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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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“I am eager to play them again”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on May 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Xavier Murdy was a wild man on both ends of the floor Thursday as Coupeville battled Orcas Island. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

You love to see it.

Xavier Murdy scrambling to get back and draw a charging foul when the game was already lost.

Murdy, fighting his way through three rivals to haul in one of his 14 rebounds, again long after the game was decided.

Hawthorne Wolfe, coming off a 20-point performance but not happy with the end result, keeping the lights on in the gym long after the game, putting up shot after shot, only occasionally stopping to argue with the machine feeding him the ball.

It would have been easy for the Coupeville High School varsity boys basketball players to have hung their heads Thursday after falling 70-53 to visiting Orcas Island.

That they didn’t, and that they actually carved their deficit in half by the final buzzer, are strong signs for a team which sits at 1-1 on the young season.

Swamped by a second-quarter monsoon in which the Vikings rained down 34 points while seemingly never missing a shot, the Wolves lost an early lead.

And it got worse from there, with Coupeville trailing by almost five touchdowns early in the fourth quarter, while playing a sport where you can’t get seven points back on one play.

Yet the Wolves kept fighting, closed the game on a 17-0 run, and are already circling the June 5 rematch on the calendar.

“I am eager to play them again,” said CHS coach Brad Sherman. “I think we match up very well with them.

“Teams make runs, and they certainly did today. We just have to be mentally tough and be better at stopping those runs.”

The game started with two fairly evenly-matched teams exchanging the lead as the first quarter played out.

Xavier Murdy crashed to the basket hard for a pair of buckets, Wolfe put up a quick seven points on a variety of moves, and X-Man’s younger brother capped things off.

Slashing through the backpedaling defense, Alex Murdy skipped a layup off the glass right before the buzzer to stake Coupeville to a 17-15 lead at the first break.

There were no fans in the stands to get the joint rockin’, but the Wolves, bouncing and barking enthusiastically at each other, made up for it.

And they were right there, at 20-20, after Wolfe hit a runner while hanging in the air long after his defender had retreated to the surly bonds of Earth.

But then the bottom fell out.

The bottom of the net Orcas was shooting at, to be precise, as the Vikings locked on and unloaded, with a 29-5 run to close the second quarter horrifying in its precision.

Everything was going in for the visitors, whether it be long bombs (they outshot Coupeville 10-2 on three-balls, 5-0 in the first half), offensive rebounds put back up and in, or pull-up jumpers on the move.

The exact opposite was happening for Coupeville, as shot after shot rolled around the rim, took a weird last-second skip, or simply popped back up and out.

Other than a couple of free throws, the only Wolf bucket in the last six minutes of the half came on a roll to the hoop by freshman Logan Downes.

Trailing 49-25 at the break, Coupeville got back into a partial groove in the third, then finished strongly in the fourth.

“I love how our guys responded in the second half,” Sherman said. “Certainly, give a lot of credit to Orcas and how they shot the ball, but we never gave in.

“Having things like Xavier crashing the offensive boards hard down 25 is a very positive sign.”

X-Man got his JV counterparts in the stands to get rowdy when he elevated down deep and rejected an Orcas shot, while the Downes brothers hooked up for a nice scoring play.

Sage, a senior, corralled a loose ball, then flipped a pass to Logan, a freshman, who crashed through the defense for a layup in a game in which both brothers scored their first varsity points, uniting them with older brother Hunter on the career scoring chart.

It was a good game to become a made man, as TJ Rickner and Cody Roberts joined Downes brothers #2 and #3, also notching the first varsity points of their prep career.

The tenth and final Orcas trey, very early in the final frame, pushed the margin out to 70-36, but then the Wolves clamped down on both ends of the floor.

Forcing turnovers and hitting the boards with abandon, Coupeville closed with intensity and passion, and another Downes-to-Downes basket.

This time, the assist went to Logan, and the bucket to Sage, proving the duo can share and share alike.

Wolfe finished with a team-high 20 points, but Orcas countered with a nasty one-two combo of Tomas Holmes and Diego Lago, who went for 37 and 20, respectively, while combining to hit all 10 Vikings three-balls.

Logan Downes and Grady Rickner each banked home seven points for the Wolves, with Xavier Murdy (5), Sage Downes (4), and Alex Murdy (3) chipping in to the effort.

Roberts (2), Daniel Olson (2), Logan Martin (2), and TJ Rickner (1) also scored, while freshman Cole White played aggressive defense.

Coupeville gets a chance to bounce right back, traveling to Friday Harbor for a Saturday afternoon rumble between two 1-1 teams.

