FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Junior Vicky Tagalicod, right, is a go-to player in crunch time for the Hilo Vikings.

Vicky’s got skills

Hilo's Tagalicod developed her basketball ability playing against boys

Hilo junior basketball player Vicky Tagalicod does a little bit of everything exceptionally well for the seventh-ranked Vikings.

She passes. She shoots. She's the go-to scorer when Hilo needs an important basket. She brings up the ball.

In addition, her leadership duties have been expanded, now that she's in her third year with the Vikings.

Because of Tagalicod's multi-skilled approach to basketball, it's hard to classify her as being a certain type of player.

Essentially, she is beyond any simple descriptions.

Tagalicod's basketball education started in grade school, when she played against -- and learned toughness from -- the boys.

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Things have a habit of working out a little differently for Vicky Tagalicod.

The 5-foot-9 Hilo junior defies convention. As the focal point and point forward of the 8-4 Vikings' drive-and-kick offense, Tagalicod can't be easily pigeonholed or classified.

What's certain is this: After a tenuous start on the eastern shore of the Big Island, she's since embraced her role as the go-to everything player for a Big Island Interscholastic Federation title contender.

When she started high school, Tagalicod, of Pahoa, had her considerable court vision elsewhere. She yearned to gain admission to Punahou as a freshman, applying twice that year -- including flights to Oahu both times -- but came up empty-handed.

"I think about it. If I were to go to Punahou, it would have been different," the soft-spoken Tagalicod said. "But I like being in Hilo. There's a lot of support out there for me and they support what I do. (The team's) like a family. Everybody takes care of each other."

Her coaches at Hilo convinced her to stay despite a drive of 45 minutes each way, each day, from Pahoa. Since then she's shouldered the bulk of the No. 7 Vikings' scoring load, not to mention being the team's primary ball-handler and crunch-time beneficiary.

"Oh, that's every game," coach Ferd Masulit said. "She knows that, too. She's gotta put the team on her back -- she's taking that responsibility.

"I would say the load is heavier this year than it was for last," he continued. "She had some post help (as a sophomore), so that was good for her. I think this year, our post play hasn't been as consistent as we would like ... so she's having to kind of fill in that void as well as being my ball-handler. Points, she's averaging at least 20 a game. Rebounding, probably just under 10."

Masulit freely admits that Tagalicod didn't get her passing ability from him or his system.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Tagalicod is still working on her long-range jump shot.

Vicky started playing against the boys in Pahoa in the fourth or fifth grade, gaining toughness and fortitude. Through sheer hours put in, she built herself into a solid player in all aspects, save for a reliable long-range shot -- now one of the last orders of business in her ever-improving game.

To support that notion, she curled around a screen, stepped back and buried a game-winning 16-footer in overtime for a 43-42 win against Kalani last month.

"To be honest, it wasn't anything we drew up," Masulit said of the play. "We ran our usual offense, but they shut it down. Vicky, as talented and athletic as she is, she improvised. That's what makes her great, and that's what makes her special. She can respond in the event where things don't work out the way we draw it up."

When asked why she thought the Big Island has produced so many effective women's college players lately -- Hawaii's Saundra Cariaga, Keisha Kanekoa and Leilani Galdones to name a few -- Tagalicod just shrugged.

"There's not much to do in Hilo," she said. "You just do whatever you want, but you just play ball. If you like playing that, that's what you do. Just go to the gym and work out and make yourself a better person."

After a moment of thought, she tacked on: "We always have a disadvantage to other Oahu teams, so we work on that."

There weren't always boys in the neighborhood to play with, so playing against her older brother, Lloyd, was one of the best gauges of how she was coming along.

He remains one of the last challenges of her childhood she has yet to defeat.

"He's like 30 -- he overpowers me," Vicky said.

Lloyd, courtside to watch that game-winner against the Falcons, laughed when asked about Vicky's claim to his throne.

"She can't beat me. She still can't," said Lloyd, who played two years at Pahoa High.

But he's seen her game grow since she started battling the boys.

"She's stepped up, she knows the game more," he said. "She's finding out what her strengths are."

Nothing wrong with being a little different.