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Posts Tagged ‘Mount Vernon Christian’

Hurricanes swamp Wolf JV

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Zane Oldenstadt pops a shot. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The Wolf JV gets back at it this weekend.

Not every night goes your way.

Frustrated by an unforgiving rim Thursday the Coupeville High School JV boys basketball squad fell 50-23 at Mount Vernon Christian.

The loss drops the young Wolves to 1-4 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 2-6 overall.

There are three games left on the schedule, however, with all of them on the road, giving Hunter Smith’s squad a chance to bounce back and exit on a high note.

Thursday night the Wolves found themselves in a hole early, and were never able to dig all the way back out.

Trailing 13-6 at the first break, Coupeville slipped behind 24-12 by halftime and 41-15 heading into the final frame.

Once there, the Wolves put together their best charge, playing MVC virtually straight up with four players rattling home points.

Freshman Hunter Bronec paced Coupeville, rippling the nets on a trio of three-balls en route to a team-high 10 points.

Zane Oldenstadt (5), Nick Guay (4), Landon Roberts (2), and Jack Porter (2) joined him in the scoring column, with Guay also hitting a trey.

Hurlee Bronec, Mikey Robinett, Ryan Blouin, William Davidson, and Quinten-Simpson Pilgrim all saw floor time as well.

Coupeville returns to action this Saturday with a non-conference rumble at Granite Falls.

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JV girls remain eternally scrappy

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Skylar Parker and the Wolf JV put up a strong fight Tuesday against Mount Vernon Christian. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The effort was there, but the rim was unforgiving.

Unable to get a bucket to drop for much of the first half Tuesday, the Coupeville High School JV girls basketball team found itself in a hole against visiting Mount Vernon Christian.

And while the Wolves rallied late, turning their defensive prowess into offensive opportunities, they couldn’t catch the Hurricanes, falling 38-18.

The loss drops Coupeville’s second squad to 1-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 1-5 overall.

The tale of the game early on was the Wolves using a scrappy defense to thwart MVC, only to see their own shots kick back off the rim.

Madison McMillan banked in a layup in the waning moments of the first quarter, but that was the only field goal CHS netted before halftime.

Trailing just 4-2 at the first break, the Wolves slipped behind 16-5 heading into the locker room, with late free throws from Brooklyn Thayer and Katie Marti their only other points.

Things perked up in the second half, however, with Coupeville putting together its best offensive showing of the night in the third quarter.

McMillan knocked down back-to-back buckets, Thayer converted off of an offensive rebound, and two Wolves teamed up for the prettiest basket of the game.

Trapped in the corner, with the defense hanging all over her, Kayla Arnold kicked a pass out over the crowd to the waiting Katie Marti, who promptly drained a three-ball which softly rustled the net as it descended.

The second sweetest bucket for the Wolves came in the fourth, with Marti feeding Jada Heaton, and the fab frosh slicing ‘n dicing the defense on the way to her first high school points.

Marti and McMillan paced CHS with six points apiece, with Thayer (4) and Heaton (2) also getting into the scoring column.

Skylar Parker, Bryley Gilbert, Arnold, Desi Ramirez-Vasquez, Reese Wilkinson, Candace Meek, and Yodnum Nakakul all saw floor time for the Wolves, who are now off until Jan. 19.

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No fear, no losses

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Brad Sherman doles out hoops wisdom to Xavier Murdy (middle) and Grady Rickner. (Mandi Black photo)

They were ready to rumble.

Surviving a game in which at least two players bled, and three fights almost broke out, the high-flying Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad seized control of the Northwest 2B/1B League.

Rallying from an early deficit, the Wolves stormed back to dismantle visiting Mount Vernon Christian 65-48 Tuesday, keeping their unbeaten season alive and well.

Now 5-0 in conference action, 7-0 overall, Coupeville sits a game-and-a-half up on MVC (3-1, 6-3).

Off to the best start since the 1996-1997 team started 12-0, this year’s Wolves are an incredibly balanced unit, something which was on full display against MVC.

The Hurricanes had a notable height advantage, with a pair of six-foot-five heavyweights patrolling the paint, but the Wolves are fast, feisty, and play defense like mad dogs unleashed.

With the Murdy boys terrorizing the neighborhood — Xavier snatching rebounds and Alex driving rival ballhandlers batty — Coupeville used that lock-down D to rally after falling behind 12-4 in the early going.

