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Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023 — Shelton-Mason County Journal — Page 19
" Sports "Mom
...M.WW_W.M..~MW ,_, . ..
North Mason High School sophomore guard Adrianne Tupolo drives to the
basket during a nonconférence girls basketball Clash with Mason County
Cup rival Shelton on Friday at Bulldog Gym in Belfair. Below, Tupolo
directs the offense. More photos on pages 20-21. Journal photo by Justin
Johnson
Adrianne Tupolo’s 32 leads BulldOgs past’short—handed Highclimbers ,
I
By Justin Johnson
justin@masoncountycom
Tanza Tupolo quietly crossed the
key and deftly planted her feet on the
3—point line.
A few. feet away, Adrianne Tupolo
I took a quick cut to the left into the
open space her older sister just creat—
ed, raised from the floor and unleashed
a triple that rattled home.
A smile. A fistbump.
Energy crackled across the floor.
The mundane became magical.
“My sisters in the game is some-
thing else. We have ‘a connection,” said
Adrianne, whose twin sister Adrian-
na is also a starter forthe Bulldogs.
“We’ve been with each other since we
were little and we’ve been playing bas-
ketball since we werelittle. We just
have that connection. We hype each
other up.”
The 3-pointer was the first of seven
Adrianne hit on the way to a career-
high 32 points Friday night as the.
North Mason High School girls basket—
ball team rolled up a 52-25 win over
short-handed Mason County Cup rival
Shelton at Bulldog Gym in Belfair.
“Iw'as just confident today. It was
just It was great,” Adrianne said.
“Our whole team was hype even before
the game and we just started knock-
ing down 33. One of our players who
is usually not in, she got a banker and
she’s in the books now. It felt great.”
That player, freshman guard Avery
Barnes, drew a raucous celebration
with three minutes to go in the fourth
quarter when she hit a frozen bank
shot from the left elbow. , '
It was that kind of night for the
Bulldogs. , p ,
“I’m a special ed teacher hereat the
high school, and that’s onething that
I try to instill in the girls is that en-
ergy is contagious, positive energy,
negative energy,” North Mason coach
Alex Fitzhugh said. “I talk to them
about positive energy and motiva~
tion every single day. I harp on them
adamantly about that. That’s just a
little bit of what I bring as a coach,
because no matter what the team is,
energy is contagious. If you’re positive
and you’re hyping each other up and
you’re, youknow, saying good things
to each other, good things fall in line.”
Good things have been falling in
»-line for the Bulldogs all season.
After Friday’s win, North Mason is
7-4 overall (4-4 Olympic League) and
sits fourth among 2A schools in the
league, giving the Bulldogs an inside
track for a district tournament berth.
“I think the difference, the big dif-
ference this year is just experience.
Tessa (Grifi‘ey) is our only senior,”
Fitzhugh said. “When I say experi-
ence, take it lightly. We‘have young
girls, but we have a lot of experience
because they all played, they started
‘ as freshmen, so they’ve already played
a couple years on varsity. ‘I think hav-
ing played last year, varsity having its
ups and downs, I think that gave them
some confidence this year. This year
we’ve been a whole new «team. We’re
passing more .and keeping our eyes
up when we break the press. It’s been
awesome. They’re takingin everything
that we practice. I love coaching these
girls. It’s great.” ‘
Griffey added 10 points for the'Bull-
dogs in the win over Shelton, while
Adrianna Tupolo chipped in seven. ,
Raquel Ruiz led Shelton (6-8, 2-5)
with 10.
“This year, we don’t have a lot
. of girls. We don’t have a lot of skill,
but we’re still working~ together" as
a team,” Adrianne said. “,We’restill
building each other up. Honestly, if we
make it to districts, just makingit into
districts would be amazing because
I don’t know how long it’s been since
North Mason has been to districts.
Just making it to districts would be a
good thing for us.”