University Lab senior point guard Anson Canencia and Pearl City sophomore forward Daelenn Tokunaga were instrumental to their respective team's state title runs. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Male Athlete of the Week: Anson Canencia, University Lab basketball
Anson Canencia saved his best for last.

The senior point guard turned in a solid all-around performance to lead University Lab to a 46-31 win over Seabury Hall in the title game of the OC16/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Boys Basketball State Championships at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday night.

Canencia, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, scored 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field with four rebounds — all of them on the offensive glass — four assists and two steals.

"It was probably his best game of the year," University Lab coach Walt Quitan said of Canencia. "He only scored 10 points, but we were pretty well balanced scoring. He was really steady on both ends of the floor. it was probably the cleanest game he played all year."

The Jr. Bows led after each quarter and were firmly in control for most of the second half.

"We had the lead the whole game and by doing Anson controlling the ball and controlling the tempo he didn't allow Seabury to make any big runs on us," Quitan said.

University was unseeded in the eight-team tournament after finishing second behind Saint Francis in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. It entered states with an 11-3 mark before reeling off three wins in as many nights.

Canencia and Radyn Kaleikini scored nine points apiece in a 51-35 win over third-seeded Kapaa in Thursday's quarterfinal round. The following night, in a 54-39 semifinal victory over Honokaa, Canencia recorded 16 points with five steals, three rebounds, three assists and a block to complement a 19-point, 12-rebound, two-block game by Ryan Hobus.

"I told this team that our strength would be that we don't have one go-to guy," Quitan said. "We played all nine guys every game and so we were really balanced and I thought that was our strength. We won every (state tournament) game by double digits, but we never really had a guy score a lot of points."

Canencia's older brother, Anthony, and father, Randy, were both ILH players of the year in their time.

"He wasn't that pure point guard that his brother was and maybe even his dad was," Quitan said. "He kind of really had to grow into the role of being more of a pure point guard than a scorer. It took him a while and this year he finally grew into it and I think that's where a lot of our success came from."

Quitan's team includes five seniors who went through some difficulties the past few seasons, which he says paid dividends in the end.

"We qualified for state five straight years and then the last two years we didn't make it," Quitan said. "Last year I think we lost six or so games in the last minute that could have gone either way, so this year they were dedicated from the summer all the way through. We practiced on weekends, we had some three-plus hour practices, so this was a special group."

A rigorous regular season in the ILH also proved beneficial, Quitan said.

"We had to go through that ILH playoff and I think that helped us," Quitan said. "Saint Francis had a long break of over two weeks and we had to keep playing. We beat Damien in overtime to get in, so I felt like we had a lot of momentum going into and that we were peaking at the right time."

Quitan, an alumnus of the school and a member of both the '87 and '88 state championship teams, said many people have reached out to offer their congratulations since Saturday's win.

"It's been unbelievable," Quitan said. "There's been so many former players — more than I even expected — who have texted or called. Those five straight years we were in the state tournament we lost three games in overtime on three buzzer-beats, so there was lots of heartbreak that went into it. A lot of coaches from throughout the state have reached out and that means so much when you get that kind of response; that's pretty special."

Female Athlete of the Week: Daelenn Tokunaga, Pearl City soccer
There was no sophomore slump for Daelenn Tokunaga.

The forward followed up her breakout freshman season with a stellar second year, helping Pearl City to its first girls state soccer crown in 19 seasons.

Tokunaga, who scored 26 goals on the season despite playing alongside prolific freshman Sunshine Fontes (state-high 29 goals), had a goal in three of the Chargers' four state-tournament games last week and was named the Most Outstanding Player.

"During the tournament she had some fantastic line runs that led to goals that were just awesome," longtime Pearl City coach Frank Baumholtz III said of Tokunaga. "She had a couple of fantastic passes, as well as a couple of good goals, which was very nice. All year we worked on things, but this tournament it was like everything came together."

It didn't take Tokunaga long to find the back of the net on the first day of the 12-team tournament. She opened the scoring with a sixth-minute goal in a 4-1 win over Kapolei Wednesday. A day later she scored in the 23rd minute in a 3-0 quarterfinall win over Hilo.

