New Talent Sparks Hawaii Select Team

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Hawaii Select player Pualei Furtado, a strength in the back court. Photo from Alexis Furtado.

With seven returnees in the fold from last summer, Chico Furtado’s Hawaii Select team figures to be more seasoned than the average all-star team when it travels to Las Vegas next month.

Even so, the buzz on the Kalaheo campus last week as the girls team opened practice was about newcomers, most notably in the post, where the team struggled a year ago.

“This will be the first time since we had Jamie (Smith of Iolani/UNLV) two years ago that we feel like we’ll be strong there,” said Furtado. “We’ve had good kids, but we needed to get bigger there. We’ve been guard-oriented the last few years. Our team that won the national championship had (former Kaiser standout Sharde) Pratt and (Kalaheo’s Kaliko) Kepa, so we were strong in the post.”

Among the recent additions are post players Hailey Maeda of Punahou and Kerstin Liana of Farrington. Both will work in the middle in a rotation that includes relative newcomer Mikela Thoemmes of Roosevelt.

Liana was a key component for a Farrington team that won the OIA title in addition to making the semifinals at the Division I state basketball tourney in February. Maeda, a Kailua resident and daughter of Castle head football coach Nelson Maeda, sat out the 2008 season at Punahou after transferring from Iolani and was high on Furtado’s wish list for players prior to last summer’s Hawaii Select season, although her schedule didn’t allow her to take part.

“The three are really interchangeable,” said Furtado. “Kirsten is very athletic in the post. She has a lot of strength and some skill, and her ability to finish around the bucket is good. It’s the same with Hailey. She’ll give us scoring and rebounding, and she brings toughness.”

Thoemmes was a late addition to the 2008 Hawaii Select team after Violet Alama, then a senior-to-be at Kalani, suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the season. “She has high energy around the basket, and she probably runs the floor better than the others,” he added. “The post players are going to be a key, along with our returnees.”

Hawaii Select’s list of returnees is impressive and includes Pualei Furtado (Kamehameha/UH), Kamie Imai (Waiakea), Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo (Farrington), Kylie Sato (McKinley), Kourtni Thomas (Kalaheo/Kailua) and Jordan Kealoha (Mid-Pacific). Furtado, who is Chico Furtado’s niece,will be the first player in the team’s history to take part after having completed her prep eligibility.

“She’ll give us some maturity and some outside scoring, and she really wants to play,” he said of Pualei, a standout at Kamehameha set to attend UH on an academic scholarship. “

Sato is entering her fifth year with Hawaii Select and has been a key player for McKinley in recent years, while Tatupu-Leopoldo figured big for Farrington in its memorable post-season run last winter. Imai was unable to attend practices last week as she finished her academic year on the Big Island but will join the team as soon as school is out.

Furtado hopes improved play in the post also will create more opportunities for both Imai and Tatupu-Leopoldo. “We tried to use them both at the four(spot), and they were playing out of position, so we hope to avoid that this year.”

In the back court, he’s counting on the leadership of Sato, Tatupu-Leopoldo and Pualei Furtado. They will be joined by newcomers Kaua Cale (Kalaheo), Dejah Faasoa (Kaimuki) and Angie Yoshizu (University High).

“We’ll lean on Kylie and Bridget and Pua to bring the others around,“said Furtado, whose team also will take part in the Lady Mustangs Summer League at Kalaheo, playing a nine-game schedule. “Jordan brings a lot of energy, too. Hopefully, she’ll be more aggressive this year.”

While Furtado works at his rotation, Hawaii Select’s venue for next month remains unsettled. The team will depart Honolulu for Las Vegas July 22, returning July 27, but they are still deciding on a tournament. Three possibilities are the Vision Sports “Main Event,” the Starvision “Center Stage” Tournament and the Reebok National Tournament.

Hawaii Select has found Las Vegas a hospitable place in recent years on the court and off. In 2004 and 2005, Furtado’s teams won the Main Event, while finishing as runner-up in 2006 and a quarter-finalist in 2007.