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Posts Tagged ‘team ball’

Team ball, team win!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 27, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Lindsey Roberts and Coupeville are all smiles after winning their eighth straight game. (John Fisken photo)

   Lindsey Roberts and Coupeville are all smiles after winning their eighth straight game. (John Fisken photo)

Get rocked, never get knocked out.

Twice Friday night Chimacum made runs at the Coupeville girls’ basketball squad and cut the lead to a single point.

Both times the Wolves dug down deep, found an answer sparked by an aggressive team-wide display of defensive excellence and rose to the moment.

Bending just a bit, but never breaking, the host Wolves eventually rolled to a 44-33 decision for their eighth straight victory.

Now 7-0 in Olympic League play (25-0 all-time) and 12-3 overall, CHS got something from everyone on their roster.

Big buckets from Kailey Kellner, huge rebounds from Lindsey Roberts, gritty work in the paint from Tiffany Briscoe, electrifying passes from Mia Littlejohn and a spark off the bench from both Kalia Littlejohn and Mikayla Elfrank.

The Wolves bolted out to a 10-0 lead, holding Chimacum scoreless for the first 7:58 of the game.

Kellner rippled a three-ball from the right corner, after playing give-and-go with Mia Littlejohn, to kick things off and Coupeville pressed the pedal through the metal in the early going.

Elfrank added three the hard way, making off with a steal and beating the Cowboy defense to the other end, then added a free throw after being hammered at the very last second.

The steal was one of four the Wolf junior made off with in a wild two-and-a-half minute stretch after she first jumped off the bench and jump-started Coupeville.

Chimacum, a scrappy, physical team if ever there was one, finally settled in and cut the lead to 12-11, but the Wolves never blinked.

Two free throws from Briscoe — she was 4-of-4 at the charity stripe in the first half — sent CHS on an 11-5 tear to end the half.

Four Wolves scored in the run, with Roberts nailing a gorgeous trey from the left side that was set up by Briscoe, who hauled down an offensive board, dribbled out of danger and found an open teammate.

The Cowboys made their second, and final, run right after the halftime break, using three straight baskets in the paint to once again cut the margin to a single digit.

Enter the cold-blooded Kellner, who scorched the net with a three-ball from the top of the arc.

That sent the Wolves on a game-busting 14-0 run, with Elfrank hitting twice, both on plays set up perfectly by teammate’s passes.

First Roberts dished, then Kellner, as the Wolves got out on the run and finished strongly.

Coupeville stretched the lead out as far as 17 before cruising in during the game’s final minutes, giving their end-of-the-bench players a chance to stretch their legs.

Before she left, Kellner dropped another trey, set up by Mia Littlejohn beating the Chimacum press by bull-rushing two defenders, then firing the ball over the top to her waiting shooter.

Kellner paced the Wolves with 15, while Roberts and Elfrank each went for nine. Briscoe added a season-best seven, while Lauren Grove and Kalia Littlejohn each had a basket.

Roberts hauled in 12 boards, while Kellner had eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

Mia Littlejohn played inspired ball at the point, picking up four assists and setting up numerous plays with her ball movement and dribbling skills.

Lauren Rose, Allison Wenzel, Ema Smith and Sarah Wright all got floor time as well, with Wenzel being especially scrappy on the defensive side of the ball.

Coupeville returns immediately to action, hosting Klahowya (0-5, 3-12) Saturday in a game that was postponed earlier by bad weather.

The varsity tips at 12:30, followed by the JV at 2:00.

JV sits night out:

The Wolf young guns are officially 4-0 in Olympic League play, but, if you count forfeits, they sit at 7-0.

Chimacum cancelled for the second time in three games Friday, citing a lack of players.

Tack on an earlier cancellation by Port Townsend and Coupeville’s JV has barely been able to take the court for 50% of its scheduled league clashes this year.

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“This was a big win for us!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Kailey Kellner, keeping it low-key here, was a demon on defense Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

   Kailey Kellner, keeping it low-key here, was a demon on defense Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

Ten players operating as one, each doing their part to make the team stronger.

It’s the driving philosophy behind the success of the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad, and it was on display all afternoon Saturday.

Even with their leader, Makana Stone, under the weather — she still scored 15 and grabbed 12 boards — the Wolves got big performances from a number of role players and soundly thumped visiting Mount Vernon Christian 41-26.

