Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Northwest League’

“I’m so proud of this group”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on June 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Maddie Georges and Coupeville romped to a big win Tuesday in their season finale. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The future is now.

With its two 8th graders playing visiting Darrington almost to a standstill by themselves Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity girls basketball squad closed its season with a bang.

Running the Loggers off the floor to the tune of 54-18, the Wolves finished 5-7 during a pandemic-shortened campaign.

After back-to-back somewhat unexpected losses to Friday Harbor and Concrete, Tuesday’s romp sends Coupeville into summer break on a positive note.

“We needed this!,” said CHS coach Scott Fox. “It was a great way to end the season on a high note, and I’m so proud of this group of girls.”

Playing without any seniors on their roster, the Wolves can return all 12 players next season.

That includes two young women — Savina Wells and Lyla Stuurmans — who just graduated from middle school and still have four full seasons of high school hoops action ahead of them.

The 8th graders combined for 16 points Tuesday, with the springy Stuurmans, a defensive demon when unleashed, rumbling for a varsity career-high 10.

Everything was working for Coupeville, with junior Audrianna Shaw, who finished as the team’s top scorer this season, slapping home a pair of layups to start the night off.

Darrington dropped in a three-ball from the top of the arc to cut the lead to 4-3, and then any hopes the Loggers might have had promptly went out the door.

Savina Wells went barreling in for a layup, her long legs carrying her well ahead of the pack, and the ball arriving on her fingertips thanks to an extra-crisp pass from Stuurmans.

That kicked off a 17-0 run, with Coupeville carrying a 21-3 lead into the first break.

Six different Wolves scored during the game-busting tear, with Maddie Georges pumping in three straight buckets at one point.

The sophomore floor leader converted a steal into a breakaway layup, then came back around for a pair of pull-up jumpers, tickling the twines as big brother Alex Evans — from his perch on the bench as a CHS assistant coach — pumped both fists into the air.

CHS was rippling the net from outside, and using the glass to knock down buckets in the paint as well.

Ja’Kenya Hoskins, grabbing every rebound within a three-mile radius, capped the first quarter tear with a pretty, pretty bucket on a strong roll to the hoop.

There was plenty more where that came from, with Coupeville using an 11-0 tear in the second quarter to push the halftime margin out to 32-9.

This time around, it was Anya Leavell going off for six points on a variety of moves, while Savina Wells banked in a three-ball, after probably calling “glass.”

The biggest bucket likely came from the ever-scrappy Morgan Stevens, who dropped in a little jumper in the paint to record her first-ever varsity points.

With the basket, Stevens joins an elite group, becoming the 234th Wolf girl to score at the varsity level since the program began in 1974.

Darrington’s misery grew in the third quarter, with Stuurmans and Hoskins fueling a 16-2 run to the delight of Wolf fans.

Give the Loggers credit, as they refused to let Coupeville get all the way out to a 40-point lead and initiate a running clock.

Scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter, Darrington cut a 37-point deficit down to 30, assuring the two teams would get a chance to play out the finale in its full glory.

And Coupeville closed strongly, with Stuurmans, Gwen Gustafson, and Ryanne Knoblich hitting on back-to-back-to-back buckets to cap the season.

Eleven Wolves scored, with the lone exception being Izzy Wells, who spent her time setting up others with crisp passes, hauling down rebounds, and being the ever-serene soul of the squad.

Georges and Hoskins finished with eight points apiece in support of Stuurmans and her 10-point coming-out party, while Leavell, Shaw, and Savina Wells peppered the scoreboard for six each.

Carolyn Lhamon (3), Gustafson (2), Stevens (2), Knoblich (2), and Kylie Van Velkinburgh (1) filled out the attack.

 

Final season scoring stats:

Audrianna Shaw – 82
Savina Wells – 59
Izzy Wells – 56
Maddie Georges – 38
Carolyn Lhamon – 32
Anya Leavell – 29
Ja’Kenya Hoskins – 27
Lyla Stuurmans – 23
Gwen Gustafson – 17
Ryanne Knoblich – 17
Kylie Van Velkinburgh – 15
Morgan Stevens – 2

Read Full Post »

The end is near

Posted in Basketball, standings, tagged , , , , on June 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Sage Downes battles in the paint. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

One night, two titles on the line.

Tuesday marks the end of the transplanted 2021 basketball season, and both Northwest 2B/1B League titles will be decided on the floor in Mount Vernon.

First up, the La Conner girls will try and finish out an undefeated league campaign, while Mount Vernon Christian will vie for the upset.

The first time these squads faced off, the Braves bounced the Hurricanes 58-33, giving MVC its only loss of the season.

La Conner has impressive non-conference wins against 1A Kings and 2A Lynden, with its lone setback coming to 2A Burlington-Edison.

The math is simple — Tuesday’s winner is league champ.

In the boys contest, MVC will be playing for a title, while La Conner will try and fill the role of spoiler.