Hawthorne Wolfe, twisting his body into a pretzel to evade the Hurricane bigs, got things started with a second-chance bucket after yanking a rebound free during a wild scrum.

That lit a fire under Coupeville, with Alex Murdy, Logan Downes, and Wolfe combining for a 12-2 tear to end the first quarter.

At one point, senior banger Logan Martin crushed an MVC shot, rejecting a seemingly sure-thing layup.

When Downes followed it right up by swishing a three-ball while sneering in the face of a would-be defender who was a step too slow, CHS reclaimed its full swagger.

The Hurricanes are a chippy bunch, however, and they were intent on not being pushed around.

So, they pushed/shoved/hip-checked first, second, and last, with bodies being frequently tangled as the refs stepped back and let both teams play fairly fast, loose, and rough and tumble.

MVC snatched its final lead at 23-22 midway through the second quarter, but Coupeville answered quickly enough to make a few heads spin.

Alex Murdy, lighting up the joint all night, knocked down a go-ahead jumper, before Wolfe plucked a ball from a rival, shot down court, then came to a stop on one leg and caressed the net with a three-ball.

Closing the half on a 16-7 tear, the Wolves put a punctation mark on things with back-to-back defensive gems from the Logans.

Martin clamped down on his man during a rumble in the paint, while Downes came flying the length of the court, going airborne to punch the ball free and deny an MVC breakaway.

Sophomore Logan Downes had a strong game on both ends of the floor. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Coupeville continued to pull away in the second half, turning a 32-26 advantage into a lead which ballooned out to 18 points late in the game.

The Wolves, who have shown a willingness to share the ball, feeding the hot hand all season, kept doing that Tuesday.

Alex Murdy dumped in eight more of his game-high 20 points in the third, while Downes beat the third-quarter buzzer, weaving his way through a pack of defenders for a layup which sucked the last bit of life from the Hurricanes.

Turn to the fourth and it was Grady Rickner time, with the sweet-shooting senior raining down pain on MVC, while Xavier Murdy and Caleb Meyer also stung the defense.

X-Man ended the game with his chin bandaged, while at least one visiting player walked past trying to control a bleeding nose.

Add to that several almost-brawls, one sparked by a burly Hurricane bodily flinging a Coupeville player around in the manner of a cowboy trying to rope a wayward calf, and it got the Wolf faithful flexing.

When an MVC player complained about a call, he was met with a lusty “Look at the scoreboard!” from CHS fans anxious to remind the Hurricanes they were, in fact, getting righteously spanked.

The Wolf players largely kept their composure, with Downes, just a sophomore, showing poise as he preached calm, while still flashing a big, slightly-snarky grin every time a Hurricane looked his way.

Coupeville, which is one slim point away from having five different players averaging double-digits scoring this season, once again spread its offense out.

Alex Murdy’s 20 was his best performance as a varsity player and comes a game after big bro torched La Conner for 24.

Downes banged in 14 in support Tuesday, with Rickner (11), Wolfe (10), Meyer (5), and Xavier Murdy (5) also scoring.

Coupeville now has a week of rest, before kicking off a four-games-in-five-days stretch with a road trip to Darrington next Tuesday, Jan. 18.

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Bad break for Wolf girls

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

A pre-game injury Tuesday sent Coupeville gunner Alita Blouin to the ER. (Photos courtesy Suzan Georges)

Blouin suffered a broken ankle during player introductions.

One loss hurts more than the other.

While an undermanned Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team fell 43-23 Tuesday to high-powered Mount Vernon Christian, that was the least of its worries.

Missing three players, including two starters, before the night began, the Wolves also lost starting guard Alita Blouin when she broke her ankle right before tip-off.

The injury happened when “The Assassin” landed wrong while jumping during pre-game player introductions.

Coupeville, which was also missing Izzy Wells, Gwen Gustafson, and Savina Wells, still put up a fairly remarkable fight against the Hurricanes.

The first time these teams played, the Wolves fell behind 29-2 during a 55-24 loss.

This time around, even with all the confusion and missing firepower, CHS was still within 12-8 midway through the second quarter before MVC began to pull away.

Maddie Georges got the Wolves on the board early with a crisp layup, before Lyla Stuurmans and Audrianna Shaw hit back-to-back buckets to close out the first quarter.

Stuurmans got her points off of a steal, poking the ball away, then beating the defense to the other end, while Shaw dazzled with a sweet running scoop shot in the paint.

