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Posts Tagged ‘Mount Vernon Christian’

Refs reject Wolf miracle!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo (John Fisken photo)

   Joey Lippo scored a season-high 11 Friday, netting three shots from behind the three-point line. (John Fisken photo)

Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can’t catch a break.

It has seemed that way of late for the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad, which got emotionally knifed in the back for a second straight game Friday night.

Down by three with time running out, playing on the road, the Wolves forced non-conference foe Mount Vernon Christian to turn the ball over with 8.8 seconds to play.

CHS set up a play in the timeout, then ran it perfectly, with Joey Lippo hitting Hunter Smith, and Coupeville’s #1 scorer promptly drilling a game-tying three-ball.

Barring a miracle shot at the buzzer, the Wolves were headed to overtime for the second straight game.

Except…

Adding another layer of frustration to a season that has already had more than its fair share, the refs waved off the three, saying Lippo had narrowly stepped out of bounds while making the pass.

One Coupeville foul and two MVC free throws later, the Wolves headed home with a 54-49 loss despite one of their best efforts of the season.

The defeat, which came despite a season-best performance at the line and seven three-balls which the refs did count, drops CHS to 1-12.

Coupeville came out strongly, building a 17-15 lead after one quarter of play.

Lippo, Ethan Spark and Gabe Wynn each knocked down five points in the early going as the Wolves spread out the offensive load.

Wynn and Lippo drilled treys in the second quarter, Hunter Smith hit four free throws (Coupeville was 9-11 at the charity stripe as a team) and CHS went in the locker room up 27-21.

Unfortunately, the offense dried up a bit in the second half, allowing the Hurricanes to grab control of the lead.

But with the Wolves staying efficient from behind the arc, they stayed close up until getting their legs taken out from beneath them by the refs in the frantic finale.

Lippo and Smith each went for 11 to pace Coupeville, while Wynn hit for eight and Spark drained five.

Brian Shank (4), Cameron Toomey-Stout (3), Hunter Downes (2) and Steven Cope (2) rounded out the scoring attack, with Ariah Bepler chipping in on the defensive side of the ball.

And yes, if you’re adding that up, it equals 46 and not 49.

There was a similar issue on the MVC side of the book as once again road bookkeepers fail to match up to the standard set by CHS home numbers cruncher June Mazdra.

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She must terminate you!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on September 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Scout Smith (John Fisken photo)

Scout Smith, destroyer of worlds. (John Fisken photo)

Scout Smith is the T-Rex. Everyone else is just the meal.

Making an especially strong high school debut, the Coupeville freshman punctuated her first day of school Tuesday by unleashing a seriously nasty serve that left Mount Vernon Christian players madly looking for someplace, any place, to hide.

Spoiler alert: they weren’t safe, even back on the bus.

At one point Smith reeled off 18 consecutive points on her serve, including the final 13 points of the second set, sparking the Wolf JV to a 25-20, 25-11, 25-15 romp over the visiting Hurricanes.

And yet, as on-target as Hunter and CJ’s lil’ sis was, she was far from the only Coupeville player to sparkle in the season-opener.

The Wolves, utilizing a young and talented roster, ran a constant stream of players onto the floor, and every one of them seemed to have the magic touch.

Things kicked off in high style as freshman Hannah Davidson rose up and pounded home a winner about three seconds into the match, claiming the season’s first point before most of the fans had settled into their seats.

After that, it was like a collection of SportsCenter highlights from the stars of tomorrow.

Raven Vick lashed a gorgeous spike that caught the back-line, Lucy Sandahl poked a winner into the smallest of gaps between two rivals and the Wolf service game was en fuego.

Zoe Trujillo, Maddy Hilkey, Vick, Sandahl and Smith (who was just warming up) all delivered crisp serves in the opening set, before Smith went nuclear in set #2.

With the Wolves up a set and clinging to a 12-11 lead, they handed the ball to Smith and (metaphorically at least) turned out the lights on the Hurricanes.

