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Posts Tagged ‘Orcas Island’

Coupeville rivals stumble at state

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , on February 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The Orcas Island girls were one of three Northwest 2B/1B League basketball teams eliminated from the state tourney this weekend. (Jackie Saia photo)

The Hurricanes are our only hope.

Five Northwest 2B/1B League basketball teams advanced to the state tourney, but four lost their openers this weekend, with three eliminated.

Girls’ squads from La Conner, Orcas Island, and Concrete all went one and done, leaving just the Mount Vernon Christian girls and boys alive and able to advance to Spokane.

Those MVC girls, seeded #8 in 2B, actually lost their state opener, falling 62-34 to top-ranked Napavine, but were guaranteed at least two games by being a top-8 team.

The Hurricanes will square up with #9 Davenport Mar. 4 in a loser-out game at Numerica Veterans Arena in Spokane.

The only NWL win this weekend came courtesy the #11 MVC boys, who upended #14 Kittitas 66-47 to advance to a loser-out game in Spokane Mar. 4 against #3 Okanogan.

For the other three teams from Coupeville’s conference, it was a short run at state.

In 1B, Concrete got whacked 64-37 by Taholah, while in 2B La Conner fell 50-40 to Raymond-South Bend and Orcas Island was washed away 66-42 by Lake Roosevelt.

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“We made them work for that win”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on February 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Capri Anter (30) and Adeline Maynes are part of a pack of talented younger hoops players who can return next season. (Jackie Saia photo)

“It was an absolute dog fight for 36 minutes!”

Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball coach Scout Smith had an up close and personal view of Tuesday’s playoff rumble between her Wolves and host Orcas Island.

And she witnessed a wild one, with both teams dropping daggers and pulling miracles out of thin air before the Vikings finally escaped with a 50-48 overtime win.

While the loss drops Coupeville to 5-15 and eliminates them from the District 1/2 playoffs a game shy of vying for a state tourney berth, Smith glowed with pride afterwards.

“It’s never fun to lose, but we can walk away from the game with our heads held high,” she said. “I am very proud of the way our team played and fought hard throughout the game.

“Each one left everything they had out on the court tonight.

“Credit to Orcas Island. They played a good game, and we made them work for that win.”

Coupeville’s win/loss record has been deceptive all season, with a young team coming very close to flipping the script in numerous narrow losses.

The Wolves squared off with the Vikings three times this season, and the margin of defeat in those games? Three, two, and two points.

Tuesday’s tilt opened in favor of CHS, which pulled out to an early 10-6 lead, with four different players hitting the bottom of the net — but not the one who would eventually lead the team in scoring.

A big three-ball from Teagan Calkins, setup by a rebound and pass from defensive dynamo Arianna Cunningham, was the main dagger, but then things took a big swerve.

As in the Wolves plunged off a cliff for a bit.

Orcas closed the first quarter with a bucket, then went off on a 14-1 surge in the second frame, momentarily making it look like this might be a blowout, and not in a good way.

Never fear, as Danica Strong wasn’t going out like that.

The Coupeville senior had spent the first half doing the dirty work, ripping down rebounds and swatting one wayward Orcas shot into the cheap seats, but after the halftime break, she came out ready to rain down pain.

Scoring all 15 of her points across the second half and overtime, Strong started tossing haymakers, and the Vikings got staggered.

The Wolves got back to within 26-24 midway through the third quarter but made their biggest moves in the fourth.

Back-to-back breakaway buckets off of steals by Haylee Armstrong and Tenley Stuurmans forced a 31-31 tie, before Strong powered her way through the paint to give the Wolves their first lead in a long time at 35-34.

With the clock ticking down, the teams exchanged buckets, with Orcas reclaiming the lead at the very end.

Cue an ice water in her veins moment from Armstrong, who knocked down a free throw with 13.9 seconds to play to knot things at 40-40, before CHS made one final defensive stand to force extra time.

Neither team was ready to go down easy in the four-minute overtime frame, with Strong netting a pair of free throws, Orcas surging ahead 45-42, then Strong nailing a game-tying trey from the right side.

The Vikings slipped back ahead on a pair of charity shots, before things got really dramatic.

Armstrong popped a three-ball on the move to stake Coupeville to a 48-47 lead, only to have Orcas gunner Sofia Mahony-Jauregui answer with a long-range rainbow of her own with under 30 seconds to play to set the final score.

