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Late bomb sinks Wolf girls

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on June 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Savina Wells knocked down a team-high 11 points Tuesday night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

This was not the way it was supposed to go.

Facing a team it ran off the floor the first time around, the Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball team stumbled Tuesday night.

Stung by a late three-ball, the Wolves fell 32-31 to visiting Friday Harbor, ending their chances at posting a winning record in this pandemic-altered season.

Now 4-6 with games against Concrete and Darrington left on the schedule, Coupeville can still finish at .500, but Tuesday’s tilt was there for the taking, and that hurts.

“We let it slip out of our hands and we’re all disappointed,” said CHS coach Scott Fox. “We’re hoping to finish strong and head into the summer a better team for next year.”

Coupeville held the lead late, clinging to a 31-29 lead after 8th grader Savina Wells capped an 11-point performance with an emphatic put-back with barely a minute to play.

But Friday Harbor caught a break when freshman Sheya Welty drilled a three-ball from the top of the arc with 40 seconds left on the clock.

Her shot barely got off over the outstretched hands of several Wolf defenders, but once airborne, it zipped low and on a line, hitting the back of the rim and dropping cleanly through the net.

It was Friday Harbor’s third trey of the night, and the second to come off the fingertips of Welty, who paced her squad with eight points.

Coupeville had several good looks at the basket in the game’s final seconds, while Friday Harbor kept things adventurous by missing a free throw which would have pushed its lead out further.

But it wasn’t to be, as the visitors escaped and headed home with only their second win of the season.

The game was a nail-biter most of the way, with neither team able to pull away.

Savina Wells opened things by lofting in a soft jumper off a feed from Carolyn Lhamon, and she and older sister Izzy closed the opening quarter with back-to-back buckets.

Holding an early 7-3 advantage, Coupeville then went cold from the field, not scoring for five-and-a-half minutes to open the second quarter.

But, thanks to a hyped-up defense and strong work on the boards from Ja’Kenya Hoskins, Lhamon, and Savina Wells, the Wolves trailed just 9-7 when they finally broke through.

Sophomore point guard Maddie Georges slashed through the paint, rolling in a layup as she flew under the glass, and Coupeville’s offense was back open for business.

Still trailing 16-12 early in the third quarter, the Wolves finally found the magic touch they had shown the first time these two squads clashed, and looked like they were taking control of things.

A 9-0 run, with four different CHS players scoring, staked Coupeville to a 21-16 lead.

The biggest bucket came from Izzy Wells, who got three points the hard way, putting an offensive rebound back up and in while getting smashed around the head.

Her ensuing free throw caressed the net, and put Friday Harbor on its heels.

But the visitors proved to be a scrappy bunch, closing the quarter on their own 6-0 mini-tear, with a put-back a millisecond before the quarter-ending buzzer a real mood killer.

The fourth quarter was a chess game, with both teams putting together big plays to retake the lead.

Savina Wells netted a jumper off of a long rebound, while Audrianna Shaw swished a shot while on the move, taking a pass from Hoskins and beating her defender to her favorite shooting spot.

That set up the ending we already discussed, as two young stars on the rise — Savina Wells and Sheya Welty — claimed center stage in the final moments.

The Wells sisters finished with 18 points, with Savina’s 11 backed up by seven from Izzy.

Shaw (8), Lhamon (2), Georges (2), and Kylie Van Velkinburgh (1) also scored, with Anya Leavell, Ryanne Knoblich, Gwen Gustafson, Hoskins, and defensive dynamo Lyla Stuurmans seeing floor time.

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Any fingernails left to bite?

Posted in Basketball, standings, tagged , , , , on June 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

CHS basketball coach Brad Sherman was the #2 scorer on the program’s last league champion team in 2001-2002. Now he has the Wolves in contention for another title. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nine days to play, two titles up for grabs.

Technically.

A person might come along and randomly look at the Northwest 2B/1B League basketball standings for the first time today and think both races are all-out wars.

It’s not true, though.

While the Mount Vernon Christian girls are a very-good team, and do sit just a half-game off of La Conner, I am here to tell you to take all your money to Vegas and bet on the Braves and not the Hurricanes.