Smith opened by cracking a zinger that sliced several toes off of the MVC returner, then mixed up screaming serves with devious ones which dipped and dropped at the last second.

As super fan/team mom Amy Briscoe went berserk — “I LIKE THAT GIRL!!!!!!” — Smith, Coupeville’s most placid ace, kept the family tradition alive by maintaining a perfect poker face throughout most of her run.

Having swept the first two sets, CHS had the match in hand (JV teams play best two of three) but the two teams had extra time on the clock and decided to continue play.

Which was basically an excuse for the Wolves to open a further can of whup-ass, with Maya Toomey-Stout, Willow Vick, Melia Welling and others coming up with big plays.

Welling’s was especially sweet, as the frosh threw down a hook shot that skimmed over the heads of several Hurricanes and dropped in for a winner that seemed to catch a lot of people by surprise, most especially the beaming player who had just pulled off the surprise shot.

With the end of the match in sight, and the battered and bruised Hurricanes ankling for the door, Smith returned to put a final exclamation point on things.

On what would turn out to be her next-to-last serve, and the 27th point she won at the stripe on the night, she launched a wicked slice that caught a Mount Vernon player square in the arm, before ricocheting across the gym.

As the Hurricane gingerly rubbed her elbow, Smith let a small smile slip around the corner of her mouth.

It was the grin of a stone-cold killer.

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Wolves howl, Hurricanes crumble!!

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on September 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hope Lodell had eight services aces to pace Coupeville to a straight-sets win Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

   Hope Lodell had eight services aces to pace Coupeville to a straight-sets win Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

Opening night was a rousing success.

Using strong serving and timely hitting, the Coupeville High School volleyball squad gave first-year coach Cory Whitmore a straight-sets win in his debut Tuesday, stomping visiting Mount Vernon Christian 25-15, 25-11, 25-21.

The non-conference win, coming against a school that finished 4th at the 1B state tourney last season, was a crowd-pleaser from start to finish.

Coupeville used long, successful runs at the service stripe from multiple players to control the match.

“That was our game plan, to take command in the first set and ramp up the pressure,” Whitmore said. “The team we have here trusts in the system and trusts me to do my best to put them in position to do well.”

Wolf junior Katrina McGranahan kicked things off early in the first set.

Stepping to the line with her squad trailing 4-2, she calmly ripped off winners on seven straight serves, with most of the action coming courtesy her own laser-powered arm.

McGranahan nailed one ace that curved in and bit a chunk of paint off the back-line at the last second.

A moment later she drilled another that left a scorch mark on the net as it crawled over (at a blistering speed), then exploded at the feet of a would-be returner.

A couple of big plays from Emma Smith — a block in which she soared to the ceiling and a knee-buckling spike — kept the Wolves close, before Valen Trujillo ended the first set on an emphatic note.

The senior captain, mixing speeds and getting crafty, took a 16-15 lead and ran off nine straight points on her serve to turn a taut battle into a runaway rout.

“It’s so tough to read her serves,” said a smiling Whitmore.

The final two sets were much the same, with Hope Lodell, Payton Aparicio and Lauren Rose joining McGranahan and Trujillo with strong runs at the service stripe.

Smith was a deadly sniper with her spikes, while Mikayla Elfrank and Tiffany Briscoe both made a bid to craft the night’s best play.

Elfrank, a junior making her CHS volleyball debut, displayed serious pop and a nice touch frequently flying in from the outside.

She had a gym-rattling spike winner late in the second set, then topped that right near the end of the match.

Mount Vernon had rallied for three straight points late in the third set, cutting the margin to 23-20 and raising hopes they could steal a set and prolong the match.

Instead, Elfrank, coming in from the left side, unloaded a spectacular cross-court laser that angled through two jumping Hurricane players and kicked off the line on the far right side of the floor.

The ball struck, there was a momentary pause as everyone strained to see if it had caught the line, then the Wolf faithful exploded as the ref signaled that yes, Elfrank was just that good.

Briscoe’s moment came at the end of one of the game’s longer rallies.