Hurricanes win, they top an extremely-close race partially determined by only two of seven NWL schools — Coupeville and Concrete — playing a full 12-game league schedule.

If La Conner triumphs, however, Friday Harbor comes out on top for the boys title.

With their own win Tuesday over visiting Darrington, Coupeville can finish with victories in two-thirds of its games, but it can’t win a league title.

A one-point loss in overtime to Friday Harbor denied the Wolves that fate, but a win against Concrete in their next game did clinch the program’s first winning season since 2010.

Where things stand through June 13:

 

Northwest League boys basketball:

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

 

Northwest League girls basketball:

School League Overall
La Conner 8-0 11-1
MV Christian 9-1 11-1
Orcas Island 5-3 5-4
Coupeville 4-7 4-7
Concrete 4-8 5-8
Friday Harbor 3-7 3-7
Darrington 0-7 0-7

Read Full Post »

Night of triumph, year of success

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on June 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Grady Rickner tossed in a team-high 12 points Thursday as Coupeville clobbered Concrete, clinching its first winning boys basketball season in more than a decade. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

One part of the mission, accomplished.

Laying waste to winless Concrete on the road Thursday, the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball squad clinched its first winning season in more than a decade.

With the 64-14 rout of the Lions, the Wolves improve to 7-4 and head home for their season finale next Tuesday, June 15 against Darrington.

That night, they’ll honor seniors Daniel Olson, TJ Rickner, and Sage Downes, then try to close a pandemic-altered season with one final big win.

The last time the CHS varsity boys hoops program posted a winning record was the 2009-2010 season, when the Wolves went 16-5 in the next-to-last season of Randy King’s 20-year run as head coach.

Thursday’s tilt was a gut-check for Coupeville, coming off a heartbreaking one-point loss in overtime to Friday Harbor Tuesday, a defeat which ended Wolf hopes of winning the Northwest 2B/1B League title.

How would CHS respond, facing a rebuilding Concrete squad which went into its finale carrying an 0-11 record?

The answer? Pretty dang well.

CHS coach Brad Sherman, the #2 scorer on the last Wolf boys team to win a league title in 2002, got floor time for all 12 guys in uniform Thursday, with 10 of them scoring.

The lone Wolf not to see action was sophomore sparkplug Alex Murdy, out with an injury.

Much like the first time these two squads faced off, Coupeville jumped on the Lions quickly, built a substantial lead by halftime, then gave its bench a chance to rack up major minutes after the break.

Up 24-4 after one quarter, with Hawthorne Wolfe, Logan Downes, and Grady Rickner each tossing in six points, CHS pushed the margin to 48-8 with an almost mirror-image second frame.

From there, a running clock ended things quickly, with all of the scoring coming from the Wolf bench.

Sage Downes was a force on both ends of the floor.

Junior captain Grady Rickner finished with a game-high 12 points, while Coupeville’s top two scorers this season — Wolfe and Xavier Murdy — did more passing than shooting en route to a combined 10 points.

Seven of those came from Hawk, and all in the very early going, as he eased into another milestone in his journey up the CHS boys career scoring chart.

Wolfe’s last point of the night, coming off of a free throw in the second quarter, gives him 650 points and counting.

He’s #27 all-time heading into the finale of his shortened junior season, a mere 10 points away from hurdling Jason McFadyen (654), Wade Ellsworth (659), and Pat Bennett (659) on a list which covers 104 seasons.

Two current sharpshooters — Sage Downes and Jonathan Valenzuela — popped for eight points apiece Thursday, with Olson and Wolfe banking in seven each.

Freshman Logan Downes lets it fly.

Logan Downes (5), Cody Roberts (4), TJ Rickner (4), Miles Davidson (4), Xavier Murdy (3), and Logan Martin (2) also scored, with Cole White contributing on defense.

Davidson, who has been sidelined by a football injury for much of the season, made his debut, while becoming the 401st CHS boy I’ve been able to document scoring in a varsity hoops game.

Read Full Post »

Thriller town, heartbreak city

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

Coupeville senior Daniel Olson, seen here in an earlier game, was a wrecking ball on defense Tuesday in an OT thriller. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It has been a nightly trip to the Thunderdome.

In a year when tickets are free — if you can get them — almost every varsity boys basketball game played by Northwest 2B/1B League schools has been a brawl decided at the buzzer.

While La Conner crushes almost every girls team in sight, six of seven NWL boys teams, including Coupeville, are leaving it out there on the floor like Hagler and Hearns whaling on each other on ESPN Classic.

Look it up, you young whippersnappers…

Tuesday’s titanic tilt between the Wolves and visiting Friday Harbor was a prime example, if a bittersweet one.

Shooting itself in the foot with 14 missed free throws and a late technical foul for yapping at the refs, Coupeville fell 63-62 in overtime, and slips out of first-place, at least for the moment.

The Wolves, who had a four-game winning streak snapped, fall to 6-4 with games against Concrete (0-10) and Darrington (2-4) left to play.

