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Tsunami unleashed!!

Posted in Softball, tagged big win, Coupeville Elementary School, Oak Harbor, Softball, South Whidbey, Tsunami on March 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Best uniforms in the biz, and now a win for the Tsunami. (Photos courtesy Mimi Johnson)

The history-making scorecard.

“We’re going to Disneyland!!! Oh wait, we got two more games to play? Fine…”

They came. They saw. They kicked some fanny.

Whidbey Island’s U12 select softball squad, which brings together players from Coupeville, Oak Harbor and South Whidbey, hit the road Saturday and earned its first win of the season.

Playing in Tacoma, the Tsunami whacked Port Angeles 16-11, erupting for seven runs in the fourth inning to blow things open.

All ten players to see action scored for the Whidbey squad.

The Tsunami, now 1-2 on the season, returns to action with two more games Sunday before heading home.

They are coached by Coupeville’s Mimi Johnson and South Whidbey’s Trevor Jones.

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Welcome to Title Town!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor Tip-Off Classic, Makana Stone, redemption, South Whidbey on December 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone (far left) and teammates celebrate winning the Friday Harbor Tip-Off Classic. (Amy King photos)

Tiffany Briscoe (left) and Mia Littlejohn do some pre-game prep Saturday morning.

Tiffany Briscoe (left) and a deeply excited Mia Littlejohn do some pre-game prep Saturday morning.

Lauren Grove (left) and Lindsey Roberts chow down after Friday night’s win.

Da champs.

“Our locker room was rockin’ after the win. Very vocal and a well deserved celebration!”

Having accomplished their weekend goal — bring home championship hardware from the Friday Harbor Tip-Off Classic — the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad went a little bonkers in the afterglow.

And that was fine with coach David King.

“We had a great start on Friday and an even better finish on Saturday!”

Garnering a little revenge and redemption along the way, the Wolves put together a defensive clinic Saturday, holding off arch-rival South Whidbey 31-27 to win the four-team tournament.

Friday Harbor beat Overlake 52-25 to claim third-place.

With two wins in as many days at the first in-season tourney the Wolf hoops program has attended in several years, Coupeville improved to 2-1 on the still-young season.

The title game win was a nice little bit of payback, as well.

The Wolves only loss so far came on opening night to the Falcons, when a last-second shot that would have forced overtime rimmed out.

South Whidbey came in confident, but they finished flat on the mat.

“In our pregame locker room talk, we could hear the chants and South Whidbey being very vocal in their pregame,” King said. “Our approach was to come into the game focused and get the job done that we came for.

“South Whidbey has a very good team and it’s always fun to compete against them,” he added. “We knew we had to make some adjustments from Wednesday to be able to come out on top.”

The Wolves spent some time in the morning watching video from opening night, and noticed a few things that allowed them to tweak their defense.

Then Coupeville came out on fire, yet calm and controlled.

Showing superb ball movement — a trait they displayed all weekend — the Wolves jumped out to a quick 9-1 lead.

Lauren Grove dropped back-to-back buckets to kick things off, before Kailey Kellner nailed a long trey and Makana Stone drilled a sweet jumper of her own.

“Lauren has been working extremely hard on making some adjustments with her shooting,” King said. “So far, in our first two games her shot hasn’t been falling like she had hoped, but today it did.”

South Whidbey managed to get back in the game by forcing a quicker pace to the game and flustering the Wolves a bit.

While Coupeville was still clamping down on defense, the Wolves picked up a few too many fouls and the Falcons took advantage, draining 7 of 9 at the charity stripe in the first half.

The Falcons continued to make runs at CHS, but a three-ball from Mia Littlejohn and a clutch basket from Stone at the end of the third staked Coupeville to a 25-22 lead headed into the fourth.

The final quarter was a defensive war — neither team scored in the first four minutes of the fourth — with several Wolves coming through in the final moments.

Littlejohn swished a huge trey, Kellner tickled the twines for a bucket and Tiffany Briscoe dropped a pressure-packed free throw as Coupeville refused to relinquish the lead.

While the very-young Wolves struggled at times on offense, they came through when it mattered.

“We are still a work in progress on offense, still learning how to be patient and play to our tempo,” King said. “But this weekend we showed glimpses of how good we can be when we are patient.”

And when the offense wasn’t working, the defense, led by Briscoe in full-on Dennis Rodman-mode, was there to win the day.

“Tiffany isn’t the tallest post player, but the desire and hard work she brings every day is second to none,” King said. “Even though she was undersized today she played tough defense and was on the floor whenever there was a loose ball near her.

“Yes, we need to score the ball to win, but without the effort from Tiffany today we probably don’t win.”

Everyone on the floor bought in on defense, with Grove and freshman Lindsey Roberts making a real impression on their coach.

