Thursday, March 19, 1998
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Punahou's Onaona Miller averaged 15.5 points a game
during the ILH season last year. The Buffanblu are defending
league and state champions.
List of contenders growing
By Pat Bigold
in ILH girls’ basketballStar-Bulletin
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls' basketball season opens tomorrow with three games and a more competitive field than last year.
There are the usual suspects in contention: defending league and state champion Punahou, University High, Kamehameha and Iolani.
But Maryknoll, which finished second to last in 1997, has shown indications in preseason that it's ready to join the 1998 hunt.
The top returning player in the ILH is Punahou center Onaona Miller, who stands just under 6 feet.
Miller, a first-team all-state selection, was almost unstoppable in the low post last year, averaging 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per game. She scored in double figures in each game as Punahou went unbeaten (15-0) from the start of the ILH schedule through the state tournament.
She averaged 15.5 points in the regular season but jacked that average to 20 in the state tournament, never committing a turnover.
But Punahou, which was 7-2 in preseason, has lost what was the best prep backcourt in the state last year: first-team all-stater Ki'i Spencer-Vasconcellos, and second-team all-stater Lisa Kowal.
The pair were involved in both the 1994 and 1997 Buffanblu state championships.
Kowal recently helped 16th seed Harvard upset top-seeded Stanford in the NCAA Women's West regional tournament. Spencer-Vasconcellos will play for the University of Hawaii next season.
They were exceptional at breaking the press and getting the ball into Miller. But without them, Miller's role has to change.
"Onaona will be offering more leadership to the team and she will have to be more creative," said head coach Shelley Fey.
That seems to mean that Miller will be touching the ball more, and possibly putting it on the floor more often.
She has exhibited the ability to move with the ball like a guard and can shoot from a variety of locations.
Fey said she will be going with 5-3 Candace Usita, a superb outside shooter, at the off-guard position and use freshman Milia McFarland at point guard.
The mainstays of Maryknoll's lineup are 1997 ILH second-team all-star point guard Michelle Gabriel, a 5-6 junior; Genesis Vincent, a fourth-year player who is a 5-7 senior guard; forward Nabosa Basse, a 5-10 junior; and forward Kim Washington, a 5-9 senior.
The Spartans' preseason record of 8-2 includes a victory over three-time defending Oahu Interscholastic Association champion McKinley and a tournament championship.
Afton Smith, the Spartans' fifth-year head coach, said the key will be for his guards to get the ball inside to Basse and Washington.
University High returns several key players, including 5-6 guard Kasey Tabar, a first-team ILH all-star, and Nikki Drevno, who possesses an outstanding baseline shot.
Iolani lost its most talented player Erin Stovall, the Star-Bulletin's first Ms. Basketball. She led the ILH in scoring average last season and went on to earn a berth on the Atlantic Coast Conference's All-Freshman team for the University of Virginia this season.
But the Raiders return third-year starter and first-team ILH all-star Karyn Fitisemanu. Fitisemanu, a 5-9 guard-forward, was a key factor in the team's 1996 state championship run. Also back is promising inside player Jamie Liu, a sophomore.
Although Kamehameha lost first-team ILH all-star Charisse Hodson to graduation, the Warriors return with experience and strong fundamental play.
Tomorrow's games -- all at 7:30 p.m. -- have Maryknoll playing University High at Hawaii Baptist Academy, Punahou hosting Sacred Hearts, and Mid-Pacific hosting Iolani.
The state tournament will be held May 20-23 at the Stan Sheriff Center, the second time the tournament has been held at that facility. It was first held there in 1996.