Coming out victorious, the Vikings advance to play Friday Harbor Thursday in Mount Vernon in a winner-to-state, loser-out game, while the Wolves will turn their eyes to the future, when they can return eight of the 10 players from this year’s roster.

“We look forward to next season and bringing back so many young and talented players,” Smith said.

“We will definitely miss our seniors Danica and Teagan, but we are extremely grateful for their contributions to our program.”

Strong capped her run as a Wolf hoops star with a team-high 15 points, while Stuurmans, just a sophomore, banked in 14 in support.

Armstrong (8), Calkins (5), Cunningham (3), and Maynes (3) also scored, with Kennedy O’Neill and Lexis Drake seeing floor time.

As she exits, Calkins notches one final personal milestone, becoming the 26th Wolf girl to score 400 career points for a program launched in 1974.

“The Red Dragon” finishes with 402 points, while Armstrong, a junior, also hit a major mark. With 305 points and counting, she is the 39th CHS female player to crack the 300-point club.

Armstrong, who entered the season with 98 points to her credit, tallied a team-high 207 this season, the most any Wolf girl has scored across a single campaign in the last decade.

She and current JV coach Alita Blouin, who racked up 204 points during the 2022-2023 season, are the only 200+ female single-season scorers since Makana Stone nuked the nets for 427 points in 2015-2016.

 

Final season scoring stats:

Haylee Armstrong – 207
Tenley Stuurmans – 171
Teagan Calkins – 160
Danica Strong – 97
Arianna Cunningham – 53
Adeline Maynes – 47
Kennedy O’Neill – 44
Capri Anter – 8
Lexis Drake – 8
Sydney Van Dyke – 8

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Playoff loss brings season to a close

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on February 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Camden Glover had a very-strong senior season and was a scoring threat both in the paint and behind the three-point arc. (Julie Wheat photo)

It’s hard to fight from behind all night.

That well-worn bit of wisdom bit the Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad hard Tuesday night, as the Wolves were eliminated from the District 1/2 playoffs with a 59-45 loss on Orcas Island.

The defeat drops CHS to 7-13, and Brad Sherman’s road warriors lose five players, including four starters, to graduation.

Wolf seniors Camden Glover, Aiden O’Neill, Easton Green, Chase Anderson, and Malachi Somes reached the end of their run, with Anderson hunched on the end of the bench in the final quarter, an ice bag clamped on his wrist.

Tuesday’s score is a bit deceptive.

Throw out the second quarter, and it’s a one-bucket game.

But they don’t let you do that, so a 21-9 Orcas surge across an eight-minute span proved fatal for a scrappy Wolf pack which was otherwise right there with the Vikings.

Coupeville’s one, and only lead, came at 2-0, as the Wolves broke the press right off the top and fed the ball to Somes for a quick layup.

But things got more difficult after that, with Orcas bolting out to a 10-4 lead and never letting the visitors get fully back into the game.

A sweet jumper in the paint off the fingertips of Davin Houston and a three-ball from O’Neill — set up by a nice kick-out by Carson Grove — pulled Coupeville to within 10-9 at the first break, but then things took a fatal turn.

The Wolves ended up beating Orcas 8-4 in the three-ball shoot-off, but the Vikings hit two daggers from long distance early in the second quarter to bust things wide open with a 12-0 run to start the second frame.

Anderson singed the nets on a three-ball to finally stop the bleeding, but the Vikings pulled off back-to-back three-point plays the hard way to carry a 31-18 lead in at the half.

O’Neill knocked down one of his four treys to kick off the third, getting the deficit back down to 10, but it wasn’t to be, as Orcas responded with a 9-0 run to stretch things back out to 40-21.

From there, the Wolves dug down deep, even after losing Anderson, who hit the floor hard late in the third, and fought all the way until the final buzzer.

The two teams finished in a 16-16 deadlock across the third quarter, with Orcas only taking the fourth by a razor-thin 12-11 margin.

Houston, a springy ball of energy who will be Coupeville’s leading active scorer headed into next season, finished his junior campaign strongly, pumping in a pair of three-balls and a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter.

O’Neill paced the Wolves with a team-high 14, with Houston and Anderson each rattling the rim for 10 points in support.

Somes (6), Glover (3), and Green (2) also scored, with Liam Blas, Riley Lawless, and Grove rounding out the rotation.

Before exiting, Anderson reached one final personal milestone, passing ’70s icon Bill Riley (934 points) to move into 7th place all-time on the CHS boys’ career scoring chart for a program in its 109th season.

He finishes with back-to-back seasons of 300+ points and tallied 943 across four seasons of varsity ball.