The non-conference win, in which CHS only trailed once, very early, lifted the Wolves to 8-3.

They’re now off for nine days, then return with three games in four days, including conference showdowns with Chimacum and Port Townsend.

The break will allow Stone to recover from her illness, and the Wolves to continue to fine-tune things, but CHS coach David King exited the gym with a smile on his face Saturday.

“This was a big win for us after we sputtered a little in our last game,” he said. “Offensively we really moved the ball well along with crashing the boards and going back up with it.”

The game was close for a quarter, with the Hurricanes actually leading 5-4 at one point (Mia Littlejohn and Lauren Grove promptly responded with back-to-back buckets) and Coupeville only up by a point at the end of the first eight minutes.

Mount Vernon beat the buzzer with a three-ball, after a loose ball bounced off of six different sets of hands (it seemed, at least) before plopping right onto the fingertips of a Hurricane shooter.

That pulled them within 10-9 heading into the second, and it looked like it would be a back-and-forth battle.

And then it wasn’t, as Coupeville clamped down extra-tight on defense, holding the Hurricanes to just four more field goals the rest of the way.

Flustered by the Wolf ‘D’, Mount Vernon stayed alive for a bit with decent free-throw shooting, but that was far from enough when Coupeville was hitting from all angles.

Tiffany Briscoe kick-started the second quarter by banging home a layin off of a loose ball, Littlejohn drained all three free throws after being hacked while shooting a trey, and Lauren Grove swished a long jumper to close the half.

In between all that, Stone sliced through the Hurricanes for seven of her 15 in the second quarter, picking her moments to shine as she (and King) conserved what energy she had.

The highlight reel play for the night came late in the quarter, when Stone rejected a Hurricane shot, snagged the ball out of midair, hit sprinter speed and shot the length of the court, draining the layup and the resulting free throw she got after a straggler whacked her in the shoulder.

The transcendent senior, even ill, filled up the stat sheet, with three blocks, two steals and an assist to go with her double-double.

“Makana was pretty under the weather today. Even not feeling well she showed up and gave every ounce of energy she could,” King said. “She really played in control and didn’t speed things up like she can do at times.”

As they have all season, Stone’s younger teammates stepped up at crunch time, whether it was Littlejohn’s slick ball-handling, Briscoe’s relentless rebounding or Grove’s sudden offensive explosion.

Throwing down a season-high 10, the wily junior, who is known for her ball-hawk defense, was en fuego on both sides of the court.

“What can I say, her on-ball defense is outstanding right now,” King said. “She understands her scoring opportunities right now will come off of steals or drives to the basket.

“Today she took advantage of what she could and pumped life into our offense.”

He also complimented Littlejohn (“today she was the floor general this team needs”), freshman Lindsey Roberts (“she has been playing better ball for us; her defense and rebounding is getting better, too”) and ever-scrappy Kyla Briscoe, who snagged two boards and gave the squad crucial energy all night.

Tiffany Briscoe and Kailey Kellner got a special mention for being willing to sacrifice on defense.

“Undersized in the post, they both stepped up big time with their defense,” King said. “I told them they had to play taller than they are.

“They both worked so hard in there, I think that interior defense was a key to taking control of the game in the second quarter through the end of the game,” he added. “Both of these players have bought into the reality that defense wins games.”

Tiffany Briscoe and Littlejohn dropped in seven apiece in support of Stone and Grove, while Roberts nailed a jumper and snagged four boards.

Grove pilfered five steals, Tiffany Briscoe corralled five caroms and swing players Allison Wenzel, Lauren Rose and Skyler Lawrence all saw floor time, with the first two each grabbing a rebound.

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Just ’bout that team win, boss!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Risen Johnson

   The power of the man bun compels you. Risen Johnson scored five of his team-high 15 in the fourth quarter Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

The answer was loud and clear.

After a three-game stretch in which the Coupeville High School boys’ basketball squad struggled, Wolf coaches challenged their players.

To unite as a team. To buy into their roles. To commit to each other. To get back to how they had opened the season.

Saturday, the players responded, and they did so as one.

It wasn’t just that they won, holding off visiting Mount Vernon Christian in a 69-68 non-conference thriller.

That was big, yes, and it brought Coupeville back to 5-6 on the season.

But more than merely winning, it was how they won. As a true team.

