Judging by the two sophomores who were named Players of the Year, the future is bright for girls basketball in the Maui Interscholastic League.

Both players — Moloka'i High School's Danna-Lynn Hooper and Lahainaluna's Milika Taufa — are thankful.

Hooper, Moloka'i's 5-foot-6 do-everything point guard, named seemingly everyone she could think of when informed that she was the MIL Division II Player of the Year.

''I have to thank my parents for supporting me and showing me that they care by always being there for me when I need them the most, my two coaches for giving us the right knowledge and right state of mind for making us the team that we came out to be,'' Hooper said to The Maui News after the Farmers finished fourth in the state tournament. ''Thanks for my teammates for helping me to become a better player — I can't do everything on my own — I needed them for all their support and all their hard work. They pushed me to be better than I am and they look to me to be a leader and I like being that person for them.''

Hooper also thanked God, as well as the coaches in the league who voted on the All-Star teams, and her family one more time.

One of the people most thankful for Hooper's presence was Moloka'i coach Doug Furlong, who was voted by his peers as MIL D-II Coach of the Year.

''You know what Danna did for us? Everything,'' he said.

Furlong pointed to the Farmers' only loss in MIL play, 46-42 in overtime to Seabury Hall at the Erdman Athletic Center on a night that Hooper matched her career high with 27 points. The next night, the Farmers prevailed 31-17 when Hooper scored 12.

''The Seabury game that we lost, she had 27 points, but we lost and that really bothered her,'' Furlong said. ''So she kind of took upon herself when we went home and talked about scoring all those points. After that she understood the importance of keeping her teammates involved rather than personal stats. It was all about team for her after that game.''

Hooper is joined on the MIL D-II first team by freshman teammate Kalei Adolpho, a 6-1 center; Seabury Hall's Yacine Meyer, a 5-8 senior forward, and Sierra Jacob, a 5-7 sophomore guard; and St. Anthony junior Desiree Borges, a 5-6 guard.

Taufa repeats as MIL Division I Player of the Year after a season in which she played without her cousin and former first-team All-Star Ofa Namoa, who moved to Kentucky for this academic year. Namoa will be back next season and should be able to be part of a formidable front line with the 5-10 Taufa.

''The biggest difference for me this year was the team was Ofa-less,'' Taufa said. ''I was the only center we had, so I had to stay in the game. I was really the only tall person we had, and without Ofa, that put a lot of pressure on me.

''She is going to be back for next year and that will help a lot. She helps me all the time, off and on the court. We always hang out, like, everywhere.''

Taufa is joined on the first team by teammate Rachael Rickard, a 5-6 junior guard; Maui seniors Jazmine Corpuz, a 5-6 forward, and Ariel Gaoiran, a 5-5 guard; and Kamehameha-Maui senior Natasha Kealoha, a 5-7 forward.

The MIL D-I Coach of the Year is Joe Blackburn, who guided Kamehameha Maui to a 5-7 league record, its best mark ever in D-I play.

Lahainaluna coach Todd Rickard said that with two years to play, Taufa may turn out to be the best front-line player he has ever coached for the Lunas — and that includes NCAA Division I college players Aina Kohler and Fatai Halaapiapi.

''For 'Lika, everything is really through her hard work in practice and the offseason,'' Rickard said. ''She doesn't take things for granted, she goes out and gets it. She knows what she wants and she is a hard-working person.

''To tell you the truth, this girl is an NCAA D-I basketball player. By the time she is done with high school, the sky is the limit. She only took up basketball as a 6th-grader and she just keeps getting better. I think she is like a mixture of both Fatai as a shot-blocker and in the low post and she mixes that with Aina's agility and ability to shoot from the outside, too. Milika is all of that.''

Both players of the year pointed to the their teammates who joined them on the first team as keys to their success.

''Oh yeah, when I post up Rachael knows when and where to pass the ball and when she drives in I back up and she knows where I am and she just passes it,'' Taufa said. ''She is the one who really knows how to dribble on our team and create our offense.''

Hooper said that she is looking forward to the next two seasons with Adolpho working on the inside. The Farmers return 10 players from their varsity next season.

''She made our team better because she helped out big-time on the inside," Hooper said of Adolpho. ''People are confident to shoot because we knew she could get the rebound. We know how to read each other with me at point and her at center. We have been playing together since we were 10 or 11 years old and she is a hard worker.''

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