Players on Konawaena girls state title team go way back

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Konawaena Wildcats celebrated with their fans after winning their first girls state basketball championship Saturday. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Rather, it began years ago when the players first began picking up basketballs for Kona's various youth basketball teams.

"We know each other's flow," said freshman forward Jazzmin Williams, who was named to the All-Tournament team. "We just know the little things from playing together so long, it just jells easier."

That familiarity helped the Wildcats defeat Kahuku, 51-41, Saturday to capture the state championship, becoming the first Neighbor Island team to win the girls state basketball championship since Waiakea won back-to-back titles in 1985-86.

Williams said she began playing basketball when she was 8 years old, and played with teammates Haunani Liftee, Hina Kimitete, Elizabeth Chung-Hoon Palau and Jessica Hanato on the club team Stingrays, which was created by Konawaena coach Bobbie Awa and her husband, Konawaena assistant coach Donald Awa.

"I think it really helps because we're all comfortable with each other," Williams said. "I only didn't know one or two of the girls (at the start of the year)."

The building blocks for this year's championship team began years ago, when several of the Wildcats began playing in Mainland tournaments in what would become preparation for tough competition later in their prep careers.

Williams was part of a team that went to an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Basketball 12-under tournament four years ago in Arizona and finished fifth out of about 50 teams.

Also on the team were Liftee, Kimitete and Hanato.

"That's when all of our games had to pick up," Hanato, a junior, said. "The little things started to count."

She said before then, the girls teams would play against boys teams for competition, but traveling to the Mainland helped raise the level of play in Kona.

"We began improving our game," she said.

Awa said the exposure to Mainland teams helped the players learn how to "play in tough situations," which probably came in handy in Saturday's state championship game when Kahuku closed to 44-41 on Latoya Wily's layup with 1:32 remaining in the game.

"Those are big games, even at a young age you play against tough girls," Awa said. "All that Mainland exposure they get is good."

And while players were learning about the game and bonding on the same team, they were also playing against other players who would eventually become their teammates.

"Just growing up playing Kona basketball, we bonded every year we played," senior point guard Kristen Kitaoka said. "We've had the same coaches and we've played together so many years."

Kitaoka began playing basketball in the seventh grade as a member of Aoia, and her teammates included Tiane Estoy, state tournament Most Valuable Player Nancy Hoist, Chung-Hoon Palau and Liftee.

"I think you get familiar with things and grow with it," Kitaoka said.

Bobbie Awa said that all of the playing opportunities taken by the Wildcats when they were younger helped them earn big-game experience before some of them were even in high school.

"It's very important, if you don't have a feeder program it's very hard to go this far if you don't have the youth playing at such a young age," she said. "You can't come out as a ninth grader and be able to play in big games."

Bobbie Awa credited coaches such as her assistant Victor McDaniel and Honoka'a coach Daphne Honma for taking part in youth leagues, and said the strength of Kona's youth program is an advantage for all the schools in the area, not just Konawaena.

But this year, like the past two years, as Konawaena captured the Big Island Interscholastic Federation title with a 40-0 record during that span, it has been the most visible recipient of the youth basketball programs.

Hanato said playing for the Stingrays has helped the transition from youth leagues to high school.

"I think everyone on our team has been a Stingray at one point or another," she said. "A lot of the plays are from the Stingrays; we pretty much know where everyone is on the court."

Bobbie Awa agreed: "They know our coaching. We know pretty much everything about them, and they know everything about us."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.