The one loss for MVC came against La Conner, and it wasn’t close, with the Braves rolling to a 58-33 win.

That’s the second-closest any team has come to toppling the 2B powerhouse, with the other being 1A royalty King’s, which fell 44-39 in a war of teams which would be playing for state titles in a non-pandemic world.

La Conner and MVC face off a second time, in the season finale June 15, and I could turn out to be an idiot.

If the Hurricanes win, I’ll tip my hat to them.

But I don’t think I’ll need a hat that day.

On the other side of the standings, it is a legitimate war, but, after a 3-0 week, the Coupeville boys control their own destiny.

While MVC has the same 6-3 record as the Wolves, CHS swept the season series with the Hurricanes, and will play three more games to Mount Vernon’s two.

Win out, while playing Friday Harbor (5-3), Concrete (0-9), and Darrington (2-3), and Coupeville, which is on a four-game winning streak, can’t be stopped.

The first, and biggest of those contests comes Tuesday on Whidbey, followed by a road trip Thursday to the wilds of Concrete.

Senior Night arrives the following Tuesday, June 15, four days after graduation, and could be one of the biggest nights in Coupeville boys basketball history.

Where things stand through June 6:

 

Northwest League boys basketball:

School League Overall
Coupeville 6-3 6-3
MV Christian 6-3 6-4
Friday Harbor 5-3 5-3
Orcas Island 5-3 5-4
La Conner 4-4 4-5
Darrington 2-3 2-3
Concrete 0-9 0-9

 

Northwest League girls basketball:

School League Overall
La Conner 8-0 9-0
MV Christian 8-1 9-1
Orcas Island 5-3 5-4
Coupeville 4-5 4-5
Concrete 2-7 3-7
Friday Harbor 1-7 1-7
Darrington 0-5 0-5

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All eyes on the prize

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on June 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Grady Rickner was one of four Wolves who scored in double digits Saturday afternoon. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

What a week.

Three wins in four days, with the latest triumph coming Saturday on Orcas Island, has carried the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball team into first-place in the Northwest 2B/1B League.

Using a withering defense, and the second 38-point performance this season from junior sharpshooter Hawthorne Wolfe, CHS rolled to a resounding 86-56 win.

Payback for an early-season loss to the Vikings, the victory lifts the Wolves to 6-3 and gives them total control of their own destiny.

While Mount Vernon Christian has the same 6-3 record as Coupeville, the Wolves swept the season series from the Hurricanes, giving them an edge.

CHS also has three games left to play, while MVC only has two, having declined to host Orcas Island this season after that school requested no fans be present during the ongoing pandemic.

Friday Harbor, which comes to Whidbey Tuesday, June 8, and Orcas, whose season ended prematurely and in flames Saturday, sit at 5-3, with La Conner at 4-4.

Darrington (2-3) and Concrete (0-9) — which are Coupeville’s final two foes — round out the league standings.

Coupeville entered this week with a .500 record, but that was very deceptive.

The Wolves were essentially two plays from being 5-1 and not 3-3, with their only solid loss coming when Orcas went bonkers from behind the three-point line for one quarter.

Saturday, CHS coach Brad Sherman preached defense, defense, and more defense, and his players took it to heart, shutting down the Vikings snipers and never allowing them to find a rhythm.

“Great team basketball today,” Sherman said. “Proud of how our guys are coming together – especially on the defensive end.

“They worked their tails off this week!”

By contrast, Wolfe and his running mates were feeling it, and then some, combining to rain down 12 three-balls.

Eight of those came from the high-flying, jitterbugging Hawk, who was in full-on Pistol Pete Maravich mode, while Xavier Murdy netted two, and Logan Martin and Daniel Olson also flipped the nets from distance.

For that matter, everything was dropping for Coupeville.

Inside, outside, from the parking lot. Didn’t matter.

As long as it wasn’t a free throw, as the Wolves only went to the line once — a season-low from a squad which often shoots a lot of charity shots.

But then again, that’s probably because CHS launched most of its shots before the Orcas defense could get set long enough to consider fouling anyone.