After both teams came up with big saves to keep the action hopping, Briscoe pounced on a wayward ball, and, using just her fingertips, redirected it through a maze of MVC defenders, dropping it into the one small gap available for a winner.

Whitmore, who was making his regular-season debut as a varsity coach (Coupeville had a jamboree under its belt), basked in the glow afterwards, as fans and CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith showered him with congratulations.

“Retire now and you go down with the best winning percentage in school history,” Smith joked.

Lodell and Trujillo paced the Wolves with eight service aces apiece, while Aparicio (5), McGranahan (5) and Ashley Menges (4) all chipped in.

Menges dished out a team-high 12 assists, while Rose collected seven.

Coupeville heads to Langley Saturday for the six-team South Whidbey Invite, then hosts Chimacum Sept. 13 in its 1A Olympic League opener.

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Rose blooms!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Lauren Rose, seen here playing defense, was (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

   Lauren Rose, seen here playing defense, was all about the offense Saturday, scorching the nets for a career-high 17 in a win. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

Lauren Rose doesn’t have time to bleed.

The Wolf spark-plug, a woman of many nicknames (“Mouse,” “Keebler Elf”) and much talent, bounced right back from a recent injury and spent much of Saturday inflicting pain on others.

Raining down a career-high 17, the super sophomore lifted the Coupeville High School JV girls’ hoops squad to a thrilling 34-32 win over visiting Mount Vernon Christian.

The win, the second in the last three games for the young Wolves, lifted them to 4-6 heading into a nine-day break.

That will give Rose a chance to heal up, though hopefully not cool down.

“Lauren made a statement tonight with her game,” said CHS coach Amy King. “Still playing with a wrapped ankle, she led the team — directing on offense, finding open lanes to drive through, as well as hitting a much-needed three.

“She just seemed to be everywhere, stealing, driving, cutting and taking shots when open. Lauren really did a nice job of leading the team,” she added. “This is her best game this season. You could see her confidence growing and it was so nice watching her take over the game.”

Rose got a fair amount of help, with freshman Sarah Wright providing the defensive muscle to complement the offense.

She hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds, rejected a shot and sparked her teammates all night.

“It seemed like Sarah was everywhere all game long,” King said. “She is very strong with the ball, rebounding, dribbling up the floor and driving to the basket.

“On inbound plays under our basket, she is seeing the defense and placing herself in the perfect position for an easy pass and shot.”

With Wright’s energy and Rose’s hot hand leading the way, Coupeville held the lead from start to finish, stretching it out to nine at one point before a late Hurricane rally.

The fourth quarter went back and forth, with the Wolves refusing to relinquish the game.

Back within a bucket with 27 seconds left on the clock, Mount Vernon opted not to foul and try for a steal instead, but Rose played smartly and flawlessly dribbled out the game.

“I think overall, this is the strongest our team has looked for the majority of the game,” King said. “Everyone did something great.

“We had several give-and-go plays that resulted in either a lay up, short jumper or foul,” she added. “The big thing that makes me so happy, is that these girls are starting to recognize gaps in the defense or creating a play or shot out of something we have gone over in practice.”

When Rose wasn’t draining buckets, the Wolves got scoring from five different players, led by Wright with eight.

Ema Smith banged home four, while Nicole Lester (2), Skyler Lawrence (2) and Allison Wenzel (1) all chipped in.

It was Lester’s first basket of the season, and the freshman scored off of a put-back on a rebound, causing “the gym to erupt.”

Wenzel (5) and Lawrence (4) combined to snag nine rebounds, while Lindsey Laxton (3), Smith (3), Ashlie Shank (2), Lester (2) and Maddy Hilkey (1) all worked the boards.

Rose made off with four steals, Brittany Powers pilfered another pair and Brisa Herrera “asserted herself on defense with a really strong grip; nobody was going to take it (the ball).”

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“This was a big win for us!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Kailey Kellner, keeping it low-key here, was a demon on defense Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

   Kailey Kellner, keeping it low-key here, was a demon on defense Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

Ten players operating as one, each doing their part to make the team stronger.

