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Posts Tagged ‘Northwest League’

Road warriors slam pedal through the metal

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Jermiah Copeland looks for an open man. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

They bounced back in a big way.

Coming off a tough road loss at Mount Vernon Christian, the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball team rebounded to drill host Concrete Tuesday.

Capping a four-game road trip, the Wolves won for the eighth time in their last 10 games, demolishing the Lions 75-22.

With 10 different players scoring, including sophomore Hunter Bronec tossing in his first varsity bucket, CHS gets to 3-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 10-6 overall.

Up next is a return home, for the first time in two weeks, and a rumble with Friday Harbor Jan. 27.

That Friday-night tilt has major playoff implications, as Coupeville tries to move a step closer to clinching District 1’s top seed for the bi-district tourney.

Two of three 2B schools from the NWL punch playoff tickets, with the games between the trio of teams the deciding factor.

Coupeville is 1-0 in that saucy round-robin dance, La Conner 1-1, and Friday Harbor 0-1 with the Wolves hosting the Braves Feb. 7, then traveling to Friday Harbor Feb. 10 for the regular season finale.

Tuesday’s battle in the town Leonardo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro made infamous in This Boy’s Life was a romp from start to finish, save for one brief spell in the first quarter.

Jumping out to a 9-0 lead, Coupeville didn’t let Concrete score until the 4:40 mark of the opening frame, only to see the Lions then slap home seven unanswered points.

If they were fazed, the Wolves didn’t show it, merely going right back to work.

Nick Guay stopped the brief bleeding with a layup off of a lob from Alex Murdy, then the Wolf junior came back around to cap a 13-2 run by firing a full court pass to a sprinting Murdy, who beat the buzzer by a step.

Up 22-9 at the first break, Coupeville continued to push its lead out, combining three-balls from Ryan Blouin and Logan Downes with hard-fought buckets in the paint courtesy Jonathan Valenzuela and Cole White.

The halftime advantage was 41-17, though it could have been bigger.

Guay bounded high, snagged an offensive board and drilled the put-back jumper at the buzzer, only to have hometown refs wave off his highlight reel play, claiming it left his fingers too late.

Not that Coupeville needed the extra bucket, as it broke Concrete’s spirit in the third quarter, rolling up a 27-0 advantage across eight frantic minutes.

Murdy was wheelin’ and dealin’, firing beautiful set-up passes to his teammates, with seven different Wolves tallying points in the frame.

Leading 68-17 headed into the fourth, Coupeville coach Brad Sherman, who had been liberally substituting all night, gave his support players a chance to own the quarter.

Hunter Bronec is in a hurry to get somewhere. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

Jermiah Copeland splashed home his first three-ball as a Wolf, banking the ball off the glass while doing so, while both Bronec brothers, Hunter and Hurlee, got extensive floor time.

With Coupeville’s starters playing limited minutes, the scoring sheet was super-balanced.

Downes led the way with a game-high 20, while Murdy banked in 14, and White snapped the net for 10.

Dominic Coffman (7), Valenzuela (7), Blouin (5), Copeland (5), Guay (3), Hunter Bronec (2), and Zane Oldenstadt (2) also scored, with William Davidson and Quinten Simpson-Pilgrim pounding the boards.

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Blouin buzz-bombs Lions

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Alita Blouin is here to destroy you. (Delanie Lewis photo)

Alita Blouin is a dangerous woman.

Put a basketball in her hands, and the Coupeville High School senior will gut her rivals and leave them to bleed out on the side of the highway.

Metaphorically…

Leaving behind her real-life persona — where she’s serene and kind to human and animal alike — Blouin once again became Alita the Assassin Tuesday, raining down death from above on host Concrete.

Nailing five three-balls, while hitting from multiple angles, she went off for a season-high 21 points, leading nine Wolves into the scoring column during a 54-15 win.

The victory caps a brutal stretch of road games for the CHS varsity, which gets to 2-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-8 overall.

Now Blouin and her associates head home to face Friday Harbor this Friday, Jan. 27, in a game with big playoff implications.

Two of the three 2B schools in the NWL earn postseason berths, and the only games which influence Coupeville’s seeding are the ones with La Conner and Friday Harbor.

Currently, La Conner is 2-0 in the round-robin rumble, with both the Wolves and Wolverines sitting at 0-1.

Coupeville gets a home rematch with the Braves Feb. 7, before traveling to Friday Harbor Feb. 10 for the regular-season finale.

While Tuesday’s tilt didn’t have any impact on playoff dreams, it was a nice way to cap a four-game road trip where the first three games were against legit state title contenders.

The word of the night was defense, as Coupeville bolted out to a 29-0 lead, not allowing Concrete to score in the game’s first 13 minutes-plus.

