Knights End Long ‘Bye’ v. Kaimuki
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.usFor the Castle High School girls basketball team, the coming week-and-a-half is all about getting into position to get into position.
“Everybody’s excited,” Castle coach Jeff McKeown said. “It’s what we’ve talked about all year - making a push for the playoffs. If you’re going to finish strong, you might as well do it against the best.”
Indeed, such was the Knights’fate from the first day of practice, thanks in large part to their schedule. On Saturday, Castle was to play Oahu Interscholastic Association White Division leader Kalani. Next Wednesday (April 26), an equally big encounter with second-place Kaimuki looms before Castle ends its regular season against Windward rival Kailua that Friday.
“Kaimuki is a key game,” McKeown said. “If we beat them, it would put us in a position to maybe get the second seed (in Division II). We could still be the No. 1 seed, but we would need Kalani to lose another game. Our goal is to win out (in its last three games) and hope for the best.”
The second seed in the OIA Tournament is of monumental importance to teams from the East because the second position means playing a first round game against a team from the Western part of the island, traditionally the weaker of the two regions. The top three teams from the OIA’s White Division make the Hawaiian Airlines Division II girls state basketball tournament, which will take place May 18-19 at the Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawaii campus.
Next week’s game with Kaimuki will be big for the Knights for another reason. It will end a 10-day layoff without a game, the second such break from the schedule for Castle in a 21-day span. Before last Wednesday’s 40-23 win over Waipahu, the Knights had last played on April 1 against Waialua.
“Playing only two games in 21 days is a concern,” said McKeown, who led Castle to the OIA ‘s post-season last year. “The rust factor comes into play. We don’t feel like we’re even close yet. It took us a half against Waipahu to get into our stride.We came out flat.When you practice every day (without a game) it gets less exciting, and they can get anxious. We played much better in the second half (against Waipahu). We played harder.”
McKeown credited senior Titi Kawainui with giving Castle a lift in the win over Waipahu. She finished with 11 points, 9 in the second half of that game.“She played well,” McKeown said. “She had 9 points when we broke away from them.”
Kawainui’s supporting cast includes Candyce Ames, Kellsie Sasaki, U’i Kekauoha and Shanyn Fafard-Kaaihue. All figure to start against Kaimuki,which won the first meeting between the schools, 48-34, in the regular-season opener for both teams back on March 15. Having nearly a full week to prepare for the re-match can only benefit the Knights this time around.
“The first time we played them, we didn’t handle the ball very well and we struggled,“McKeown said. “If we can take care of the ball and pick up the defense, we’ll be okay. We need to shoot the ball a little bit better and make sure we’re sharp.”
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