“Everybody stepped up, and everybody stepped up when we needed them to,” said Coupeville coach Anthony Smith. “We found a way to win, a way to get back to how we were before.”

The Wolves could have fractured on this night, and badly.

Up 53-45 after JJ Johnson swooped to the hoop for a bucket to open the fourth, Coupeville hit its only rough stretch of the night.

Taking advantage, the Hurricanes reeled off 10 straight, with a pair of three-balls which were true daggers, as one came off of an in-bounds play and another on a really long rebound that skittered right through the hands of several Wolves.

Suddenly trailing by two, CHS needed a big emotional burst and it got it thanks to teamwork.

Wiley Hesselgrave, who fought like a savage yet had a grin on his face most of the night, came up with a loose ball, spun and dropped the ball into the hands of a flying Dante Mitchell.

Without a trace of hesitation, the lanky senior put the ball on the floor once, snatched it back and shot past his defender for a running layup.

Cue an explosion of joy which ripped through the pro-Wolf crowd and a fist pump of approval from Hesselgrave.

That knotted the game at 55, while setting up an absolute war that played out over the final three-and-a-half minutes.

The two teams exchanged buckets like heavyweight boxers standing in the middle of the ring, slugging it out, daring the other guy to back down, but secretly happy when they didn’t.

A thunderous right — Hesselgrave tearing a rebound out of a Hurricane’s hands and drilling a jumper while three guys landed on top of him.

Then a series of jabs to the spleen —Risen Johnson spinning down the baseline, shedding defenders on his way to three points the hard way; Jordan Ford banking in a bucket off of a bullet pass from Risen Johnson that slid and curved through a maze of rival arms.

Each time Mount Vernon responded with their own nerves-of-steel play, until Coupeville finally broke its will.

Trailing 66-65 with 1:04 to go, the Wolves got a pair of free throws from Hunter Smith to snatch back the lead, then held the Hurricanes scoreless for 62 of the final 64 seconds.

Risen Johnson worked an absolutely textbook give-and-go with Hesselgrave, getting the ball back and hitting a runner while laying the ball up backwards over his head to put CHS up by three.

The Hurricanes went for the tie, missed and got a reprieve when a ref called Risen Johnson for traveling after he leapt, snatched the rebound, but inadvertently rolled over a body coming back down to Earth.

The next trey missed as well, though, and while a Hurricane slipped through to put the rebound back up and in, the clock ran out on the visitors.

Taking the ball out of the net with 1.9 seconds to go and the clock running, Ford alertly never in-bounded the ball, squeezing it to his chest as his teammates celebrated.

The late theatrics capped a game that was smartly played by both teams, a scrappy affair where Coupeville survived MVC runs by getting big-time shots at just the right moments.

Risen Johnson had the play of the first half, in which he stole the ball and zipped in for a layup, making not one, but two, different Hurricanes crash to the floor on the play.

Still, the Wolves trailed 28-21, until they turned it around with a 14-3 run to close out the half.

Mitchell and Gabe Wynn each knocked down a bucket and free throw during the run, but it was long-range gunner JJ Johnson who made the crowd swoon.

The Wolf senior nailed a trey from the right side with 20 seconds to play, then raised the ante by nailing another one with less than a single tick on the clock, backpedaling with a grin as his large fan section lost its ever-loving mind a few feet away.

Coupeville wasn’t done with the crowd-pleasers, hitting three treys in the third, including an even longer one from JJ Johnson.

The final one was the most unexpected, as Ford, far from the paint he normally patrols, rolled out, took a pinpoint pass from Hesselgrave and dropped his own three-ball from the deep, dark corner on the right side.

As the ball started to settle through the twine, the third quarter clock read 0:00, one more time in which the Wolves pulled off perfection thanks to note-perfect team play.

The commitment to getting something from everyone carried over to the scoring totals, where eight of Coupeville’s 11 players scored, with four notching double digits.

Risen Johnson led the way with 15, while Ford banged home 12 and Hesselgrave and JJ Johnson each added 11.

Smith dropped in seven, Wynn popped for six, Dante Mitchell went for five, Ryan Griggs added a bucket and Desmond Bell, DeAndre Mitchell and Jared Helmstadter all chipped in with strong work on the defensive end.

Coupeville is now off for six days, returning to action with a home non-conference game against Stevenson Friday, Jan. 15. That game (varsity only) tips at 5 PM.

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