The first quarter featured a pair of Blouin layups and a pair of jumpers from Lyla Stuurmans, before Maddie Georges utterly destroyed a defender on the final play before the break.

Sliding under the Lion, then juking her out to somewhere around Darrington, the Wolf point guard drilled a little runner and it was 11-0 and getting out of control.

Whatever hopes Concrete might have had vanished in the second quarter, with Coupeville raining down a season-best 29 points in eight minutes, stretching its lead to 40-4 at the half.

Blouin rippled the nets for a trio of three-balls, Stuurmans knocked down a series of buckets in the paint, and Gwen Gustafson exploded off the bench for a big quarter.

The Coupeville senior netted the 100th point of her varsity career on a free-throw, allowing Gustafson to join big sis Amanda Fabrizi (299 career points) in the three-digit club.

While the defense might not have seemed as important as before, as a running clock loomed on the horizon, the Wolves remained frisky.

None more so than sophomore Mia Farris, ripping down rebounds and soundly rejecting a Concrete shot to send her team into the locker room on a high.

Skylar Parker connected on a pullup jumper late in the third quarter to stretch the lead out to 40, while making some personal history at the same time.

It was the first varsity points for the CHS junior, as she becomes the 241st girl to score for a Wolf hoops program which launched in 1974.

For stat hounds looking for something besides points, toss Farris another hustle mark, as she drew an offensive charge late in the game.

Stuurmans finished the night with 11 points to back Blouin and her 21, while Gustafson banked in seven.

Georges (6), Katie Marti (2), Carolyn Lhamon (2), Parker (2), Ryanne Knoblich (2), and Farris (1) also scored, with Jada Heaton and Madison McMillan earning floor time.

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Wolves, rivals shoot for top dog status

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Gwen Gustafson drills a jump shot. (Karen Carlson photo)

The standings matter, and they don’t.

Case in point — while the La Conner boys currently have a slightly better conference record overall than Coupeville, it’s the Wolves who would be the Northwest League’s top seed to the 2B playoffs.

That’s because of the split nature of a 2B/1B league, where three schools are from the former, and four from the latter.

When the postseason begins, seeding is only based on games between schools at the same level.

That’s why Coupeville’s boys, who beat La Conner the first time out, are 1-0 in the three-team, four-game rumble which matters the most.

The Braves are 1-1, with Friday Harbor at 0-1.

On the girls side of things, La Conner is 2-0, with Coupeville and Friday Harbor sitting on 0-1.

Two of the three 2B schools earn a playoff ticket, with plenty of big games between now and the regular season finales Feb. 10.

The week ahead offers a mix of games for Coupeville, with the Wolves travelling to Concrete Tuesday, Jan. 24, before hosting Friday Harbor Jan. 27.

With three weeks left in the regular season, a look at current win/loss records:

 

Northwest League boys basketball:

School League Overall
MV Christian 5-0 13-5
La Conner 3-1 7-7
Orcas Island 3-1 12-6
Coupeville 2-2 9-6
Friday Harbor 1-2 2-11
Concrete 1-5 3-11
Darrington 0-4 3-11

 

Northwest League girls basketball:

School League Overall
MV Christian 5-0 16-2
La Conner 4-0 11-3
Orcas Island 3-1 6-8
Friday Harbor 1-2 3-8
Coupeville 1-3 5-8
Darrington 1-3 8-5
Concrete 0-6 1-13

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Rough night, better days ahead

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Cole White rained down jumpers Friday night. (Andrew Williams photo)

A bump in the road.

Friday night’s loss at Mount Vernon Christian stings, but it’s not fatal for the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball team.

Facing a Hurricane team which seemed unable to miss all night, the Wolves fell 73-53, snapping a four-game winning streak.

For the moment, the loss drops Coupeville to 2-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 9-6 overall.

But the silver lining is MVC is a 1B school, and the Wolves rep a 2B program.

So, while the Hurricanes earned a split in the team’s two-game series, this is the last time the squads will play this season.

Coupeville, which won the first time the schools squared off, still controls its own playoff destiny, as only its games against fellow 2B rivals La Conner and Friday Harbor decide who makes it to the postseason.

With one matchup against the Braves, and two against the Wolverines still ahead on the schedule, the Wolves head to Concrete Tuesday to face a 3-11 Lions team.

For CHS coach Brad Sherman and his team, basketball offers the reprieve of not having to wait long for the next game.

A day off Sunday, a day of practice Monday, and then back to the hardwood.

Coupeville didn’t play all that badly against MVC, matching them with five three-balls and getting big performances from its role players.

Problem is, the Hurricanes just had one of those nights when everything they threw up in the air seemed to catch the rim just right.

