Lady Mustangs Aim For State Tourney
By Jack Danilewicz
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Kalaheo High School’s Shanadee
Canon heads in for another score.
Photo by Nathalie Walker,
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History has a way of repeating itself, and that can only be a good thing for the Kalaheo girls basketball team this spring.
The Lady Mustangs, who close out their regular season this week, have made the state tournament nine of the last 10 years and are hoping to add another appearance in the coming weeks. First up, Kalaheo was hoping for a solid finish this week with home games against Farrington on Wednesday and Kalani on Saturday.
The OIA Tournament will take place May 4-11, and they must finish among the top five in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Tournament to earn a berth in the Hawaiian Airlines HHSAA State Tournament.
“It would be a great send-off for Shan(adee Canon) and Delicia (Wilson),” said Kalaheo coach Ryan Hogue of a strong finish.
The East’s proud history in the OIA’s post-season bodes well for the Mustangs and their fellow league members. Twenty-four of the last 25 OIA champions have come out of the East, with the majority of the OIA state tournament slots having been earned by teams from the East in recent years. In Hogue’s view, nothing prepares a team for the post-season better than enduring a long regular season in the East.
“In the East, you never get a night off,” said Hogue, whose team took a 4-5 record into the weekend. “That’s been really good for this team. With three freshmen and five sophomores, the only way you get better is to play in games like that. For our group, time and game experience are the biggest factors in our success.”
The Lady Mustangs have relied all season on the senior guard tandem of Canon and Wilson. A four-year starter, Canon is closing out a great career for the Lady Mustangs. She was an all-league selection her first three years and currently leads the OIA in scoring at 16.1 points per game. Canon also competed for three summers on the Hawaii-Select All-Star team, which won a pair of national tournaments under Kalaheo boys coach Chico Furtado. Wilson transferred from Kahuku in time for her junior year, meanwhile, and quickly became a starter at point guard.
“They’re both great kids - they never come out of the game,” Hogue said. “Delicia is playing really well. I haven’t seen a girl yet in the OIA who can stop her from getting into the paint, and she’s our best perimeter defender.
“Shan can do it all with the ball,” he added. “Her becoming more of a leader and teacher and coach on the floor has been big for us.”
Junior center Aui Williams, sophomore forward Caira Pires and freshman guard Kortni Thomas round out the Lady Mustangs’ starting lineup. How far Kalaheo goes in the post-season could be tied to how well the pair’s supporting cast performs, since opposing teams are employing a box-and-one defense against Canon and the team’s “every game” in an attempt to slow her production.
“We’ve come a long way - other people have begun to give us scoring,” Hogue said. “Caira and Kortni have been shooting the ball well lately.”
Defensively, Kalaheo had one of its best efforts of the year recently in a 50-39 road win at Kahuku, holding the Red Raiders to only three points in the final quarter.
“We’re getting much stronger there (on defense),” Hogue said. “For us to beat more talented teams, it has to be with our defense.”
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