FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Radford player Tereva Moore gets guidance from brother and Radford alumnus Tauran Moore. "Basketball keeps us close," Tauren Moore said.
Brotherly Critiques
Radford's Tereva Moore gets
a push by her older brother and
former Ram Tauran Moore
The never-ending dialogue between Tereva and Tauran Moore is no longer restricted to the home they share.
On a not-uncharacteristic afternoon inside the Radford High gym, Tauran (pronounced Tu-Ron) has some instructions for his little sister. Although less than two months removed from his own playing days with the Rams, Tauran is the high school equivalent of a college graduate assistant coach for the Lady Rams and now finds himself with jurisdiction over his Tereva, among others.
"I just told her to bend her knees when shooting," Tauran said.
Tereva's response was swift.
"She gave me one of those dirty looks and said, 'OK, waterboy!' " he said. "I started laughing."
And so it goes, typical big brother, little sister stuff. Except theirs is plainly a relationship built on love -- and basketball.
"The game has been good to us," Tauran said. "Basketball keeps us close. It's something we can both relate to. And we have a lot of other things in common as well."
Not the least of which is a flair for the game of hoops. Tauran, a 6-foot-2 guard, was an Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division first-team all-star this past winter, averaging 14.2 points per game in leading the Rams to a 6-3 record during the regular season. He will likely walk on at Hawaii Pacific University in the fall.
Tereva is one of the rising stars of the current girls basketball season, averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds per outing through four games, all of them Radford victories. A year ago, she was in the midst of a stellar freshman season when she broke a finger during the Lady Rams' biggest game of the season, a contest with rival Pearl City. The Lady Rams had entered that game (a 46-16 defeat) at 7-0 and went on to an 8-2 finish in 2003, with Tereva missing the rest of the season, including the OIA tournament.
"I was so sad at first," she said. "I really wanted to play, and I couldn't for a month-and-a-half. But I thought to myself, 'I'll just have to work extra hard to come back.' "
Tomorrow, Radford reaches the midway point of its regular season with a 6:30 p.m. game at Waialua, while a much-anticipated match-up at Pearl City follows next Wednesday.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Radford's Tauran and Tereva Moore share a favorite pre-game meal and song.
It has been a season heavy with challenges for the Lady Rams to date. All of their games have been played away from Radford this spring after heavy rains flooded their gymnasium.
But with Tereva back in the fold, along with a mostly veteran cast that includes Joanna Czumalowski, Jenna Johnson-Endo and Lia Mickey, in addition to freshman Shanice Young, the Lady Rams have weathered the storm.
"The kids are traveling well -- they're doing a good job," coach David Lane said. "And Tereva's only scratched the surface. She's beginning to come into her own. We've always taken pride in our defense, and she's a natural defender anywhere on the floor."
Lane's first glimpse of Tereva playing basketball was memorable. Tereva was an eighth-grader playing for Aliamanu Middle School in a tournament at Radford.
"I'd known her through Tauran, but I didn't know she played basketball," Lane said. "I was running the snack bar during the (eighth-grade) tournament and took a break. I watched her run up and down the floor once, and I turned to my JV coach (Nelson Lau) and said, 'Sorry, but she's going straight to the varsity.' And then I turned around and went back to the snack bar."
Tereva had taken up basketball that same year and found an ideal role model in Tauran, who began playing when he was 9.
"He influenced me a lot," said Tereva, a second-team All-West selection by the conference coaches last season. "He's an idol, a big-brother figure. I look up to him a lot. Sometimes when he's on my back, I'll be like, 'Be quiet, I'm trying to practice.' We have our disagreements, but we love each other."
In Tauran's view, Tereva is a natural on the hardwood.
"The game came easier to her than me," he said. "She catches on fast."
Both have spent long hours on their individual games, pushing each other. When they return home after one of their games, the critiques continue.
"We're always giving each other pointers, but it's always constructive," Tauran said. "We get on each other's nerves sometimes, but mostly we work out together. I'd like to see her make the (West's) first team this year."
Tauran has been a valuable addition to the Lady Rams' staff, according to Lane, while learning a little more about the game along the way.
"We run the same system as the boys, so everything he brings to us is relative," Lane said. "He's good at what he does."
Said Tauran: "I'm learning the game from a different perspective. On the court, I was always wondering why a coach would do certain things, and now I'm learning why. It's helped my own game. It's been interesting."
Moore info
Full names: Tereva Nicole Moore, Tauran Durell Moore
Favorite pre-game meal (both): Chicken katsu and rice
Favorite song (both): "Get On My Level" by Little Scrappy and Little Jon and the East Side Boys
Tereva's likes: Red Kool-Aid, chocolate-chip cookies and "hanging out with my friends."
Tereva's favorite movie: "Love and Basketball"
Tereva's favorite athletes: Alana Beard, Duke; LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Tereva's favorite saying: "Treat others as you'd like to be treated."
Tauran's likes: Fruit punch, chocolate-chip cookies ("We always have a ton of those around") and Black Entertainment Television
Tauran's favorite saying: "Loved by some, hated by many."
Tauran's favorite movie: "Friday After Next"
Tauran's favorite athlete: Michael Jordan