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Some history, a whole lot of fight

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on May 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Savina Wells became the first 8th grade girl to score in a CHS varsity basketball game Thursday, and ended the night as her team’s top scorer. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

No fans, but plenty of history.

Savina Wells, playing alongside big sis Izzy, achieved at least three things Thursday no Coupeville 8th grade girl has ever done on a basketball court.

Playing a key role as the Wolf hoops squad fell 41-38 to visiting Orcas Island in an empty-gym thriller, the younger Wells became the 231st Wolf girl to score in a CHS varsity basketball game since the program launched in 1974.

More importantly in terms of history, she became the first to do so while still in middle school, in a game in which she both started and led her team in scoring with eight points.

Which already puts Savina Wells, active middle schooler, in an eight-way tie for #190 on the CHS girls varsity career scoring chart.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as chart topper Brianne King — with 1,549 career points — is still feeling pretty comfortable atop her perch tonight.

In between the history, Thursday’s rumble with Orcas Island, which was played with no fans per a request from the visitors, was a back-and-forth affair in which Coupeville’s young players almost pulled off a great win.

Of the nine Wolves to see the floor, four were sophomores, four were juniors, and Savina Wells … well, you heard.

Coupeville was missing two of its veterans, with juniors Anya Leavell and Ja’Kenya Hoskins sidelined, but it got big efforts from everyone in uniform.

“We’re very young, but have great potential,” said Wolf coach Scott Fox. “We’ll have some growing pains and we’re learning as we go. A few breaks here and there and we get the win today.

“I’m very proud of the kid’s effort,” he added. “Izzy was a monster on the boards, and Audri (Shaw) and Maddie (Georges) got our defense really going.”

Trailing by seven headed into the fourth quarter, the Wolves put some snap into their game, and came within one semi-questionable call of having a chance to win the game at the buzzer.

Georges drilled a three-ball to open the quarter, off of a rebound and feed from fellow sophomore Gwen Gustafson, only to see Orcas respond with back-to-back buckets.

Shrugging it off, the Wolves closed with a 10-3 run in which five different players scored for Coupeville.

Savina Wells got it started, taking the ball off a press break and swooping to the hoop for a running layup.

Big sis Izzy slapped home a second-chance bucket off of an offensive rebound, followed by a sweet lil’ jumper in traffic from Kylie Van Velkinburgh, and suddenly Orcas was sweating.

Shaw bolted up the middle, sucked the defense to her, then sliced around a defender and scooped the ball high off the glass, while Carolyn Lhamon, who was a two-way warrior all day, stepped up and drilled the bottom out of the net.

Orcas had answers, though, and a pull-up jumper with 30 ticks to play kept them up one.

Coming hard on defense, all five Wolves crashing, arms flying every which way, Coupeville got the break it needed, then had it yanked away.

The ball popped loose in the middle of a mad scrum, with Izzy Wells gaining control.

But, as she did, a pile of players plowed into her body, causing her to lurch maybe a half of a step.

Instead of calling a foul, or letting the play run its natural course, the refs of the day opted to call a traveling violation on Coupeville.

Which would have elicited some howls of protest if there were fans in the stands.

I considered throwing my notebook at the nearest ref, but am trying to pick on refs less these days and opted not to.

But I thought about it.

Back on the floor, the possibly (I said possibly!) unfair exchange of possession allowed Orcas to dribble away a few seconds before drawing a foul.

Two free throws later — always easier to shoot when the visiting team isn’t facing a wall of sound from hyped-up local fans — CHS needed a three-ball to force overtime, and had to start on its own end-line with just two seconds left.

If the Wolves had hit that shot, this story would have long ago gone in a different direction. Which it didn’t.

But take nothing away from Coupeville, which may be 0-2, but is primed for future success.

The Wolves showed they can dominate, closing the second quarter on a 13-3 run to take a 19-14 lead into the halftime break.

That streak featured six different CHS players tallying a point or better, with Savina Wells leading the way with a pair of impressive buckets.

On the first, she took the ball, rolled hard to her left and her defender crumbled as she blew by her.

On the second, reacting like a free safety, Wells suddenly shot forward, picked off a pass in mid-air, then beat the pack to the hoop at the other end, softly kissing the ball off the glass for an elegant bucket.

The other Wolf young guns were clickin’ as well, with Gustafson slicing ‘n dicing her defender on a quick move in the paint, while Georges savagely stole a ball, then flipped a note-perfect pass to a streaking Shaw for a layup.

The third quarter was a bit rough for Coupeville, but the Wolves did have one stellar play, on which a Georges pass hit Lhamon’s fingertips, and was redirected to Izzy Wells for a bucket.