 

Final season scoring stats:

Chase Anderson – 344
Camden Glover – 236
Davin Houston – 118
Aiden O’Neill – 118
Malachi Somes – 68
Carson Grove – 32
Riley Lawless – 27
Easton Green – 23
Liam Blas – 16
Mahkai Myles – 12
Sage Arends – 10

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Central Whidbey youth soccer options expand

Posted in soccer, tagged , , , on January 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Soccer is exploding on The Rock.

For Coupeville players, the Central Whidbey Soccer Club is once again the hub for action, with registration for the spring season going on now.

The club plans to build teams from U6 to U19, with several new options added.

After previously running U15 as co-ed, CWSC is offering separate girls and boys divisions this time around, with the goal of “rebuilding and growing girls’ participation.”

Soccer organizations based out of both North and South Whidbey are doing the same as well, to help build female interest in the sport.

Central Whidbey is also adding a U19 co-ed program to the spring, with games set for Sunday, allowing high school athletes a chance to play soccer without encroaching on their school sports seasons.

The move is helped by Orcas Island returning to join Whidbey teams, allowing for more games.

For all the answers to your soccer-related questions and to register your players, pop over to:

https://www.centralwhidbeysoccer.com/

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Wolves, Vikings battle to final shot

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Haylee Armstrong comes bearing gifts. (Jackie Saia photo)

Tantalizingly close.

A missed free throw here, a miracle buzzer-beating three-ball there, and the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team narrowly missed out on what would have been a crowd-pleasing upset victory Friday night.

Instead, it was visiting Orcas Island which got to celebrate, as the Vikings found just enough magic at the right moments to claim a 37-35 victory.

The loss, which came despite some inspired play from the Wolves, drops CHS to 1-6 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-11 overall.

Coupeville slips a game-and-a-half behind Friday Harbor (2-4) in the hunt for the final playoff berth for 2B schools in the NWL, but there is still time to change things.

Friday Harbor has four games remaining on its schedule, while the Wolves have three — with the regular-season finale Feb. 6 a showdown between the teams.

Scout Smith’s squad fought back from an early deficit Friday and seemed to have the Vikings on the ropes several times.

Down 7-0 barely a minute into the game, the Wolves pulled back to within 11-6 by the end of the first quarter, with the biggest bucket a Haylee Armstrong three-ball coming off of a steal.

That seemed to spark Coupeville, which held Orcas scoreless for the first seven minutes of the second frame, pulling out to a 14-11 advantage.

Tenley Stuurmans keyed the surge, dishing the ball to Kennedy O’Neill for a layup, before circling around outside to net a silky three-ball set up by a pass from Adeline Maynes.

Orcas proved to be tough to put down for good, however, as the visitors converted back-to-back offensive rebound putbacks to force a 15-15 tie at the half.

The third quarter was a tense affair, with both teams holding the lead, and neither squad able to land a true knockout punch.

Teagan Calkins opened the frame by burying a three-ball from deep on the right side of the floor, but Orcas stung late by banking in a nearly impossible trey literally at the buzzer to pull ahead 26-24.

With the gym getting progressively louder, every play in the fourth quarter seemed to carry considerable weight, and the Wolves rose to the moment.

Down 30-24, Coupeville put together a 10-0 surge that saw four different hometown heroes score.

A free throw from Calkins started things off, with Danica Strong hitting a dagger of a jumper on a play kept alive by Arianna Cunningham outwrestling a foe for an offensive rebound.

From there, a Calkins jumper, a Cunningham layup under great duress, and a high, arcing three-ball off the fingertips of Armstrong helped build a 34-30 lead and potentially set the stage for a celebration.

Which came, but at the wrong end of the floor.

With its back to the wall, Orcas came up big time, closing the game on a 7-1 run, while Coupeville’s final offensive chance came up just short, the ball squirting away during a final-second melee.

While the loss stings, the closeness of the battle once again demonstrates that the win/loss record is a bit deceptive for a feisty Wolf squad which fears no opponent.

Armstrong led Coupeville with 11 points, while Calkins banked in 10 and Stuurmans rattled the rim for six. Maynes, Cunningham, Strong, and O’Neill all chipped in with a bucket as all seven Wolves who played Friday scored.

With her performance, Armstrong, a junior, cracks the 250-point club, becoming the 48th CHS girl to do so between 1974-2026.

With 258 points and counting, she sits #46 all-time and second among active players, with Calkins, a senior, currently at #28 with 370 points.

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