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Seasons end, but legends live

Posted in Baseball, Basketball, Softball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , , on March 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

CHS grad Sarah Wright was off to a strong start as a college softball player.

Their seasons have ended too soon.

Seven Coupeville High School grads (and one Oak Harbor alumni whose mom is my former co-worker) saw spring college sports seasons prematurely end.

With most of the nation shutting down athletic events at every level as part of the fight to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus, it’s the new reality.

The status of each:

 

Ally Roberts – Senior
Equestrian – Western Washington University

 

After winning a regional championship in Advanced Western Horsemanship, she was set to compete in the national semifinals in West Virginia later this month.

A top-two finish there would have sent her on to nationals.

That’s no longer the case, though, with both postseason events now scrubbed from the schedule.

“Really sucks, that’s for sure,” Roberts said. “But just happy with how the season went for my team and I.”

 

Danny Conlisk – Freshman
Track and Field – South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

 

After a successful spin around the track during indoor season, the two-time state champ was on his way to the outdoor season, but it’s been cancelled.

A statement released Friday by the NCAA indicates all student/athletes competing in spring sports will be granted an additional season/semester of eligibility.

 

Sarah Wright – Freshman
Softball – Sewanee: The University of the South

 

Like Conlisk, the former Wolf star will be granted a do-over, even though she and her diamond teammates had played 40% of their schedule.

Sewanee was 2-14 on the season when the rest of its 40-game season was scrubbed.

Wright was in the top three on her team in eight offensive categories:

.244 batting average (#2)
41 at bats (#3)
10 hits (#2)
2 home runs (#1)
7 RBI (#1)
16 total bases (#2)
.390 slugging percentage (#2)
.311 on base percentage (#3)

She also had a .915 fielding percentage as Sewanee’s catcher, with 39 putouts and four assists.

 

Makana Stone – Senior
Basketball – Whitman College

 

The Blues were in Brunswick, Maine preparing to play Friday in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA national championships, but never got the chance when the tourney was cancelled.

Whitman finished a very-successful season at 26-3, with Stone, the Northwest Conference Player of the Year, having also been selected to play in the Beyond Sports Women’s Collegiate All-Star Game.

That game, featuring the best D-III players in the country, was set for March 21, but has also been cancelled.

Stone closed her senior season with 409 points, 225 rebounds, 37 assists, 26 steals, and 26 blocks, while shooting 166-316 (52.5%) from the floor and 74-96 (77.1%) from the free-throw line.

During her four years as a Blue, the former Wolf star played in 110 games, including making a program-record 92 starts.

She finishes as the #5 scorer (1,337 points) and #2 rebounder (837 caroms) in Whitman women’s basketball history.

 

CJ Smith – Sophomore
Hunter Smith – Sophomore
James Besaw – Freshman
Joey Lippo – Freshman
Baseball – Green River College

 

The one sport where some hope lingers.

The Northwest Athletic Conference has chosen, so far, to cancel all games through April 13.

Green River, which is 3-4, has had 19 games scrubbed, though 16 remain, for now, on the schedule.

At the time of the shutdown, Hunter Smith was hitting .333 with eight hits (including a pair of doubles), seven walks, five runs, and two RBI.

Besaw is also hitting at a .333 clip, with five hits, while playing error-free ball at first base for the Gators.

CJ Smith is 1-0 in two games as a relief pitcher, having tossed a team-high 7.1 innings while holding opposing batters to a .125 batting average.

The CHS grad has faced 24 batters, and the only other Green River pitcher with a better mark has only squared off with three rivals.

Lippo hasn’t been given much to do at the plate yet, but is playing error-free ball in the outfield, including a strong throw to Hunter Smith to help nail a wayward runner.

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Tough loss, but big hopes

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on February 29, 2020| Leave a Comment »

At 24-3, Makana Stone and Whitman wait to see if they will get an at-large bid to the NCAA D-III women’s basketball national championship tourney. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Now, they wait.

Stung by a cold start and a perfectly-executed play by their opponent at the very end, the Whitman College women’s basketball team fell 57-55 to visiting George Fox University Saturday in the championship game of the Northwest Conference postseason tourney.

The loss, the first on their home court this season, drops the Blues to 24-3 and snaps a 12-game winning streak.

With the win, George Fox, which finished in third-place in the nine-team league during the regular season, earns an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III women’s basketball national championships.

Whitman, which won the regular season league crown and entered the night ranked #7 in the nation, now has to wait to see if it will get an at-large bid.

The full 64-team bracket will be revealed Monday.

Saturday’s game was just plain rough for Whitman, which, for one of the few times this season, just couldn’t seem to get in sync.

A big part of the credit for that goes to George Fox’s defense, which shut down the paint, knocked the Blues around — Coupeville’s Makana Stone, the league Player of the Year, spent much of the game bouncing off the floor — and set the Bruins up for success.

Also helping the visitors was an unexpected run at the free throw line.

A fairly poor-shooting team at the charity stripe this season, George Fox was the exact opposite Saturday, knocking down 20-25 shots, to just 7-11 by Whitman.