Seven of the nine Wolves to play scored, with Savina Wells (8), Lhamon (7), Georges (7), Shaw (6), and Izzy Wells (6) leading the way.

With her performance against Orcas, Georges moves within four points of becoming the 101st Wolf girl to join the 100-point scoring club.

Van Velkinburgh and Gustafson rounded out the scoring attack, with a bucket apiece, Ryanne Knoblich and Morgan Stevens played scrappy defense, and 8th grader Lyla Stuurmans rocked the joint while cheering on her teammates.

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(Truly) young guns hang tough in opener

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on May 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville 8th grader Madison McMillan, playing on the high school JV team, led her squad in scoring in their season opener. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Say hello to the next generation, early.

Unlike a lot of other Northwest 2B/1B League schools, Coupeville High School is fielding two girls basketball squads this season.

With program numbers down, the Wolves salvaged their JV team by allowing 8th graders to play high school ball, and more than half the girls in uniform Thursday were middle school students by day, high school hoops hotshots by night.

And the (truly) young guns held up well, accounting for two-thirds of their team’s points in a closer-than-it-sounds 35-24 loss to visiting Orcas Island.

Coupeville was within a point through the first two quarters, and trailed by just three heading into the fourth, but that final frame stung, with the older Vikings closing on a 12-4 tear.

Coaching her team in a game for the first time in 15 months, Wolf JV hoops guru Megan Smith was realistic with her expectations, and pleased with much of what she saw.

“We had some really good moments of greatness and some of not so much,” she said. “We are super young with not a lot of players that have experience, and that’s okay, we just have some more work to do is all.

“It was good to see them out on the court and actually playing the game!”

With true high schooler Jessenia Camarena leading the way in the early going, the Wolves trailed just 8-7 after one quarter and 16-15 at the halftime break.

Masks in place and no fans in the gym, per Orcas School District request, Coupeville hung tough, exiting the third quarter down just 23-20.

Madison McMillan paced the Wolves with a team-high eight points in her high school hoops debut, while Camarena banged home seven, Lyla Stuurmans knocked down six, Katie Marti flipped in a bucket, and Morgan Stevens swished a free throw.

McMillan, Stuurmans, and Marti, along with fellow Wolf hoopsters Pamela Morrell, Bryley Gilbert, and Kassidy Upchurch, are all 8th graders.

Also seeing floor time for Smith’s squad were Reese Wilkinson, Skylar Parker, and Desi Ramirez.

With Orcas Island and Friday Harbor the only other NWL teams fielding a girls JV squad this season, Coupeville’s second team will play just four games, while other Wolf teams get 10-12 contests.

One of those comes up quick, however, as CHS travels to Friday Harbor this Saturday.

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Close loss, no quit

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on May 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Dominic Coffman rattled the rims for 13 points Thursday afternoon. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Dominic Coffman is putting in the work.

The Coupeville High School sophomore dropped in 13 points, including six in the fourth quarter Thursday as the Wolf JV boys dropped a thriller 46-43 to visiting Orcas.

Then, long after the Vikings had headed back to the ferry, Coffman paced the hardwood in the big gym, firing up shots and working on his game with coach Hunter Smith.

It’s the sign of a player who hungers for wins, and bigger success, and is willing to put in extra work to get there.

Coffman and his teammates, who sit at 0-2 after the home loss, have come close in both their games this season.

In game one, a cold shooting performance in the fourth doomed the Wolves against Mount Vernon Christian.

This time out, Coupeville found its shooting touch, with Coffman and William Davidson both knocking down key buckets down the stretch, but Orcas found just a little extra.

Finishing the game with an 11-8 run across the final frame, the Vikings broke open a tie game while denying the Wolves a win in a game which was played with no fans.

The Orcas School District has requested that for all games involving its teams this school year, but if Coupeville’s players missed the roar of the crowd, they hid it well.

The Wolves jumped out to an 11-8 lead after one quarter of play, with Jonathan Valenzuela making the nets bounce for six points in the first eight minutes.

The second quarter wasn’t as kind to CHS, as Orcas used a 17-8 surge to turn its deficit into a six-point advantage at the half.

At which point the Wolves reached down deep and put together a 16-10 third quarter in which five different players slapped home points.

Valenzuela, who paced Coupeville with a game-high 14, tossed in five in the frame, with Cole White adding four.

That set up a tense finale, and, while the Wolves didn’t prevail, the building blocks for success continue to be laid.

Valenzuela (14) and Coffman (13) combined to pump in 27 of Coupeville’s 43 points, while Davidson banked home six, and White tickled the twines for four.

Mikey Robinett, Nick Guay, and Ryan Blouin rounded out the scoring attack, with each Wolf gunner banking in a bucket.

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