“Lauren is a ball hawk on defense,” King said. “Lindsey was another player that stepped up and played very good post defense.

“She is still learning how good she can be; we have even talked about her becoming a shut down defender,” he added. “This weekend she stepped up and gave the same type of effort Tiffany did in the post.

“It’s great to see players step up throughout the lineup and contribute.”

Stone paced the Wolves with a double-double, scoring 10 and snatching 10 rebounds. She also had five steals, five blocks and two assists.

Kellner (seven points, three rebounds, three steals), Littlejohn (six points, three steals), Grove (four points, six rebounds), Tiffany Briscoe (three points, six rebounds) and Roberts (one point, five rebounds) rounded out the stat sheet.

Kyla Briscoe and Lauren Rose also saw quality floor time in the championship game, while Friday’s surprise hero, Allison Wenzel, was an enthusiastic bench presence.

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Low on bodies, high on heart!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, Cameron Toomey-Stout, CHS Wolves, Ema Smith, South Whidbey on December 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Ariah Bepler (21) clamps down on defense. (John Fisken photo)

JV basketball is a tricky business.

Madly shuffling rosters for multiple reasons Wednesday night, Coupeville coaches Amy King and Dustin Van Velkinburgh managed to hold together their squads, but neither of their teams was able to pull out a win against visiting South Whidbey.

The Wolf boys took the court with just six players thanks to injuries and players still short of the necessary 10 practices, then had two of those guys — Luke Merriman and Brian Shank — exit with new injuries suffered against the Falcons.

Desmond Bell, who had seen time in the night’s varsity game, slid down and picked up some more playing time to give Coupeville five players on the floor.

He joined Ariah Bepler, Andre Avila, Beauman Davis and leading scorer Cameron Toomey-Stout in finishing out the game.

In the girls game, a narrow 24-19 loss, King had to limit playing time to allow several of her players to slide up and fill openings on the Wolf varsity squad.

She was also missing one of her key swing players with Skyler Lawrence being out with an illness and got her ball-handling from players who have never manned the position before.

While they might be new to running the game, freshmen Ashlie Shank and Maddie Hilkey both drew praise from their coach for their play.

“They are stepping up and learning how to play the position in live action and doing quite well,” King said.

The game’s top performance came from a player who the Wolves weren’t sure would even be able to suit up.

Freshman Ema Smith, who has been undergoing physical therapy, hit the floor and “went all out,” topping Coupeville with six points and five boards.

Lauren Rose tossed in five, Sarah Wright knocked down four, Kyla Briscoe popped for three and Shank slid a free-throw through the twine to round out the scoring.

Allison Wenzel snatched four rebounds, Hilkey made off with two steals and Brittany Powers had two rebounds and a steal she then flipped to her left hand (which she rarely uses to dribble) and successfully led the charge up the floor.

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One step closer!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Makana Stone, Mia Littlejohn, rivalry game, South Whidbey on December 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Mia Littlejohn (tongue stuck out) (John Fisken photo)

Mia Littlejohn (tongue stuck out) prepares to emerge from behind a pack of JV players and kick-start her eight-point, four-assist night. (John Fisken photo)

It’s not going to be an overnight thing.

Five of the eight players who saw floor time for the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad Wednesday night were making their varsity debut.

And it showed at times, with the Wolves veering from looking very good to very much a work in progress.

Yet, and this is a huge positive, even in flux, even bothered by too many turnovers and too many ticky-tacky fouls whistled by an extra-enthusiastic batch of refs, Coupeville came within a bounce of sending their season opener to overtime.

Makana Stone’s shot with a second to play refused to stay in the hoop, however, popping back out and allowing visiting South Whidbey to escape with a 32-30 non-conference win.

If the shot had dropped, it would have capped a furious 6-0 run to close the game, as Coupeville battled back twice in the fourth quarter to push the veteran-laden Falcons to the brink.

After entering the final eight minutes tied at 23, thanks to a third-quarter performance that was the highlight of the evening, the Wolves fell asleep offensively to start the fourth.

With Stone on the bench with four fouls, Coupeville went scoreless for more than four minutes and watched South Whidbey surge to a 28-23 lead.

Regrouping after a timeout, the Wolves got a free-throw from Stone and a hard-fought bucket in the paint from Mia Littlejohn to cut the lead back to a bucket.

The Falcons responded with a crowd-deflating three-ball from the top of the key, then slipped in a free-throw to stake themselves to a 32-26 lead and seemed ready to coast home.

Coupeville wouldn’t go down without one last fight, getting free throws from Stone and Lauren Grove, before Littlejohn hit a runner with four seconds to play.

