Three Seniors Lead The Way In Waialua Girls Basketball
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.usThe OIA Division II girls post-season basketball tourney is still weeks away, but in a sense, Waialua is already in the playoff mode.
The Bulldogs, who were to play league co-leader Campbell over the weekend, have games remaining at Waipahu at 6:30 p.m. Friday and at home against Waianae on April 28.The outcome of those games will determine the Bulldogs’ post-season seed. The top eight teams (four from the East and four from the West) qualify for the tournament. The top four finishers from the league’s post-season earn berths in the Hawaiian Airlines State Basketball Tournament next month.
Waialua had taken a 4-4 record into the weekend, so is all but assured of making the post-season, although the Bulldogs were trying to regroup from a 46-40 loss to Waianae last Wednesday.
“That game hurt a lot,“Waialua coach Michele Sales said.“We had a team discussion about it the next day and talked about our goals. Hopefully, we can click these last three games and be ready for the playoffs. It’s (all) about seeding (for the OIA Tournament). We have a harder route to take now. We have to rely on other people.”
Waialua, which finished 5-5 in 2006, has relied on the leadership of three seniors to date - forward Chelsey Ramirez, point guard Misty Maxwell and post player Kimberly Meyerowitz. Ramirez is averaging a team-best 13.7 points per game, and her 18 three-point field goals lead the OIA, while Meyerowitz follows closely behind, averaging 13.2 points per game. Sales also praised the play of defensive leader Ashley Carillo.
“She’s our leader in steals - she reads passes well,” Sales said.“Our defense has been coming around.”
How far the Bulldogs go this post-season could depend largely on their ability to find scorers to complement the offensive output of Ramirez. After scoring as many as 19 points in a game, she was held to a season-low two points against Waianae. Sales was encouraged by the Bulldogs’ point distribution in her absence. Eight different Bulldogs scored in the game.
“If she’s on her game, she brings everyone else’s potential up,” Sales said.“She wasn’t having a great game against Waianae, but it was nice that the other girls stepped up. We had scoring from other people. Offensively, we need the kids to believe in themselves and not rely on Chelsey so much.”
Waipahu took a 1-6 record into the weekend, but Sales isn’t taking anything for granted. The Marauders have one of the league’s top players in Margaret Siligo. She scored 17 against Castle in Waipahu’s 43-35 loss to the Knights last week.
“They looked pretty good against Castle - they were able to stay with them - and they played really, really hard the first time against us,” Sales said.“Hopefully, we’ll keep our intensity up and we’ll have to shut down their big scorer Siligo. She’s a natural athlete, who makes everyone around her look good.”
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
