages to bring together talent and chutzpah with compassion and self-awareness, that she can be both sides of the coin, marks Mia as a young woman to watch.

A young woman worthy of a town’s pride.

She is a very good athlete, and a better person. You don’t always get both in one person and it should be hailed when you see it.

Happy birthday, Mia. May your day sparkle as much as you do.

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Kalia Littlejohn

Kalia Littlejohn

The only thing little about Kalia Littlejohn is her last name.

The Coupeville Middle School hoops sensation, one half of the Shake ‘n Bake Sisters with CHS freshman Mia Littlejohn, Kalia brings it big everywhere else.

Big game, on and off the court.

I’m not going to tell you the CMS 8th grader, who celebrates a birthday today, is guaranteed to be an all-star at the high school level or beyond.

Judging middle school athletes is a tricky business, at best, and a lot can happen over the ensuing years.

Growth spurts, changing priorities and on and on.

Some talented youngsters end up deep on the bench as they get older, while some scrubs suddenly morph into super stars in their teen years.

Based on Mia, who has already lettered twice in her freshman year, I think Kalia is probably as sure a shot as we will find.

But, you never know and I don’t want to put too much pressure on her.

Either way, though, I will guarantee you this — Kalia will be one of the most entertaining athletes we’re likely to see in Cow Town over the next few years.

She plays all her sports — volleyball, soccer, track, but, most of all, basketball — at a frantic pace.

Like her sister and their brother, Zepher Loesch, before them, Kalia delivers a jolt of electricity every time she steps up to compete.

What puts her further out in front of the crowd is her personality, which is one part sunny, one part mischievous.

Kalia has yet to meet a camera she can’t pose for, and she and fellow young guns like Lindsey Roberts and Sarah Wright seem primed to claim the throne of lens-lovin’ Wolf legends like Kacie Kiel, Julia Myers and McKayla Bailey.

So, on this, her big day, all my best to the littlest Littlejohn.

I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish in the coming years, Kalia.

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After a good night's rest, Wolf frosh Mia Littlejohn and her teammates will be prepared to attack on the court. (Mark Hesselgrave photo)

   After a good night’s rest, Wolf frosh Mia Littlejohn and her teammates will be prepared to attack on the court. (Mark Hesselgrave photo)

CHS coach David King makes a few points to his squad during a time-out. (Eileen Stone photos)

  CHS coach David King makes a few points to his squad during a time-out. (Eileen Stone photos)

Win and the Wolves give the fans another chance to peruse the glossy district playoff program.

   Win and the Wolves give the fans another chance to peruse the glossy district playoff program.

Time to lay down a butt-whuppin’.

Tonight the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball team (15-6) heads back to Sumner High School for a loser-out district playoff game against Seattle Christian.

Tip-off is 6 PM.

Win and the Wolves, who won a league title for the first time since 2002, will play Saturday for a chance to advance to regionals, a step away from the state tourney.

To keep its dream alive, CHS will need to bounce back from a blowout loss to Bellevue Christian Monday.

For a team that closed the regular season with seven straight wins, that’s a task that can be accomplished.

Be ready. Fight for every point, every rebound, every loose ball.

And know that, win or lose, you have made your friends, families, classmates, fans and hometown very proud.

Now go kick some fanny.

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Allison (John Fisken photos)

   Allison Wenzel (and her extremely photo-friendly hair) clamp down on defense. (John Fisken photos)

Trumbull

Aaron Trumbull rumbles in the paint.

Mia

Mia Littlejohn holds on to the ball while absorbing a shot to the kidneys.

Wynter

Flying in like Superman, Aaron Curtin has his eyes set firmly on the goal.

Wynter

Wynter Thorne’s face was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Wiley

Ballet-like elevation gets Wiley Hesselgrave room to shoot.

Tiffanmy

Tiffany Briscoe takes a shot to the mid section, but refuses to bow down.

Ryan

  Matt Shank (right) and Curtin watch in awe as Ryan Griggs climbs the stairway to hoops heaven.

The action was hair-raising.

Facing off with physical Chimacum squads Friday, the Coupeville High School basketball teams managed to win three of four games, while keeping most, if not all, of their limbs.

The photos above capture the teams that won (girls varsity and JV and boys varsity) in action.

No disrespect to the Wolf JV boys, but travelin’ photo man John Fisken had to jet to Oak Harbor to cover the Wildcats as well, so you ended up getting left out of this batch of photos.

Next time.

To see more of what he was able to shoot under a time crunch, pop over to:

Girls Varsity — http://www.olympicleague.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=8033&league=21&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

Girls JV — http://www.olympicleague.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=8032&league=21&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

Boys Varsity — http://www.olympicleague.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=8030&league=21&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=24&sport=0

P.S. — Plug in the coupon code EB80304962 before Feb. 22 and you’ll get 15% off any photo purchases.

All purchases help fund college scholarships for CHS senior student/athletes.

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Freshman Mia Littlejohn popped for a varsity career-high nine points Monday. (John Fisken photo)

  Freshman Mia Littlejohn popped for a varsity career-high nine points Monday. (John Fisken photo)

The two-woman game worked pretty well for Mt. Baker.

With Emily Brandland dropping 24 and Emily Yost adding 22, the Mountaineer duo outscored host Coupeville by themselves Monday night.

Toss in a few points from the supporting cast and superb control of the game by speedy point guard Kylee Engholm and what had been a deadlocked girls’ basketball game at the half turned into a semi-rout by the end, with Mt. Baker strolling back to the bus with a 59-44 win.

The non-conference loss dropped the Wolf girls to 2-2.

Coupeville will have three days of practice to right their ship before traveling to Klahowya (0-3) Friday night for their first 1A Olympic League game.

The Wolves looked impressive at times in the first half, using a 14-5 run in the second quarter (in which seven different players scored a bucket) to take a 21-17 lead.

After Mt. Baker surged back into the lead, Coupeville forced a 23-23 deadlock by barely beating the halftime buzzer.

Monica Vidoni took a pass in the paint, drew defenders to her and dumped the ball backwards at the last second to teammate Julia Myers, who came flying up the gut for a gorgeous layup.

The play caught the Mountaineers by surprise and brought the vocal local fans to their feet.

Unfortunately, the euphoria didn’t last long once the second half kicked off.

After trading buckets to kick the third quarter off, the two teams suddenly veered in opposite directions.

Mt. Baker started running the same plays over and over, successfully, while Coupeville fell off the edge of a cliff with a deadly mix of turnovers, shots that popped back out or dropped off the rim and a serious lack of rebounding.

An 11-2 third-quarter run by the visitors put a hurtin’ on the Wolves.

When they responded with back-to-back buckets from Kacie Kiel and Mia Littlejohn, the Mountaineers blunted the run with a successful three-pointer that was launched one step away from having the shooter out in the parking lot.

CHS, powered by Wynter Thorne, who popped for six in the fourth, tried repeatedly to cut Baker’s lead.

It didn’t work, however, as the closest the Wolves would get was eight, and the Mountaineers responded to that with a game closing 7-0 spurt of their own.

Stone paced Coupeville with 11, while plucky freshman Littlejohn hit for a varsity career-high nine.

Thorne banked in eight, the trio of Vidoni, Kiel and Myers knocked down four apiece while Hailey Hammer and McKenzie Bailey rounded out the scoring attack with a bucket each.

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