Once the Wolves were trailing, they would slice a bit here, a bit there, only to see MVC deliver yet another dagger in front of its home fans.

With Cole White popping for a quick five points in the early going, Coupeville led 11-9 heading towards the first break.

Then the Hurricane(s) hit and hit hard.

Using a 6-0 run to claim a 15-11 lead at the first break, MVC stretched its advantage out to 36-24 by halftime.

The Hurricanes clamped down on Coupeville’s leading scorers, Logan Downes and Alex Murdy, but the Wolves got help from the bench.

Nick Guay tossed in three buckets during the second quarter, while Zane Oldenstadt, normally a defense-first big man, connected on back-to-back jumpers to give CHS a fighting chance.

Zane Oldenstadt (far right) played strongly on both ends of the floor against Mount Vernon Christian. (Delanie Lewis photo)

Coupeville got the lead down to seven at 45-38 late in the third quarter on a White pullup jumper, but the ‘Canes responded immediately.

Same thing in the final frame, as the Wolves cut a 12-point deficit to eight, only to have MVC go on an 8-0 run.

Another late Hurricane surge, this one 9-0, made the final score seem like more of a blowout than the game really was.

White paced the Wolves with a varsity career-high 15-point performance, while Guay tossed in 13, and Downes added 12.

Alex Murdy (7), Oldenstadt (4), and Dominic Coffman (2) also scored, with Jonathan Valenzuela, William Davidson, Chase Anderson, and Ryan Blouin seeing floor time.

Liam Millenaar led MVC with 23 points, with Billy DeJong knocking down 18 in support.

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Wolves weather Hurricanes rainin’ down pain

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Maddie Georges fights for a loose ball. (Karen Carlson photo)

First, some good news.

The Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team was back at nearly full-strength Friday, with senior Carolyn Lhamon back in the lineup after missing a chunk of games while tending to a foot injury.

The Wolves most-imposing presence in the paint, she could be a big help down the stretch, as CHS chases a playoff berth.

Now, the bad news.

While Lhamon played strongly in limited minutes, there’s not much she, or any of her teammates could do to slow down host Mount Vernon Christian.

Playing on Senior Night and unveiling their state title banner from last season, the Hurricanes buried eight three-balls en route to a 62-17 win over the visiting Wolves.

The loss drops Coupeville to 1-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-8 overall.

The game caps a brutal stretch of three-straight road games against championship contenders, coming on the heels of contests against MVC’s fellow state powers, Neah Bay and La Conner.

While Coupeville hits the bus one more time to kick off next week, that trip will to be to Concrete Tuesday, to face a 1-12 Lion team.

Not the same thing, you would assume.

Facing off with MVC, the Wolves did stay scrappy in the first quarter, just like the first time these two squads played.

Lyla Stuurmans hit a driving layup, off a feed from Maddie Georges, to knot the game at 2-2, and the Wolves were still within 8-3 in the final moments of the first quarter.

Unfortunately for Megan Richter’s team, that was where the Hurricanes began to assert their dominance, both in the paint and from behind the arc.

MVC closed the opening frame with a three-ball, then broke the game open with a 15-0 surge in the second quarter, a run which featured one layup after another.

Georges popped a three-ball to stop the bleeding for a moment, with Lhamon rolling through the paint shortly after for a layup of her own, but the game slipped away fast.

The Hurricanes closed the half with a 12-2 tear, raining down four three-balls in a row, the final one beating the buzzer by .00001 of a second.

MVC kept its magic alive in the third, again nailing a buzzer-beating trey, this one pushing the lead out to 40 points and setting off a running clock across the final eight minutes.

Coupeville played aggressively on defense to the end, with Stuurmans collecting a block, but was only able to score on back-to-back possessions once in the game.

Ryanne Knoblich paced the Wolves with a team-high six points, with Georges (5), Stuurmans (3), Lhamon (2), and Gwen Gustafson (1) also scoring.

Alita Blouin, Mia Farris, Katie Marti, Jada Heaton, and Skylar Parker also saw floor time for CHS, with Marti bouncing off said floor 9,271 times while doing her best to slow down Mount Vernon’s imposing post players.

Katie Marti eyeballs the defense. (Delanie Lewis photo)

In a side note, Georges, a senior point guard, passed one of Coupeville’s coaches on the all-time scoring chart Friday night.

Now sitting with 321 points, she nudges past Wolf assistant Mia Littlejohn (317), and is tied with Marie Grasser at #34 all-time for a program launched in 1974.

For you youngsters out there, Marie Grasser — the first true CHS girls’ basketball star — is known as Mrs. Bagby these days, the same Mrs. Bagby who you used to see every day in the school office.

The more you know.

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