Tokunaga set-up Fontes for the lone goal in Friday's semifinal win over Iolani and closed out the week with a score in the 30th minute and an assist on Kylie Wong's second goal of the night in the 61st in Saturday's 3-0 win over Baldwin in the tournament final.

"I still can't believe we won," said a hoarse Baumholtz two days removed from his first girls' state title. He coached Pearl City to its only boys state crown in 1999.

"A lot of people have called to congratulate us — Pearl City grads that are on the mainland but still following us, (former Mililani boys coach) Jeff Yamamoto) is a good friend of mine, (Mililani coach) Ray Akiona — all of them said what a great game," Baumholtz III said. One gal who played for me in '90 and '91, her kids play at Iolani and she was just excited that we were able to win. A lot of kids that played for us were there at the championship night."

Tokunaga was an integral part of that success. She scored at least one goal in 13 of Pearl City's 17 games this year, including a season-high four goal scored in a season-opening win at Waianae. She scored at least scored goals on seven different occasions.

"She's a unique kid," Baumholtz III said. "She has two older brothers, which I think gave her that fighting instinct, you might say, because she has a sense about her that she can do a lot and her self confidence is good."

After a 16-goal freshman campaign, Tokunaga gave a verbal commitment to the University of Hawaii, which didn't come as a surprise to Baumholtz III.

"When she first came to sign up for a summer league I saw this girl walk in, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh,' because physically she has all the tools," Baumholtz III said. "I knew this was a diamond in the rough. In practice we'd double team her sometimes and not tell her, just tell the defense. They didn't realize it but sometimes we had five fullbacks guarding them and we wouldn't tell them and then when she would still beat five fullbacks, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we really have something here.' "

Baumholtz III said Tokunaga didn't take well to his advice after her freshman year at first, but eventually bought in.

"At the end of last season we talked about things that she had to improve on and she wondered why she had to improve anything because she had scored 16 of 17 goals," Baumholtz III said. "She did pretty good, but I asked her, ‘What are you going to do to get better?' and the other day I asked her, ‘You're good, but what are you doing to do to become great? How are you going to improve yourself now because everyone knows you're good?' "

For now, Baumholtz III can take solace in the fact that his prolific scoring duo for two more seasons.

"It's a good feeling," Baumholtz III said. "These two, even though they play on different club teams, when they come together and put club stuff aside and focus totally on being teammates we can be very good in the future and the supporting cast will be very good also."

BOYS BASKETBALL
Huthifah Abdel Jawad, McKinley — Scored 16 points with seven rebounds, two assists and a block in a loss to Baldwin

Chayce Akaka, Baldwin — Scored 18 points with 13 rebounds, four steals and two assists in a loss to Kalaheo

Taje Akaka, Baldwin — Scored 12 points with 10 rebounds, four assists, one steal and a block in a win over McKinley and scored 19 points with eight rebounds and four assists in a win over Waiakea

Keanu Akina, Kahuku — Scored 25 points in a win over Kalaheo

Kahinu Alapai, Waiakea — Scored 10 points with 11 rebounds in a loss to Kaiser

Bradlee Anae, Kahuku — Scored 13 points with 12 rebounds, two assists, one steal and a block in a win over Kalaheo and scored 22 points with 21 rebounds and an assist in a loss to Punahou

Jonathan Charbonneau, Honokaa — Scored 19 points with nine rebounds and two steals in a loss to Saint Francis

Cole deSilva, St. Joseph — Scored 23 points in a loss to Kalani

Nicholas Duran, Leilehua — Scored 16 points with 11 rebounds in a win over Konawaena

Noah Ferreira, Waiakea — Scored 16 points with four steals and three rebounds in a loss to Kaiser

Joseph Gouty, Leilehua — Scored 19 points with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in a loss to Punahou and scored 17 points with three assists in a loss to McKinley

Ryan Hobus, University Lab — Scored 19 points with 12 rebounds and two blocks in a win over Honokaa

Hugh Hogland, Iolani — Had eight blocks, six rebounds, four points and two assists in a win over Baldwin, scored 28 points with seven rebounds, three blocks and three assists in a win over Kaiser and scored 15 points with 10 rebounds and six blocks in a win over Punahou

