KAPA’A – There was no question the Kapa’a Warriors were the team least favored heading into the 2002 season. The KIF thought Kapa’a was crazy to use the McKinley Tourney, where they were torched by some of the best basketball
KAPA’A – There was no question the Kapa’a Warriors were the team least favored heading into the 2002 season.
The KIF thought Kapa’a was crazy to use the McKinley Tourney, where they were torched by some of the best basketball teams in the state, as a preseason gauge. And when they returned to Kaua’i and were blanked by Kalani twice, the Warriors swiftly slid down the pole of post-season predictions.
Guess we’d better fire the soothsayer, because this Warrior team has become and obvious surprise.
The Warriors took a bleak beginning and turned it into a near-perfect season. They finished 7-1 in the regular season – one loss limited to a dismal five-point second-half against the Waimea Menehunes – and captured the 2002 KIF Crown.
Now they will travel to the Stan Shariff Center in Oahu to compete in the HHSAA State Basketball Championships.
“Most people didn’t understand why we went to McKinley, but we needed the challenge,” said Kapaa Head Coach Michael Ban. “The difficult preseason schedule helped bring us together…it helped establish fundamentals.”
And fundamentals brought the Warriors the rest of the way.
“We had a well-balanced team this year, everyone shared the responsibility,” said Ban. “We were a team…there were no clicks, and it helped establish a solid defense.”
Down low, Jasmine Stevenson (9.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg) , Danielle Hill (8.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and Tania Tasic (6.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg) shared the rebounding responsibility and banked crucial putback shots which amounted to a deadly frontcourt offense. Kanoe Arinaga (8.7 ppg, 3.5 apg) and Ihilani Yama (6.3 ppg, 2.5 apg), both well-rounded and smart players, had spurts of offensive prowess along with assists, steals, and occasional high scoring games which maintained the Warrior balance. Sharlene Carillo (9.2 ppg, 2.1 apg) had the purest jump shot of the KIF – if the Warriors couldn’t scrape for a bucket down low, Carillo, along with Arinaga and Yama, could hit shots from the outside.
The Warriors have the balance, but will the return trip to Oahu resemble their dismal preseason?
“We have no fear,” said Ban. “We will respect the teams up there, but we are not afraid of them. As long as we continue stressing fundamentals, there is a chance we can turn heads at the State level.”
Understanding the kind of respect a top-notch Oahu team deserves, should the Warriors use the clock-burn scheme they employed when they beat the Waimea Menehunes with just six players?
“We might use the delay game…maybe somewhere down the stretch” said Ban. “We will have to see.”
