Sabers Feel The Heat As They Enter The State Tourney

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Campbell’s Vai Confer and Oli
Kila (taking a shot) practice for
their next game. Photo by
Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

As the Campbell girls basketball team prepares for the Hawaiian Airlines Division II Girls’ State Tournament, the Sabers’ fate remains tied to their defensive play.

“Everybody we’ll meet now can put up some points,” said coach Nathan Macadangdang, whose team is making its first state tournament appearance since the early ‘90s. “We have to be able to pressure people and find a way to get (defensive) stops.”

A big effort in this week’s tournament, which runs Tuesday through Friday at various sites, would be the perfect ending for the Sabers, who have enjoyed a breakthrough year. They took a 12-1 overall record into last Friday’s Oahu Interscholastic Association DII title game versus McKinley, but the Sabers were a long way from celebration mode. Indeed, Macadangdang expects the girls to fashion themselves this week more as a team ready to win rather than one merely happy to be in the running.

“That (a state title) is the goal - the girls are hungry,“he said.“They know what’s at stake, and they’re excited about it. They’ve stepped up their play a lot lately. It’s nice to be in a position to keep going.”

Campbell officially qualified for states last Wednesday with their 48-27 semifinal win over Kailua, which had finished second to McKinley in the East during the regular season. One day earlier, the Sabers had beaten Kaiser 78-68 in the quarterfinals in a game marked the end of a 17-day layoff between Campbell’s regular and post season.

“With so much down time, I was concerned that the girls would come out flat or be a little off,” the coach said, “but we had a good game against Kaiser and another one against Kailua. Knock on wood, we’re all healthy, so we’re coming in (to states) at full force.”

Offensive balance has played a huge role in Campbell’s success to date. With three players - Aloha Dias-Kekahuna (11.4), Cheyna Tagura (10.2) and Jenny Sweeney (10.0) - averaging in double figures, opposing defenses have been hard-pressed to focus on one. The Sabers also had strong bench play in last week’s OIA tourney with reserve Vai Confer providing a game-high 12 points in the win over Kailua.

“We’ve had a lot of different people step up,” Macadangdang said. “In almost every game, we’ve had a different person as our leading scorer. If someone is having a bad day, another usually can step up.”

He also hopes Campbell’s deep rotation will benefit them by keeping fatigue at arm’s length.

“We have to be wary of that because of the format (three games in four days),“he said.“We’ll try and keep the girls as fresh as we can. They’re very excited. Adrenaline should carry them through certain parts of the game. We’re happy to be in the position we’re in. Now we have to just go game to game.”

Pairings for the state tournament were to be announced over the weekend. Friday’s title game will start at 5 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center.