Grady Rickner opened the scoring with a pair of quick runners, but the Wolves found themselves in a hole, for the briefest of moments.

Cue the tsunami.

Martin swished an in-close jumper, launching a game-busting 14-0 run which included Wolfe’s first two treys, and the floodgates were open.

Both Murdy boys were on fire, with Alex soaring in for a breakaway layup off a Hawk pass, followed by Xavier pump-faking his defender into the stands before rolling hard to the hoop for a bucket.

Strollin’ and rollin’ to his own unique beat, Wolfe delivered the dagger.

Boppin’ up court, he watched the clock tick down, then spun and made sweet love to the net, nailing a very-long, buzzer-beating three-ball which sent the Coupeville JV players into a screaming fit.

Coupeville kept shooting, kept hitting, and kept harassing the life out of the Vikings while on defense, sending the lead out to 42-29 at the half.

Olson, a senior who has found his niche using his long arms to shut down opponent’s passing lanes, tossed in five points in the second frame, as CHS spread out the offensive love.

Just in case they forgot about him, Wolfe emerged from the locker room with a slight smile on his face and a burning desire to put on a shooting clinic for all gathered.

Rifling four successful shots from behind the arc, with at least two of those from a distance Steph Curry would have approved of, Wolfe outscored Orcas 16-11 in the third quarter.

Add buckets for Martin, Grady Rickner, and both Xavier and Alex Murdy, and the rout was on.

Six players scored in the final quarter as Coupeville stretched the final margin to 30, sending an emphatic message out to what has been a very-competitive league.

Wolfe’s 38 matches his total from the season-opener at MVC, and is just 10 off of the school single-game record of 48, set by Jeff Stone in the pre-three-ball world of 1970.

With the scoring burst, Hawk hit several milestones Saturday, joining the 600-point club, moving from #36 to #30 on the CHS boys career scoring list, and passing one of his coaches as he did so.

Now with 625 points and counting, Wolfe skips past Gabe McMurray (592), Mike Syreen (594), Brian Miller (597), Joe Whitney (601), current CHS assistant coach Greg White (604), and John O’Grady (611).

And he wasn’t the only Coupeville player to crack an exclusive club, as Xavier Murdy tossed in 12, giving him 204 varsity points.

The Wolves had four players in double figures, with Grady Rickner and Alex Murdy each going off for 10, while Olson and Martin netted seven apiece.

Sage Downes sank Coupeville’s remaining bucket, with Logan Downes and TJ Rickner getting floor time for the surging Wolves.

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“Awesome performance today!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on June 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Carolyn Lhamon returned from an injury Saturday, helping Coupeville roll to a big road win on Orcas Island. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Quite the turn around.

A game after posting its fewest points of the season, the Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball squad bounced back with a vengeance Saturday afternoon.

Led by Izzy Wells, who knocked down eight of her game-high 14 points in the final quarter, the Wolves held off Orcas Island 45-36 for a huge road win which doubles as sweet revenge.

The first time the teams met in Coupeville, the Vikings escaped with a three-point win.

This time out, with nine Wolves scoring and the team tying its season-high for points, it all ended in a much-happier way.

“We had a great practice yesterday and that led to an awesome performance today!,” said Coupeville coach Scott Fox. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of these girls.

“We could have folded, but we came out with a vengeance for a great road win.”

CHS was coming off back-to-back losses to undefeated La Conner and one-loss Mount Vernon Christian, but the Orcas win sends the Wolves in the right direction as the season nears its end.

The Wolves, now 4-5 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, have games left against Friday Harbor, Concrete, and Darrington — all teams they have previously beaten this season by double-digits.

Coupeville only scored six points total in its loss to MVC, but put up 15 Saturday in the first quarter alone.

Yet still trailed 20-15 at the first break, as the squads swapped buckets and pushed the pace.

A pair of Orcas three-balls to end the quarter was the difference, but the Wolves didn’t seem flustered a bit.

They were moving the ball crisply, and getting points from everyone on the floor, with six different players tallying a bucket in the opening frame.

Audrianna Shaw started things, going up and around a backpedaling defender for the game’s first bucket, then turned around and fired a crisp outlet pass to set up Maddie Georges for a layup on the very next possession.