Other than a terrible opening for the Blues, in which they went scoreless for eight-plus minutes and fell behind 9-0, the game was a gut-check, with neither team able to pull away.

Whitman seemed to have the upper hand when it opened up a late 53-47 lead in the fourth, capped by Mady Burdett drilling the bottom out of the net on a long three-ball off of an offensive rebound.

Unfortunately, the Blues couldn’t deliver the knockout punch, giving George Fox a chance to storm back and take the lead at 55-53.

Unable to get the ball to Stone down low — she was smothered, and finished with just three field goal attempts and three times that many bruises, taking shots to the head, ribs, and hand — Whitman banged away from the outside, and couldn’t get the ball to drop.

With the game on the line, point guard Taylor Chambers came roaring in from the right side and got a wildly-bouncing layup to go down with just 3.2 seconds left, seemingly setting up overtime.

But George Fox had a final miracle in hand, as Haley Strowbridge got the last two of her game-high 20 points when she rolled hard to the hoop, pulled in a lob over the defense, and banked in the runner.

Down to just 1.5 seconds to play, Whitman got a final off-balance, heavily-contested three-ball attempt up in the air, but it never came close to rippling the net.

The sour finish capped a game in which there were 14 lead changes and five ties, most of them in the second half.

After trailing 9-0, Whitman finally got on the board when senior Katie Stahl banged home a three-ball with 1:42 to play in the first quarter.

From there, the Blues crawled back to within 11-7 at the first break, then surged ahead 16-11 midway through the second quarter.

George Fox recovered, though, using its potent mix of deadly free throw shooting and clamp-down defense, and went into the locker room up 27-23.

Whitman pulled back into the lead, for a hot moment at least, with a 42-41 advantage heading into the final frame.

Burdett paced the Blues with 14, while Kaylie McCracken added 11, and Chambers popped for 10.

Barely able to touch the ball for much of the night, Stone was limited to four points, a team-high five rebounds, and a blocked shot.

On the season, the former Coupeville ace has 409 points, 225 rebounds, 37 assists, 26 steals, and 26 blocks, while shooting 166-316 (52.5%) from the floor and 74-96 (77%) at the line.

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Stone best in the biz

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on February 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Whitman College senior Makana Stone has been tabbed as the Northwest Conference women’s basketball Player of the Year. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

She’s been crowned as the belle of the (round)ball.

Coupeville grad Makana Stone has won a ton of honors during a stellar four-year run on the basketball court at Whitman College, but now she’s reached the top of the podium.

The former Wolf ace was named the Northwest Conference Player of the Year Tuesday, honored for leading her team to a league title and the #7 ranking in all of D-III hoops.

Whitman went 15-1 in league action and is 23-2 overall heading into the start of the conference postseason tourney Thursday night.

Stone, a senior, has racked up 398 points, 216 rebounds, 36 assists, 25 steals, and 25 blocks this season, and is shooting 163-304 from the floor and 69-87 at the free throw line.

While this is her first collegiate Player of the Year award, Andre Stone’s lil’ sis was previously named a First-Team All-Conference player as both a sophomore and junior.

She is joined on the 2019-2020 All-Conference First-Team squad by Blues teammate Mady Burdett, as well as Kory Oleson and Molly Danielson of Linfield, Jamie Lange of Puget Sound, and Courtney Carolan of Pacific.

Whitman’s coach, Michelle Ferenz, was honored as Coach of the Year.

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Big rebounds, bigger win

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on February 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

CHS grad Makana Stone became the #2 rebounder in Whitman College women’s basketball history Friday night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

It’s as close to a sure thing as possible.

Put Whitman College and Linfield College on the floor for a women’s basketball game, and the squad from Walla Walla is going to triumph.

Friday night was more of a great thing for the Blues, as Whitman got 18 points from Coupeville’s Makana Stone and hit its free throws down the stretch to capture a 74-65 win in its regular-season finale.

The former Wolf also hit a major milestone, moving into 2nd place on her school’s career rebounding chart.

The road victory, coming in front of a raucous crowd in McMinnville, Oregon, marked the 26th consecutive time Whitman has beaten its Northwest Conference foe.

The last time Linfield toppled Whitman came way back in 2007.

While keeping their domination of the Wildcats chugging along, the Blues capped a 15-1 tear through the NWC this season, and head into the playoffs at 23-2 overall, with an active 11-game win streak.

Whitman opens the four-team league postseason tourney next Thursday, February 27, when it hosts the #4 school in a loser-out game.

Several teams are still battling for that slot, though Linfield was eliminated from contention with Friday’s loss.

Win in the tourney semifinals, and the Blues host the NWC championship game Feb. 29 against either George Fox or Pacific, with an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III tourney up for grabs.

Wrapping the regular season, Whitman wasn’t flawless, but it was very good when it mattered most.

Stone dropped in eight of her 18 points in the fourth quarter, as the Blues surged to a 12-point lead, before giving a chunk of it back.

Desperate to keep its playoff hopes alive, Linfield carved the lead all the way back to 66-62 with a minute to play, but Whitman never blinked.