Down just 10-6 at the first break, Coupeville got another basket from Shaw before the Hurricanes began to show off their firepower.

A 12-0 run midway through the second quarter pushed the deficit out to 24-8 and Coupeville only scored a single bucket in the third frame.

But down 31-12 heading into the final period, the Wolves dug deep and played the Hurricanes virtually even across the final eight minutes.

Coupeville was moving the ball crisply in the fourth quarter, with teammates setting up their running mates for easy buckets.

Georges dished to Carolyn Lhamon for a score in the paint, while a Ja’Kenya Hoskins steal and pass set up Shaw.

Then it was Stuurmans turn to feed Hoskins for two, right after Georges slid in front of a rampaging Hurricane player to collect a charging call.

All seven Wolf players to see the floor Tuesday played with fiery intensity, with Abby Mulholland and Nezi Keiper hitting the boards with wild abandon.

But if there was a player of the game award to be given out, you could make a great case for Hoskins, who delivered her most-complete performance of the season.

Snatching board after board, poking balls free, even skying high to reject an MVC shot late in the game, the eternally happy Wolf senior brought the full Ja’Kenya Hoskins experience to the spotlight, and her fan club loved every moment.

Shaw finished with a team-high eight points, while Stuurmans (6), Hoskins (3), Georges (2), Mulholland (2), and Lhamon (2) also scored.

With the loss, Coupeville completes its roughest stretch of the schedule, a three-game death march against MVC, La Conner, then MVC again.

Now 3-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-4 overall, the Wolves are in third-place in the seven-team NWL, chasing La Conner (6-0, 11-0) and MVC (5-1, 9-2).

Thanks to the schedule being thrown asunder by holidays, weather, and the pandemic, CHS now has a week off, returning to action Jan. 18 against Darrington.

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Wolves, Hurricanes stage battle royal

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Hunter Bronec dropped in a team-high 12 points Tuesday as Coupeville’s JV waged a tense battle with Mount Vernon Christian. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

There’s a learning curve.

With six freshmen and six sophomores, the Coupeville High School JV boys basketball team is a young squad still fine-tuning its game.

Tuesday night’s tilt with visiting Mount Vernon Christian is a perfect example.

The Wolves, playing for only the second time in a month thanks to bad weather, the holidays, and the pandemic, fell 43-39 to the Hurricanes.

But that score doesn’t really reflect the wild twists and turns experienced by a Coupeville team which now sits at 1-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 1-4 overall.

The Wolves came out ice cold, almost got run off the floor to begin things, then got sizzlin’ hot and roared all the way back from a 17-point deficit to reclaim the lead.

Only to see the game slip away in the waning moments thanks to an unbelievable MVC advantage at the free throw line.

In the end, veteran CHS coach Randy Bottorff was left to softly shake his head as he reflected on the battle royal while standing in a now-quiet gym.

“They’re getting there,” he said. “Some bumps along the way, but they’re learning.”

MVC blew out to a 17-8 lead after one quarter of play, raining down buckets from all directions on the Wolves.

But this Coupeville squad is a resilient one, and it went right back to work, flipping the score on the Hurricanes in the next frame.

Nick Guay went off for five points in the second quarter, including draining a three-ball, and CHS got scoring from six different players during its own 17-8 tear.

With the game knotted at 25-25 at the half, Coupeville pushed ahead in the third quarter thanks to the wham-bam combo of Guay and Hunter Bronec, who combined to outscore MVC 10-7.

But the win wasn’t to be, as the Hurricanes repeatedly went to the foul line down the stretch, using an 11-4 run to close the game and keep their record spotless.

MVC hit 17 of 25 at the free throw stripe in the game, while Coupeville was … 0-1.

Owen Heinze, who paced Mount Vernon with 17 points, was 11-13 himself on charity shots, and the Wolves couldn’t overcome the disparity.

“They were strong enough to get to the line, and we weren’t,” Bottorff said. “We’ll keep working on getting the guys to move their feet on defense, and not get caught reaching.”

Hunter Bronec finished with a team-high 12 points for Coupeville, while Guay banked in 11 and Zane Oldenstadt knocked down six.

Hurlee Bronec (4), Carson Field (2), Ryan Blouin (2), and Mikey Robinett (2) also scored for the Wolves, with Landon Roberts, William Davidson, Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim, and Jack Porter also seeing floor time.

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