Wolf 8th grader Savina Wells netted a three-ball of her own, flipping the net high, and the game looked like it might end with both teams gunning for 70-75 points.

Instead, the combined point totals came down the rest of the way, falling from 35 in the first, to 20 in the second, then 16 and 10 after the half.

A big part of that was Coupeville’s defense, which limited Orcas to more no three-balls after the first quarter, and just 16 points across the final three quarters.

Ja’Kenya Hoskins, Carolyn Lhamon, and Savina Wells dominated the boards, while the Wolf guards attacked from all angles, causing frequent turnovers.

Once they had the ball in their hands, the Wolves continued to spread out their offense, with Kylie Van Velkinburgh and Ryanne Knoblich getting on the board with buckets to open the second quarter.

Both baskets were set up by crisp passes, as Savina Wells and Georges fired balls which zipped between defenders before landing softly in their teammate’s hands.

Coupeville took the lead for good at 23-22, with Hoskins dropping a pair of velvety-smooth free throws through the net, then continued to turn up the defensive heat.

Orcas, playing its season finale in this pandemic-altered season, didn’t go down easily, however.

The Vikings stayed within range at 37-34 through three quarters, and it could have been even tighter.

But, up by a single point, Shaw busted the defense, hauled in a long pass, and slapped home a layup right before the Orcas scorekeeper could hit the buzzer to signal the end of the quarter.

After exchanging buckets to open the fourth, the ever-serene Izzy Wells strolled across the court and drove a stake through the heart of Vikings fans everywhere.

Scoring on a combination of moves, Savina’s older sister iced things by collecting the game’s final three buckets, earning a nod of approval from her coach.

“Izzy’s offensive performance was spectacular to see,” Fox said. “Audri was our rock, as usual, and Ja’Kenya crashed the boards like no other.

“It makes the ferry ride home much nicer!”

With her 14-point performance, Izzy Wells cracks the 100-point club, becoming the 102nd girl in CHS hoops history to do so since 1974.

She actually has 102 points, and counting, and is (for the moment at least) the #101 scorer all-time.

Shaw, who is making her own run at the 100-point club, finished with 11 Saturday, while Hoskins and Georges tossed in four apiece.

Knoblich (3), Savina Wells (3), Gwen Gustafson (2), Van Velkinburgh (2), and Lhamon (2) rounded out the offense, while Lyla Stuurmans and Anya Leavell also saw floor time.

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Murdy boys mash MVC

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on June 4, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Xavier Murdy scored 22 points Thursday as Coupeville won a wild one 66-65. (Jackie Saia photos)

Just call ’em the Hurricane busters.

Xavier and Alex Murdy scored 12 of Coupeville’s final 15 points Thursday, including the game-winning free throws, as the Wolves pulled out one of the most-dramatic wins in the 104-year history of CHS boys basketball.

Fighting foul trouble all game, Coupeville built a 14-point lead, blew it all, then came back around to ice visiting Mount Vernon Christian 66-65 in a game capped by the student section storming the floor.

The second win over a major Northwest 2B/1B League rival in as many days, it lifts Coupeville to 5-3 and keeps it in the thick of the chase for a league title.

Now, the Wolves carry a three-game winning streak to Orcas Island Saturday, where they’ll face a 5-2 Vikings squad.

MVC also sits at 5-2, with both of those losses coming at the hands of Coupeville.

The first time the teams squared off, Hawthorne Wolfe blitzed the Hurricanes for 38 points and CHS won fairly easily.

This time out, a trio of refs who combined to have a less-than-stellar game fouled Wolfe out of the contest with six minutes to play, sending Coupeville’s main gunner to the bench.

In stepped Alex Murdy, and the sophomore responded in crunch time with his best performance as a varsity player, teaming with older brother Xavier to thwart and bedevil the Hurricanes and their hyped-up cheering section.

The biggest plays came with the clock frozen at 11 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter and Coupeville trailing by a single point.

Having built a 14-point second-half lead, only to fall behind by six, the Wolves went on a 9-2 run to reclaim the lead at 64-63.

