SCOTT QUINTARD / CAL STATE L.A.
Iolani alumna Monica Tokoro broke the Cal State-Los Angeles career scoring record last weekend.
Richardson, Gauchos
going dancingThe former Kalaheo star is
the Big West Defensive Player
of the Year
KALAHEO High School alum Brandy Richardson is going to the Big Dance for the third year in a row, but this time as the premier defensive player in the Big West Conference.
Richardson helped UC Santa Barbara win its eighth straight NCAA berth yesterday by overwhelming Idaho 68-51 in the Big West tournament championship game in Anaheim, Calif.
The Gauchos have earned home court for the first two rounds of the NCAA Division I tournament and will find out today (noon, ESPN) who they play in the first game this week.
UCSB pulverized Big West opponents in 17 of 18 games (average victory margin: 21.6 points) and led the conference in defense, giving up just 53.2 points per game.
TONY MASTRES / UCSB
Brandy Richardson helped lead UC-Santa Barbara to its eighth straight NCAATournament appearance.
On Tuesday, Richardson, a junior, was named Big West Defensive Player of the Year.
"She's our best defender and our best rebounder," UCSB coach Mark French said. "She's somebody you can count on night-in and night-out.
"We always look to put Brandy on the other team's toughest player. On the boards, she has a breathtaking presence."
Richardson, a 6-foot power forward, led UCSB in Big West games with 7.6 rebounds per game. On Friday, she grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds in the Gauchos' 74-56 semifinal win over Long Beach State.
In yesterday's Fox Sports telecast, Richardson elicited superlatives from broadcasters Barry Tompkins and Tammy Blackburn for her defense, hustle and rebounding. Tompkins said Santa Barbara (25-6) "could go deep into the NCAA Tournament."
Last month, ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman described Richardson as "the heart and soul of the Gauchos."
Richardson was Hawaii high school girls Player of the Year in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Her Kalaheo teams went 49-0 in four years in the Oahu Interscholastic Association. In her final OIA game, the 2001 championship, she scored a career-high 41 points.
SCORING RECORD
Cal State-Los Angeles point guard Monica Tokoro (Iolani '01 of Aiea) was named Tuesday to the Daktronics All-Region NCAA Division II team.Tokoro broke the CSLA career scoring record last weekend, ending her junior season with a three-year total of 1,551 points. She scored 32 on March 5 to surpass the record of 1,528 set by Suzie Iwami in four seasons (1977-80).
Tokoro also holds the school career assists record. She broke the record earlier in the year and pushed it to 450 by the end of the season.
For the season, Tokoro stands third in the California Collegiate Athletic Conference and 21st in Division II with 20.0 points per game. She stands fourth in the conference and 36th nationally in assists with 5.1 per game, as well as fourth in the CCAA and 40th in the NCAA in free-throw percentage, hitting 82.9 percent.
Tokoro's all-region selection makes her eligible for the Daktronics All-America team, which will be announced March 23. Last season, when she was the second leading scorer in the nation in Division II, she received honorable mention on the Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches of America All-America team. She has also won Verizon Academic-All District recognition.
OTHER HOOPS HONORS
>> Menlo (Calif.) -- Senior point guard Ki'i Spencer-Vasconcellos was chosen Most Valuable Player in the California-Pacific Conference.Spencer-Vasconcellos, the 1997 state high school girls Player of the Year at Punahou, started her career at University of Hawaii but left after injuries (she has rods in both tibia) and was out of basketball and college for three years until last season.
At NAIA Division II Menlo this season, she set school single-season and career scoring records. She averaged 16.3 points in 25 games this season and 15.4 per game over two years.
She was second on the team in assists this year with 77, had 42 steals and made 43 percent of her 3-point attempts (59 of 138).
She led the CalPac conference in 3-point accuracy.
"I asked her to be as good of a leader this year as she was a player," Menlo coach Caitlin Collier said, "and she did that for us, which enabled us to battle all year and stay together as a team through some close losses. ...
"Ki'i became a contributor rather than the one who bore the burden to shoot and score every time down court," Collier said. "It is really clear that our team got much better as the year went on and that is rewarding for a coach."
>> Mesa State (Colo.) -- Forward Rosa Masler (Maui '01 of Kihei) was chosen second-team All-Western Division by Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference coaches.Masler, a 5-foot-11 redshirt junior, led the conference and is sixth in NCAA Division II in rebounding with 11.7 per game.
She led the RMAC in double-doubles (double-digit points and rebounds in the same game) with 11 and had 16 or more rebounds four times, including a career-best 19 against Division I Northern Colorado.
>> Pacific (Ore.) -- Senior Katannya Kapeli (Kamehameha '00 of Kaneohe) received honorable mention in the Division III Northwest Conference.
Kapeli started all but one game for Pacific since she transferred from Hawaii three years ago. She averaged 8.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in her Pacific career.
Kapeli led the Boxers in assists this season with 66 and had 30 steals. She was sixth in the conference in assists with 3.14 per game.
She had six double-figure scoring games this season, including 12 points in the final game of her career to help the Boxers shock Pacific Lutheran out of a tie for first place.
>> Eastern Kentucky -- Freshman Fatai Hala'api'api finished the season with a school-record 51 blocked shots, moving her to fifth on Eastern Kentucky's career list with three years to go.
Hala'api'api blocked six shots in her final two games in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