Back within two, the Wolves forced a turnover in the back court with less than three seconds to play, setting up the miracle finale the home crowd had come to see.

But, while Stone had a decent look, she had to shoot quickly over a pack of onrushing Falcons and the rim refused to bend.

That capped a game that started slowly (South Whidbey led 4-3 after both teams played sloppy, tentative ball over the first eight minutes), went a little south in the second (Coupeville trailed 15-10 at the half), then came back into focus in the third.

Kailey Kellner came out firing, hitting a bucket off a batted ball in the paint before circling outside and draining a sweet trey from the left corner that barely moved the net as it swished through.

Coupeville reclaimed the lead at 17-16 when Littlejohn fed Stone as she slashed to the hoop at the five-minute mark.

The first lead for the Wolves since the game sat at 3-2, it didn’t last, as South Whidbey immediately dropped a dagger of a three-pointer.

But the Wolves were really jelling for the first time all game, with Stone backing down the Falcons in the paint and her teammates hitting all of their freebies.

Kyla Briscoe and Littlejohn each went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe to end the quarter, each time knotting the game back up.

Stone, the defending 1A Olympic League MVP, opened her senior season with a flourish, throwing down 12 points, snatching 14 rebounds, making off with seven steals and flying high to reject three Falcon shots.

Littlejohn tossed in eight and Kellner banged home five in support, while Kyla Briscoe (2), Grove (1), Tiffany Briscoe (1) and freshman Lindsey Roberts (1) rounded out the scorers.

Kellner (10) and Grove (7) helped Stone clean the boards, while Littlejohn dealt out four assists and Roberts collected two blocks.

The game marked the varsity basketball debut for the Briscoe sisters, Grove, Roberts and Lauren Rose, who came off the bench to inject hustle and scrappy ball-hawking.

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“We were not ready to play!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged CHS Wolves, Jordan Ford, Lewis Pope, South Whidbey, Wiley Hesselgrave on December 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jordan Ford, here hauling in a rebound, was one of the few bright spots for Coupeville Wednesday night. (John Fisken photo)

One team came out fired-up. The other was in a much more tepid mood.

And it showed, as South Whidbey used a big first half to race past host Coupeville 61-36 Wednesday night in a non-conference boys’ basketball game.

The loss dropped the Wolves to 0-2 on the young season and left CHS coach Anthony Smith more than a bit frustrated. After having a long locker room talk with his team, he didn’t mince words.

“We were not ready to play. The boys were just not ready tonight,” he said. “They (South Whidbey) wanted it a lot more than us.

“We had so many unforced turnovers and they’re a good enough team to take advantage of that.”

If there were any bright spots for Coupeville, a big one was that the Wolves played better in the second half, at least as far as the scoreboard went.

Down 36-13 at the break, after enduring 18-7 and 18-6 quarters, CHS battled the Falcons almost even after halftime.

They were nipped just 13-10 in the third and actually won the fourth quarter, though just by a point at 13-12.

Playing without their leading scorer from opening night (sophomore Hunter Smith was sidelined with a back injury) the Wolves turned to their most reliable veteran, Wiley Hesselgrave, and he responded.

Fighting through a flock of Falcons every time he touched the ball, he went for nine of his team-high 13 in the second half.

Another positive was the inspired play of senior Jordan Ford, who worked hard for his first eight points as a Wolf hoops star.

Six of those points came off of rebounds that he snatched and then took right back up, while his final two came on a pair of free-throws after being hammered while driving 1-on-3 in the paint.

“Jordan was a real bright spot for us tonight,” Anthony Smith said. “He hasn’t had that much chance to really play organized ball before, but once he really gets it going, he’ll be a big boost for us.”

South Whidbey hit the floor running, breaking out to a 7-0 lead before Gabe Wynn momentarily stopped the bleeding with a soft jumper from the side.

Shots weren’t dropping for the Wolves, however, and they didn’t get another field goal until the final seconds of the quarter, when Risen Johnson exploded the length of the floor on a breakaway.

The Falcons, paced by explosive senior Chase White, a South End resident who had played for Archbishop Thomas Murphy the last three seasons, quickly put the game away.

They out-ran, out-passed, out-moved and out-shot the Wolves in the first half, and a 13-5 advantage on made free throws didn’t hurt.

Coupeville put together some nice mini-runs in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

The Wolves had an 8-3 spurt in the third sparked by a trey from Hesselgrave, then closed the game on a 10-4 run that included an especially sweet three-point bomb off of Johnson’s fingertips.

Ford and Johnson scored eight apiece to back Hesselgrave’s 13, with Wynn (4) and Ryan Griggs (3) rounding out the scoring tally.

Dante Mitchell, Desmond Bell, DeAndre Mitchell and Jared Helsmstadter all saw floor time, as well.

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