Then promptly lost it after MVC banged home a bucket in the paint — after the Hurricanes somehow got away with body-slamming Grady Rickner to the floor at the other end as he drove to the hoop.

Not a ticky-tacky foul.

Not a questionable call.

A pile driver worthy of a WWE title bout, which sent the Coupeville captain into an unpleasant collision with the floor, his body crumpling in pain and surprise.

The non-call, which came as one ref stared silently as the play unfurled mere inches in front of him, sent the Coupeville faithful into screaming fits of righteous fury.

But redemption was mere seconds away, as Alex Murdy was hip-checked as he brought the ball past the scorer’s table.

Sent to the line with both sections of the stands rockin’ and rollin’, Xavier’s younger brother carried himself with a surprising calmness.

Perhaps Alex was having a seizure deep inside his soul.

If so, he never betrayed it, calmly sinking the tying and go-ahead charity shots, before being mobbed by his ecstatic teammates.

Alex Murdy (center) celebrates his game-winning free throws.

MVC still had a chance, putting the ball in the hands of its most-dangerous player — 8th grader Davis Fogle, who scored 21 points — but the (really) young gun couldn’t get his potential game-winning layup to stay in the basket.

Cue Coupeville students rumblin’ and tumblin’ onto the court as if the Wolves had just won a state title.

While it might not be to that level, it is potentially one of those defining wins where you look back 10 years later and point to it as the moment where a program really made a statement.

CHS coach Brad Sherman, who was a player the last time the Wolves won a league title, had the look of a man who had gone through the whirlwind and lived to tell about it.

But it was a happy tiredness, and a proud tiredness.

“So proud of the heart our boys showed tonight,” Sherman said. “We put four strong quarters together, and we did it back-to-back nights (after beating La Conner on the road Wednesday).

“Shows how resilient these guys are.”

Even with its foul trouble starting in the game’s opening moments, Coupeville controlled the game from opening tip until late in the third.

Daniel Olson knocked down the game’s first bucket, snatching a rebound and powering past several Hurricanes for the put-back, and five Wolves scored in the opening quarter.

A three-ball from Sage Downes, followed by Grady Rickner slapping home a layup off a sharply-angled inbounds pass sent Coupeville to the first break up 13-8.

Wolfe and Xavier Murdy carried most of the scoring load in the second quarter, combining for 19 of their team’s points in a 23-16 run.

X-Man dropped in a pair of treys — one set up by a Logan Martin rebound and kick-out, the other coming off a steal — while Hawk got ridiculous.

He poured in 11 points in the frame, with a pair of three-balls on which he released the ball while dribbling somewhere out around Deception Pass Bridge.

Add in a smooth sideline jumper from Martin and a steal and layup for Alex Murdy, and the Wolves were in control at 36-24 at the half.

Things got better in the third quarter, as Coupeville twice stretched its lead to 14 points.

One of those moments came when Wolfe, hanging in the air for an eternity, dropped in a short runner to pass 1950’s CHS star Pat Clark and move into 36th place on the school’s career scoring chart.

But MVC wasn’t done, as the Hurricanes launched a torrid comeback in the fourth.

A 19-4 run put the visitors up 63-57 and things looked dire.

Enter the Murdy boys, and exit any worries.

Xavier swished four consecutive free throws, stepped aside to let Martin nail a charity shot of his own, then returned to slash through the paint for the bucket which reclaimed Coupeville’s lead.

Which brings us back to his sibling getting his magical moment.

A moment which prompted the older brother, who’s pretty low-key about his own big plays, to bust out his biggest smile of the night, reveling in Alex’s success.

It was a grand night for the Murdy boys all around, with Xavier topping all scorers with 22 points.

Jumping from #150 on the CHS boys career scoring chart to #138, he passes notable names from the past like Anthony Bergeron, Scott Stuurmans, and Dale Sherman.

Wolfe added 16 points, with Alex Murdy finishing with eight.

Olson (6), Downes (5), Martin (5), and Grady Rickner (4) also scored, with TJ Rickner sacrificing part of a tooth while crashing the boards like Dennis Rodman in his furious prime.

TJ Rickner battles in the trenches.

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