Instead, the Blues made the nets jump while all the players were standing still, hitting 8 of 10 free throws across the game’s final 58 seconds to ice the win.

Taylor Chambers (5), Mady Burdett (3), and Kaylie McCracken (2) all converted charity shots to shush the enthusiastic pro-Linfield crowd, capping a fourth quarter in which Whitman hit 14-16 from the line.

The game was close for much of the night, with Whitman clinging to a 17-15 lead after one quarter of play.

With Stone heating up in the second frame, slapping home her team’s first eight points, the Blues stretched the advantage out to 38-29 at the half, before carrying a 52-44 lead into the fourth quarter.

Even saddled with foul trouble, Coupeville’s ace came up big in crunch time, as Stone capped her scoring effort with a dagger of a pull-up jumper.

On the night, the CHS grad finished with 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two blocked shots, tying Burdett for team-high scoring honors.

Lily Gustafson chipped in with 11 points, while McCracken banked home 10 as Whitman put four players into double-digits scoring.

As she heads into her final collegiate playoff run, Stone sits with 398 points, 216 rebounds, 36 assists, 25 steals, and 25 blocks on the season.

She’s shooting 163-304 (53.6%) from the floor and 69-87 (79.3%) from the free throw line.

Already the #5 scorer in Whitman women’s basketball history with 1,325 career points (she’s 18 away from moving into 4th place), Stone is now the #2 rebounder for the program.

She passed Katie Rubenser (824) Friday, and, with 828 rebounds to her credit, trails just Jennifer McClure (902) on the all-time list.

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A milestone here, a win there

Posted in Basketball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , , on February 18, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone is just the fifth Whitman College female hoops star to top 1,300 career points. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They like to live dangerously.

Drawing a rare Tuesday night game on the schedule, the Whitman College women’s basketball team had to go to an extra period, but kept alive its winning streak.

Holding off visiting Whitworth University 77-74 in overtime, thanks to big plays in crunch time by several players, including Coupeville’s Makana Stone, the Blues captured their 10th straight W.

Now 14-1 in North Sound Conference play, 22-2 overall, Whitman wraps its regular season Friday with a trip to McMinnville, Oregon to face Linfield College.

After that comes the NWC post-season tourney February 27-29, then a likely trip to the NCAA D-III national championship tournament in March.

Tuesday’s game pitted two teams in very different situations.

Whitman has already clinched the league title and the #1 seed to the four-team postseason tourney, while Whitworth is involved in a four-team battle for the #4 seed.

The first time the Pirates faced the Blues, they hung tough in an 84-79 loss. Tuesday, they took that a step further.

Trailing 64-60 late in the fourth, Whitworth went on a 7-0 run to claim the lead and push the Blues to the edge of defeat.

Playing in front of its home fans, Whitman answered, however, getting two free throws from Mady Burdett and another freebie from Kaelan Shamseldin to knot the game at 67-67.

With both teams unable to score over the final two-minutes-plus of regulation, that gave the fans free basketball, and overtime was a tense five-minute affair.

Whitworth clung to a 71-70 lead when Stone, playing with four fouls (after some questionable calls by refs missing their seeing-eye dogs), showed why she is a favorite to be named league MVP.

First, Coupeville’s ace rolled hard to the hoop, slipping her defender and slapping home a layup to give Whitman a lead it would not relinquish.

Then, standing strong on the other end of the floor as well, Stone rejected a Pirate shot, collecting her third block of the game and keeping Whitworth at bay.

A Lily Gustafson layup, off a superb entry pass from Burdett, staked Whitman to a 73-70 lead and the two squads traded free throws the rest of the way.

The biggest came from Blues guard Taylor Chambers, who calmly knocked down both of her charity shots with just four seconds to play, pushing the lead out to the final margin of 77-74.

Whitworth would have needed a miracle after that, and didn’t get it, as Whitman pulled off a note-perfect final defensive stand.

The wild win capped a back-and-forth game in which neither team could break free.

Whitman used a 7-2 surge to close the first quarter with a 14-11 lead, only to see Whitworth close the gap to 36-34 at the half.

The teams combined to shoot a red-hot 18-23 from the floor in the second frame, with Stone scoring Whitman’s final six points of the half on a variety of silky-smooth jumpers and quicksilver layups.

From there, the Blues regained a slim advantage at 49-46 exiting the third quarter, before Whitworth rallied in the fourth.

Kaylie McCracken came off the bench to lead Whitman with a game-high 20 points, while Stone snagged a game-high 12 rebounds to go with 14 points, three blocks, and an assist.

Burdett banked in 13 and Gustafson netted 11 as the Blues came with a well-balanced attack.

On the season, Stone sits with 380 points, 210 rebounds, 34 assists, 25 steals, and 23 blocks, while shooting 156-293 (53.2%) from the field and 65-83 (78.3%) at the free throw line.

The CHS grad, who has 1,307 career points and counting, became just the fifth Whitman women to top the 1,300-point barrier.

She reached the magic mark on her final bucket of the second quarter.

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