Win at least one of those and Coupeville clinches its first winning boys basketball season since 2010.

With the victory, its second one-point triumph over the Wolves in a three-week stretch, Friday Harbor moves into a tie with Mount Vernon Christian at 6-3 in NWL play.

Coupeville’s record is deceptive, with three of four losses being decided by two points or less.

The other defeat, an early-season stumble against Orcas Island, was the result of one bad quarter in a game the Wolves otherwise dominated.

Tuesday’s rumble, while it ended without the result desired by Coupeville, was a thing of fiery beauty, with two incredibly evenly-matched squads trading big blows from start to finish.

Friday Harbor jumped out to an early 12-7 lead, before the Wolves closed the opening quarter with a 7-0 run.

Sage Downes, twirling in the paint, lofted a mini sky-hook which banked in off the glass, before Hawthorne Wolfe flipped the nets skyward with a three-ball from the left side.

Toss in a rebound put-back from Grady Rickner, and Coupeville exited the first quarter up 14-12 and feeling pretty good about things.

The second quarter was a straight-up rumble, with Daniel Olson and TJ Rickner bringing defensive heat, using their long arms to snuff out Friday Harbor shots with resounding blocks.

Wolf freshman Logan Downes, getting increased playing time with defensive ball of energy Alex Murdy sidelined with an injury, stepped into the offensive spotlight with a roar.

Making off with a steal, he beat the pack to the other end for a layup, then came back around to drop his own three-ball.

While Friday Harbor pulled back in front at 28-26 at the half, before stretching the margin to 34-28 early in the third quarter, the Wolves were snapping at the visitor’s heels.

Two free throws from Xavier Murdy lit the fuse on a 9-0 CHS run, with Wolfe delivering the dagger on a high-risk, high-reward play.

Trying to slice past his man, the CHS gunner slipped on a wet spot on the floor, but recovered like a dancer springing into the air.

Never losing control of his dribble, Wolfe popped up, launching (and hitting) a three-ball which went up on a prayer and hit nothing but net.

That sent Coupeville to the bench with a 39-36 lead after three quarters, and set up a final frame with six lead changes and three ties.

Wolfe and Logan Downes both rattled home three-balls in the fourth — with Hawk launching his shot from somewhere down around the Clinton ferry — while Xavier Murdy got three the hard way.

Shooting up the gut, X-Man hung in the air, waited for his defender to commit, then wiggled around him and knocked down a runner, followed by the free throw he earned for getting whacked around the ears.

Murdy’s uncle, Allen Black, who once torched Concrete for 39 points during his own days of wearing Coupeville’s red and black, nodded and let slip the smallest of smiles.

A seismic moment, for one and all.

Coupeville claimed its biggest lead at 55-51 after Wolfe flipped a pair of free throws through the twines with 1:23 to play, but then he and his team went scoreless the rest of regulation.

Friday Harbor couldn’t hit a field goal either, but Dylan Roberson, who bedeviled CHS all night, did knock down four consecutive free throws in the waning moments.

With the ball in its hands, and a chance to run the game clock down to almost 0:00 before shooting, Coupeville launched the final shot in regulation, but it refused to stay in the basket.

The ensuing rebound did skip nice and high however, preventing Friday Harbor from getting off its own shot, sending the game to overtime.

And those four minutes were a whirlwind of tension and terror, with six lead changes.

Olson knocked down a short shot off an inbounds play, then netted a free throw on a later play to stake Coupeville to a 58-55 lead, only for Friday Harbor to respond in kind.

With the visitors clamping down on Hawk and X-Man, supporting players Logan Martin and Grady Rickner stepped up big time.

Martin popped a jumper from the side to push CHS up 60-59, while Rickner was flawless on two free throws with 14.7 seconds to play to reclaim the lead at 62-61.

But, in a season when the wins have been epic, and the losses even more so, Coupeville was denied another chance for its students to storm the court.

Friday Harbor scored again, forcing its way into the paint for an in-close bucket with 3.7 seconds left, before Martin’s potential game-winner at the buzzer slid just wide.

While both teams hit 17 free throws, the visitors were 17-21, including 1-2 on a fourth-quarter technical foul when Coupeville was clinging to a one-point lead.

CHS was 17-31 at the charity stripe, winning the battle to get to the line, but leaving far more points off the board than their foe once there.

Wolfe paced Coupeville with a team-high 18 points, continuing his historic run up the boys hoops career scoring chart.

With 643 points and counting, the CHS junior passed Wiley Hesselgrave (632), Kramer O’Keefe (636), and Rich Morris (637) Tuesday, and now sits #27 all-time on a list which covers 104 seasons.

Logan Downes pumped in 10, while Sage Downes netted nine, Grady Rickner knocked down eight, and Xavier Murdy collected seven.

Olson (6) and Martin (4) also scored, with TJ Rickner playing strongly on defense.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »