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Being Brittney Brittney Aiwohi knows being a leader doesn't necessarily mean being in front all the time.
The Sacred Hearts senior co-captain
leads the Lancer girls basketball
team on and off the courtBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comWhen the Sacred Hearts girls basketball team embarks on its mile-long run through Kaimuki to start practice, Aiwohi is usually at the head of the pack. But she makes sure no one gets left behind.
"She always looks out for everybody," Sacred Hearts co-captain Cherie Kinoshita said.
"If we're running up a hill, as soon as we get to the top, we'll wait for the last person and make sure everybody gets back together. She's always waiting for the last person. In fact, she'll go back to them and run back up with them until they get back up to school."
Aiwohi's extra effort has shown on the court this spring as she leads the Lancers' bid for a state tournament berth.
The 5-foot-10 senior leads the Interscholastic League of Honolulu in scoring after five games with 21.4 points per game. She also leads Sacred Hearts with 11.2 rebounds and 4.4 blocked shots per contest.
"She's had the capability. I think this year she's decided to take control," Sacred Hearts coach Dexter Kaiama said. "She's decided to take more of the load on her back."
Aiwohi's play has helped Sacred Hearts climb into third place in the league at 3-2. But it was her performance in the Lancers' season-opening loss to Punahou that heralded her arrival as one of the league's top scorers.
She dropped in 34 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Sacred Hearts' 55-44 loss to Punahou, the defending league champion. She accounted for 25 consecutive points for the Lancers in one stretch.
"I didn't even know how many points I scored," Aiwohi said. "I couldn't even remember what I did, I was just so tired."
Said Punahou coach Mike Taylor: "She's got a great outside shot. She was shooting beyond NBA range on us. It wasn't that we were playing bad defense, she was just hitting those shots.
"She does a little bit of everything for that team," he added. "She's a really complete player."
She followed that performance with a 21-point, 14-rebound outing against University High School despite being the focal point of the Junior 'Bows box-and-one defense. She posted a season-high seven blocks on the defensive end.
"I thought her game against University was actually more impressive (than the Punahou game), because they put in a defense to try to stop her," Kaiama said.
After a quiet night in a loss to Kamehameha, Aiwohi recovered by draining the winning free throw with no time left in a 40-39 win over Mid-Pacific two weeks ago. She maintained her scoring pace with a 24-point outing last Saturday in a victory over St. Francis.
Sacred Hearts coaches credit Aiwohi's recent success to her ability to create matchup problems for defenders on the perimeter or in the post.
Aiwohi handled point guard duties at times last year, and prefers to play facing the basket. But when the Lancers lost a couple of their taller players in the preseason, the coaches asked Aiwohi to concentrate on playing down low.
"We had to look to her and say, 'I know we promised you that you'd stay outside more, but you have to realize we have a smaller team than we've ever had and you have to come down and help,' " Sacred Hearts assistant coach Alan Mitsuda said. "She didn't fight us on it, she said 'OK, I'll step it up.'
"It's frustrating for her, because if she had her druthers she'd be outside just bombing 3s all night."
Aiwohi started playing basketball as a seventh-grader in the Catholic Schools League. She decided to go out for the intermediate team later that year and has steadily developed into one of the state's top scorers.
As an underclassman, she played a supporting role to established scorers like Samanta Alapa. But she entered her senior year ready to handle more of the scoring and leadership responsibilities.
"She's done it on her own," Kaiama said. "She came prepared. She was working out in the offseason. ... I don't think there's any question that everyone sees her as a team leader."
Aiwohi was also a first-team ILH soccer all-star in the winter as the Lancers' goalkeeper. She said she has received a few letters from a few college soccer coaches, but hopes to play basketball at the next level.
For now, Aiwohi hopes to keep the Lancers on track for the state tournament and help Sacred Hearts make a statement on behalf of the smaller schools in the ILH.
"All the other schools think we shouldn't even be in Division I because we go to a small school," she said. "So we want to prove to them that we deserve to be there. We just want to earn our respect."