[ HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS ]
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In the summer after her freshman year at McKinley High School -- just a year after picking up the game of basketball -- Amber Lee found herself guarding professional basketball player Nani Flores on the court. Leading the charge
Amber Lee has grown into a leader
for the McKinley girls basketball
team this seasonBy Tim Crouse
tcrouse@starbulletin.comDuring the course of that game, the former Wahine player scored on a hook shot over Lee.
"She came to me afterward and said, 'Coach, I want to do that,' " said McKinley coach Jesse Victorino.
Lee has learned that hook shot -- and the 6-foot-1 junior leads the Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division in scoring and has helped lead the Tigers back to prominence in the division. Lee is averaging close to a double-double, with 18 points and 9 rebounds a game.
Lee didn't start playing basketball until the eighth grade, but since then, she's made such big strides on the court that she has caught the attention of some colleges, including Hawaii.
She has also grown physically, going from 5-9 to 6-1, and she may not be done yet; her brother is 6-4.
But most importantly this season for the Tigers, she's stepped into the role of leader on a team with no senior starters.
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"Without her even knowing it, she's developed into a leader," Victorino said. "She's more than just a scorer and rebounder."Amanda Leopoldo -- who scored the winning basket against Kahuku last week as time ran out -- Ceslie Ma'afala and Rayna Isaki have chipped in to help McKinley be successful this season. And Victorino has noticed that they have begun to look more and more to Lee as a leader.
"We're more cohesive this year," Lee said. "We're closer and we hang out off the court too."
Victorino credits last year's teachers strike for bringing out the leader in Lee. The coaches were not allowed to hold practices, but Lee and several other players made sure the team worked out and played pick-up games together.
"She's so humble and laid-back (off the court), but she's an emotional spark on the court," Victorino said. "She's really intense. She sparks the girls."
Victorino likes to tell the story of how they had just broken a huddle on the sideline during a game earlier this season and Lee was the last player to get up.
"She just clenched her fist and yelled, 'C'mon, let's go.' The team looked at her and said, 'Is that Amber? If she can do it, we can too.' "
She scored only 10 points against Kahuku, but Victorino said they were "big points." Against Farrington, Lee was shut out for the first three quarters, thanks in large part to being triple-teamed when she got the ball in the paint.
But after her teammates hit a few shots, Farrington was forced to defend a little more evenly, and Lee responded by scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter and all of the team's seven points in overtime.
"She gets a lot of double and triple teams and we try to force the defense out of that (by having other players hit shots) and try to get back to the one-on-one game," Victorino said. "That's where she gets most of her points.
"No one can cover her by themselves."
Lee scored eight of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter against Kalaheo last month, as the Tigers ended the Mustangs' 50-game OIA winning streak.
"We contained her half the game," Kalaheo coach Chico Furtado said. "She scored eight in the second and eight in the fourth. She had a couple offensive rebound put-backs, she hit a hook shot, she beat one of our post players off the dribble.
"You've got to keep her off the boards. The problem she poses is no one is as big as she is. Her hands have gotten stronger and I'm sure playing in the summer, taking the Hawaii Select trip helped.
"Her and Latoya Wily (of Kalaheo) are probably the best post players in the East."
Lee and the Hawaii Select team went to Las Vegas last summer, and she also traveled to Japan with the Goodwill team. She was also recently chosen for the Utah Showcase Camp -- an invitation-only camp with 128 players from around the country.
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