Wahine Warriors ready for state tourney

The Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II girls basketball state tournament begins today and KIF representative Kapaa High School has been working hard and hopes to make a serious run.

“(Practices have been) positive. They’re just really anxious to go,” said Warriors head coach William Aki.

Kapaa plays St. Francis of Honolulu at 5 p.m.

Aki said he has had his team primarily focused on press breaks because he expects to see a lot of teams at the tournament utilize the press defense.

“Now we got a lot of top teams in the state that we got to go up against. I know every one of them deserves to get there,” he said. “Everybody wants to win. Nobody wants to go home and lose. Everybody has got to prepare for that.”

Kapaa senior guard Ui’lani McCabe said she and her teammates have been nervous as they’ve looked forward to state but have worked especially hard during practices.

“(We’re working on) getting faster and faster every day and our passes need to be crisp,” she said.

Aki promoted two players from the school’s junior varsity team, Pesi Paua and Paea Tafea, before the season’s end and hopes they will make an impact.

“Hopefully, we can use their height and bring more power inside,” Aki said. “I know they’re going to come out really nervous because they’re young. I’m hoping to get them a little playing time, maybe on the first night, and get them some experience.”

McCabe said Paua and Tafea have been practicing with the varsity team for at least a few weeks and they’re getting along well.

“They’ve been pretty good. They’ve been strong,” she said. “We just need to make them stronger so when we hit them in the middle, they’ll bring that ball up.”

Aki said the team is physically ready but hopes it is prepared mentally as well.

“Mentally, we just got to stay focused on what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “For a lot of them, no experience in this kind of situation, just trying to keep them focused is going to be a real task for me.”