Lady Surfriders: Full Of Talent And Building Their Team
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usOne in a series of girls prep basketball previews.
Moving the girls prep basketball season from spring to winter was a more than welcome change for the Kailua Surfriders.
Indeed, this season couldn’t come quickly enough for the team, which finished out last season in fifth place at the Division II state tournament. Seven varsity letter winners return from that team with a pair of talented transfers and several skilled under-classmen filling out the roster.
“I asked the girls what their goals were, and No. 1 was to grow as a team,” said coach Ramona Takahashi, who is entering her 21st season at the school, “and if they played good team defense, they could get back to the state tournament.
“Expectations are high, but they also know they need to take these steps in order to make it happen,” she added,“and we harp on it every day.”
Kailua, which finished 14-6 overall last year, closes out its pre-season slate at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday with a road game against Division I Farrington. They took a 5-3 preseason mark into the weekend with wins over University High, Radford, Pearl City, Baldwin and Nanakuli. Kailua’s losses came to Kaimuki, Maui High and Lahainaluna, although Takahashi has been more focused on blending personalities than picking up wins.
“In some areas, we’re much further along than in past years,” she said.“We’ve added some new players, which has added to our depth, but it’s still a learning time for them, and that slows us down a little.”
Takahashi will build around a trio of talented returnees in senior Kristen Corrales and juniors Ashley Jacobs and Zsalei Kamaka.
Corrales is entering her fourth year as a starter. “She brings experience, and she’s fundamentally sound - we can really see it in her now that she is a senior. She can play anywhere if we need her to. We moved her to point guard for the first time during last year’s state tournament, and she did an excellent job. She has great court vision, so she’ll play there (at the point) this year. She’s really a team player in accepting her new role after being a scoring guard the last two years.”
For her part, Jacobs brings instant offense, having averaged 11.5 points per game with 16 three-point field goals last season to place among the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s Division II leaders in both categories.
Like Jacobs, Kamaka enters her second year as a starter. A point guard for much of last year, she has shifted to the off guard spot.
“She always pushes herself to work hard,” Takahashi said.
She also high on 5-7 senior Tianna McKeague, who is sharing time in the post this preseason with Kahea Chang and Williams.“Even though she doesn’t put up big numbers, she’s an integral part of our team,” Takahashi said. “She’s so focused, she’ll do whatever she can to help the team.”
Bolstering the Surfriders’ depth will be several players from last spring’s junior varsity team, which made it all the way to the OIA title game before losing to McKinley. Senior forward Daneen Williams also transferred back to the school after a year at Kalaheo and has had an immediate impact, according to Takahashi. Junior Ka’u Kohatsu, who played JV last season, is also in the mix in the back court and will play a lot of minutes.
In fact, depth should be one of the team’s strengths in addition to an interchangeable lineup.
“We can go small, and we can go big - we have that option, depending on who we play. We’ve increased our team speed to where we’re able to play pressure defense, and we can go 10 deep. The girls (coming off the bench) are tough,” Takahashi added. “They’ll give us quality minutes.”
Kailua opens its regular season Dec. 18 at home against Kaiser.
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