Boys basketball
After a year off, the Friday Harbor high school boys basketball team is back with a strong set of coaches and players.
Coach Collin Williamson is filling the shoes of the previous coach, Coach Turnbull.
“In my first year I’m looking forward to continuing and upholding the success of this program that Coach Turnbull created,” Williamson said. “We have a great group of players this year and a quality coaching staff, so I look forward to working alongside them.”
This year’s team holds six seniors- Dylan Roberson, AJ Rude, Frankie Black, Jack Mason, Julian Rich, and Cameron Wilson.
“Our senior leaders have done a great job at keeping everyone on the same page,” he said.
The rest of the team’s turnout has also been great, said Williamson, with the team reaching a quantity of 27 students.
“This group has really done a good job so far at acclimating to our program philosophy. If there was one thing that I think they’ll hone in on this year, that is playing uptempo on offense and defense,” Williamson said. “So far practice has been excellent! We really have such a special group this year, they’re taking charge and have specific goals in mind.”
The team has been practicing intense playstyles in preparation for the rest of the season. The Wolverines hosted the Overlake Owls on Friday, Dec. 3, losing 47-57. This was a nonleague game. The next game will be at Darrington on Dec. 7.
Girls Basketball
The Friday Harbor high school girls basketball team is ready for the new season as they’ve been hard at work every day in the gym. Unlike some of the other sports teams, the girls basketball team did have a season last year, playing a total of 10 games.
According to coach Sue Grenfell, “That gave many of our key players on this year´s team their first varsity experience. That experience will really help us this year, as we will have starters who know what varsity competition feels like.”
This year the team has three seniors. They are Ashley Lawson, Ella Mason, and Kalli Zappelli.
Along with the seniors, the rest of the team’s turnout has been great, she said.
“It is fun to see so many people out on the court. I think everyone is a little extra excited to get the chance to play, after sports opportunities last year were somewhat limited with COVID. We have full squads for both varsity and JV, which is great,” Grenfell continued. “We really appreciate that our returners were really encouraging younger girls to turn out for the team.”
The captains this year are Ashley Lawson and Ella Mason, who Grenfell said help to set the tone for the team of being positive, responsible, and ready to learn both in practice and at games.
“All the varsity returners really embrace that mindset, and the newcomers to varsity have completely jumped on board,” she remarked. “The players have fun together, and do a great job of identifying what the team is doing well, and areas where we want to improve.”
This season, the team is working on improving their court awareness understanding the offensive strengths of each other, reading the defense, making adjustments, finding the open person, making the extra pass, and looking to drive or create with the ball- all of which Grenfell said she thinks the team will really blossom in.
Their first game was on Dec. 1, an away game against Bellingham. They lost 33 to 15, but the team is not discouraged.
“We are happy to have played our first game because games always teach us so much,” said Grenfell. “We have a lot of positive things going on with this team, and we are more knowledgeable now about what our next steps will be in order to keep improving.”
On Dec. 3, the Wolverine Ladies lost their non-league game against Overlake, 29-44. The next game will be at Darrington on Dec. 7.
Basketball Cheer
Basketball games won’t be short of any support as the basketball cheer squad has reached its maximum capacity of 12 this season.
Coach Stacy Rude said, “We are most excited that things are a little bit more normal this year, as opposed to last. We can stunt and have dances again.”
To add to that, Rude, who is also the football cheer coach, said the team is excited to be indoors warm and dry this season as opposed to the cold and wet days of fall cheer.
This year there are three seniors on the squad: Hailey McCutcheon, Eva Sanabria, and Rachelle Cruz.
Sienna Boucher/Staff photo Back row left to right: Nora Flynn, Paloma Waldron, Nakayla Nibbler, Jenny Garfias. Middle row left to right: Maddison Buehler, Lilli Turnbow, Paige Carlton, Jasmyn McEwen. Bottom row left to right: Hailey McCutcheon, Eva Sanabria, Rachelle Cruz. Not pictured: Ella Raichlen.
Staff photo//Sienna Boucher. Back row left to right: Coach Stephan, Coach Sabrina, Coach Tad, Stephen N., Kaiden I., Riley B., Coach Todd, Coach Austin, Coach James. Bottom row left to right: Triston B., Manager Ellie, Jillian O., Stella C., Gavin A., Kieran C.