Chance Kalaugher, Kaiser — Scored 18 points with 14 rebounds, two blocks, one steal and an assist in a win over Kailua, scored 28 points with nine rebounds, two blocks, one steal and an assist in a win over Waiakea, scored 24 points with seven rebounds in a loss to Iolani and scored 19 points with nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a loss to Kahuku

Hirkley Latu, Kahuku — Scored 17 points with four rebounds, four steals and two assists in a win over Konawaena and scored 17 points with 11 rebounds and two steals in a win over Kalaheo,

Keoua Mahiko, Kaiser — Scored 23 points in a win over Waiakea and scored 22 points with five rebounds, two steals and two assists in a loss to Kahuku

Supilani Mailei, Saint Francis — Scored 11 points with 15 rebounds, two steals and a block in a win over Kalani and scored 17 points with 16 rebounds with a steal in a loss to Seabury Hall

Calvin Mattos, Waiakea — Scored 19 points with nine rebounds, two steals and two assists in a loss to Kaiser and scored 18 points with eight rebounds, seven steals and an assist in a loss to Baldwin

Christian Mejia, Kailua — Scored 14 points with 14 rebounds in a loss to Kaiser

Isaiah Payne, Seabury Hall — Scored 18 points with six rebounds, three steals and two assists in a win over St. Joseph and scored 15 points with 10 rebounds and a steal in a win over Saint Francis

Kekai Smith, Kalaheo — Scored 21 points in a win over Kalaheo

Akahi Troske, Punahou — Scored 11 points with 13 rebounds in a win over Leilehua and scored 18 points with 20 rebounds, three blocks and an assist in a win over Lahainaluna

Dan Villejo, McKinley — Scored 17 points with seven rebounds, two steals and two assists in a  win over Leilehua

Captain Whitlock, Kalaheo — Scored 21 points with four rebounds, three assists and three steals in a win over Lahainaluna

GIRLS SOCCER
Jenna Carvalho, Seabury Hall — Scored the lone goal in a win over Leilehua

Danielle Chang, Castle — Scored the lone goal in a win over Kapolei

Anaiah Christensen, Kauai — Scored the lone goal in a win over Pac-Five

Sunshine Fontes, Pearl City — Scored three goals in a win over Kapolei, scored two goals in a win over Hilo and scored the lone goal in a win over Iolani

Tia Furuta, Mililani — Scored two goals in a win over Campbell

Emi Higgins, Hawaii Prep — Scored the lone goal in a win over Kauai

Leiuhiwai Kauhaihao, Makua Lani — Scored the lone goal in a win over Kalaheo

Jayna Morikawa, Mililani — Scored the lone goal in a win over Iolani

Kylie Minamishin, Kamehameha — Scored two goals in a win over Campbell

Jordyn Pacheco, Hilo — Scored two goals in a win over Kamehameha-Maui

Kaui Taylor, Hawaii Prep — Scored four goals in a win over Waialua

Kehela Ventura, Kauai — Scored the lone goal in a win over Leilehua

Quinn Williams, Kamehameha-Maui — Scored four goals in a win over Castle

Kekai Wong Yuen, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored the lone goal in a win over Seabury Hall, scored two goals in a win over Kalaheo

Kylie Wong, Pearl City — Scored two goals in a win over Baldwin

Jordan Zarate, Hawaii Prep — Scored the lone goal in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii

WRESTLING
Teshya Alo, Kamehameha — Won the girls' 132-pound division to claim her fourth individual state title

Corey Cabanban, Saint Louis — Won the boys' 1130-pound division to claim his second straight individual state title

Liam Corbett, Leilehua — Won the boys' 152-pound division to claim his second straight individual state title

Asia Evans, Pearl City — Won the girls' 127-pound division to claim her second straight individual state title

Donavyn Futa, Kamehameha — Won the girls' 117-pound division to claim her second individual state title

Cameron Kato, Punahou — Won the boys' 120-pound division to claim his second individual state title

Lalelei Mataafa, Lahainaluna — Won the girls' 225-pound division to claim her fourth individual state title

Blaysen Terukina, Kamehameha — Won the boys' 132-pound division to claim his second straight individual state title

Connor Villarmia, Damien — Won the boys' 170-pound division to claim his second straight individual state title