Campbell Basketball Game Looms Large For Lady Knights

Wednesday - January 30, 2008
By Jack Danilewicz
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The Castle girls basketball team won’t have to wait for the Oahu Interscholastic Association tournament to get into post-season mode.

With league leader Campbell set to visit Wednesday night in its season finale, the Knights are already anticipating a playoff-time atmosphere.

“Since it’s our Senior Night, hopefully that will give us a little more (energy),“said coach Jeff McKeown.

The Knights had won four straight entering the weekend, to strengthen their position for a favorable seeding at the upcoming OIA Division II Tournament, which begins next week. Castle was to play Kailua Tuesday in another key matchup. The Surfriders had entered the weekend a game ahead of the Knights and one behind both Campbell and McKinley.

“We wanted to get through this four-game stretch in good shape because we knew the last week would be very difficult, with two of the division leaders,” explained McKeown, whose team was 8-3 entering the weekend.“Our goal was to get there and have a chance to build some momentum going into the playoffs.”

The Knights are hoping to qualify for the upcoming Hawaiian Airlines DII State Tournament after an upset loss in the first round of the OIA’s post-season eliminated them from contention last year. Six seniors - Leesha Domingo, Skyla Featheran, Candy Ames, Nicki Kobashigawa and sisters Kori and Kelsea Berinobis - will play their last home game Wednesday before turning their attention to the OIA playoffs. The top three finishers in the OIA’s post-season earn berths to the state tournament later in the month.

McKeown praised the play of Domingo of late. As a forward, her inside presence has provided balance for a team with a seasoned back court.


“The biggest problem we had at the beginning of the season was rebounding. She’s stepped up and decided to become one of our major rebounders. Her defense has also been good. She held Kim Meyerowitz of Waialua to only six points when she’d been averaging 13.”

In addition to becoming more assertive on the boards, free throw shooting has also been a focal point for the team in recent weeks.

“We were shooting about 25 percent from the foul line during a four-game stretch,“McKeown said. “We went 6-of-21 against Kailua and 7-of-25 in a game against McKinley. Kailua outplayed us and deserved to win, but against McKinley, we missed the front end of the bonus five times.”

Conversely, the Knights were 10-of-15 and 17-of-22 from the line in recent games against Waialua and Waianae, respectively.

“We’ve shot more free throws lately than in past years. In a two-hour practice, we’re probably spending 25 percent of our time shooting free throws.”

With Campbell set to visit on Wednesday, and the Knights likely to face a zone, Castle’s perimeter play could go a long way in determining their fate.


“As a team, we’ve hit a funk,” admitted McKeown, noting that they were just 2-of-24 from three-point range in their last two outings.“We haven’t been getting anything from behind the arc. We’ll need to hit some outside shots against Campbell.

“The biggest thing about Campbell is that they’re very big,” he added. “They have a bunch of girls between 5-8 and 5-10, and they can play them all at once. That creates matchup problems for us. They’re very difficult to attack (when they’re in a zone). We have to push the ball, offensively, and make it a faster game.”

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