Pearl City's Ayers is OIA West's top star

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Pearl City's Christie Ayers averaged 14.6 points per game last season. She also was a first-team all-state sweeper in soccer. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

But as soon as the soccer season ended, Ayers traded in her cleats for basketball high tops and took charge of Pearl City's offense in basketball, leading the Chargers to a 10-0 regular-season record and the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Western Division championship.

Ayers' efforts in hoops earned her West Player of the Year honors in voting by division coaches.

She averaged 14.6 points per game, good enough for third among West scorers, but her real value was as Pearl City's floor general. Ayers had a season-high 29 points against Mililani, but she also was the division's premier dribbler and open-court player.

"She can take the ball from end-to-end," Campbell coach Bigs Macadangdang said after Ayers scored 14 points in the first half of a 46-44 victory over the Sabers. "She's tough to stop."

Ayers is joined on the West's all-star first team by teammate Marci Lobendahn, 'Aiea's Noe Colburn, Leilehua's Pikake Nutter-Gaudet and Nanakuli's Lehua Yap.

Lobendahn was the Chargers' best inside scorer and rebounder. Colburn, the lone key contributor remaining from Na Ali'i's 2001 state championship team, helped a young 'Aiea squad finish 8-2 and second in the West.

Nutter-Gaudet was second among West scoring leaders with a 14.9 ppg average. She scored 19 of her game-high 28 points during a frantic fourth-quarter rally that fell short against Mililani, 49-46.

Yap, like Ayers a repeat first-team selection, led all OIA scorers with a 17.9 ppg average, including a 31-point effort against Kapolei. She also scored 19 of her game-high 22 points in the second half of a 38-33 victory over Waipahu.

Pearl City's Mike Morton was named Coach of the Year for the second straight season. During one eight-day stretch, the Chargers defeated three unbeaten teams — Campbell, 'Aiea and Radford — in succession, including 'Aiea on the road.