It’s the driving philosophy behind the success of the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad, and it was on display all afternoon Saturday.

Even with their leader, Makana Stone, under the weather — she still scored 15 and grabbed 12 boards — the Wolves got big performances from a number of role players and soundly thumped visiting Mount Vernon Christian 41-26.

The non-conference win, in which CHS only trailed once, very early, lifted the Wolves to 8-3.

They’re now off for nine days, then return with three games in four days, including conference showdowns with Chimacum and Port Townsend.

The break will allow Stone to recover from her illness, and the Wolves to continue to fine-tune things, but CHS coach David King exited the gym with a smile on his face Saturday.

“This was a big win for us after we sputtered a little in our last game,” he said. “Offensively we really moved the ball well along with crashing the boards and going back up with it.”

The game was close for a quarter, with the Hurricanes actually leading 5-4 at one point (Mia Littlejohn and Lauren Grove promptly responded with back-to-back buckets) and Coupeville only up by a point at the end of the first eight minutes.

Mount Vernon beat the buzzer with a three-ball, after a loose ball bounced off of six different sets of hands (it seemed, at least) before plopping right onto the fingertips of a Hurricane shooter.

That pulled them within 10-9 heading into the second, and it looked like it would be a back-and-forth battle.

And then it wasn’t, as Coupeville clamped down extra-tight on defense, holding the Hurricanes to just four more field goals the rest of the way.

Flustered by the Wolf ‘D’, Mount Vernon stayed alive for a bit with decent free-throw shooting, but that was far from enough when Coupeville was hitting from all angles.

Tiffany Briscoe kick-started the second quarter by banging home a layin off of a loose ball, Littlejohn drained all three free throws after being hacked while shooting a trey, and Lauren Grove swished a long jumper to close the half.

In between all that, Stone sliced through the Hurricanes for seven of her 15 in the second quarter, picking her moments to shine as she (and King) conserved what energy she had.

The highlight reel play for the night came late in the quarter, when Stone rejected a Hurricane shot, snagged the ball out of midair, hit sprinter speed and shot the length of the court, draining the layup and the resulting free throw she got after a straggler whacked her in the shoulder.

The transcendent senior, even ill, filled up the stat sheet, with three blocks, two steals and an assist to go with her double-double.

“Makana was pretty under the weather today. Even not feeling well she showed up and gave every ounce of energy she could,” King said. “She really played in control and didn’t speed things up like she can do at times.”

As they have all season, Stone’s younger teammates stepped up at crunch time, whether it was Littlejohn’s slick ball-handling, Briscoe’s relentless rebounding or Grove’s sudden offensive explosion.

Throwing down a season-high 10, the wily junior, who is known for her ball-hawk defense, was en fuego on both sides of the court.

“What can I say, her on-ball defense is outstanding right now,” King said. “She understands her scoring opportunities right now will come off of steals or drives to the basket.

“Today she took advantage of what she could and pumped life into our offense.”

He also complimented Littlejohn (“today she was the floor general this team needs”), freshman Lindsey Roberts (“she has been playing better ball for us; her defense and rebounding is getting better, too”) and ever-scrappy Kyla Briscoe, who snagged two boards and gave the squad crucial energy all night.

Tiffany Briscoe and Kailey Kellner got a special mention for being willing to sacrifice on defense.

“Undersized in the post, they both stepped up big time with their defense,” King said. “I told them they had to play taller than they are.

“They both worked so hard in there, I think that interior defense was a key to taking control of the game in the second quarter through the end of the game,” he added. “Both of these players have bought into the reality that defense wins games.”

Tiffany Briscoe and Littlejohn dropped in seven apiece in support of Stone and Grove, while Roberts nailed a jumper and snagged four boards.

Grove pilfered five steals, Tiffany Briscoe corralled five caroms and swing players Allison Wenzel, Lauren Rose and Skyler Lawrence all saw floor time, with the first two each grabbing a rebound.

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