Top Performers
Kamehameha's Victorino-Kato, Maryknoll's Kamakawiwoole collect weekly honors




Male Athlete of the Week: Kamren Victorino-Kato, Kamehameha basketball
Kamehameha boys basketball coach Greg Tacon doesn't claim to see the future, but he saw this one coming for some time.

When Kamren Victorino-Kato joined the Warriors as a freshman three years ago, Tacon knew he had something special. Fast forward to last weekend and Victorino-Kato showed everybody else what his coach already knew.

Victorino-Kato, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, averaged 18.6 points in three games and helped Kamehameha to the Surfrider Holiday Classic championship. He scored 18 points in a 65-56 win over Castle Thursday, 13 points in a 68-35 win over Waipahu Friday and 25 points in a 50-38 win over tournament-host Kailua in Saturday's title game.

"I think the difference for him this year is just his approach to the game," Tacon said. "I think coming off the bench as a younger kid, he was all giggles and smiles, but he's a lot more focused now and it shows in his performance."

Tacon said Victorino-Kato has worked diligently with his father in the offseason to improve on specific parts of his game, but his biggest gains have come in terms of maturity.

"His focus now come game time is completely different than it was before, but off the court he can be as fun-loving as he wants because if he can be as locked in as he was last weekend then that'll be very good for us," Tacon said.

Against Kailua Saturday, Victorino-Kato made 8 of 9 from the free-throw line, made a pair of 3-pointers and had four steals.

"He has really live legs; he's very active," Tacon said. "I could play him at point (guard) if I wanted to, but I want him to get to certain spots where he's comfortable doing things off the dribble. I'm going to call him a slasher because he's so aggressive and you love that about him, but he understands the framework of what we do and where shots come from. He's a very athletic, very underrated, smart basketball player."

Victorino-Kato, as well as fellow junior Kobe Young, will be looked to lead the scoring effort for the Warriors this season.

"One night Kobe might have it going, the next night it may be Kam — and we have other kids, too — but those two have to score 25 (points) minimum for us to win games, at least I feel that way, and it happened in all three games last weekend," Tacon said.

Much has been expected of the duo since their varsity debuts.

"We knew this three years ago when they were freshmen that they could be special," Tacon said. "Coming into the year we knew we didn't have much of a senior class coming back, so we knew both of those kids would have to take a bulk of what we do offensively. Kam is talented enough to do it and it showed this weekend."

As far as the Warriors' 3-0 start to the preseason? Tacon isn't reading too much into it quite yet.

"It just means that we can play different styles of basketball so far," Tacon said. "The first night we saw zone all night against Castle, the next night we played an aggressive team off the dribble like Waipahu and the third night we faced a team in Kailua that has size and individual talent that can shoot it from the perimeter well, but it still just means we won three games. This week we play four games and hopefully we win four games, but the caliber goes up, so we'll see."

Victorino-Kato and the Warriors will visit Farrington in a single game on Wednesday before taking on Kalaheo, Leilehua and Moanalua Thursday through Saturday as part of the annual OIA-ILH Challenge.


Female Athlete of the Week: Kamalu Kamakawiwoole, Maryknoll basketball
As a freshman last year, Kamalu Kamakawiwoole flashed glimpses of brilliance.

This season, the Maryknoll sophomore is coming into her own.

Kamakawiwoole, a 5-foot-9 wing, took a big step in her continued development last Tuesday when she scored 19 points with six rebounds and two assists to lead the Spartans to a 57-39 win over Punahou in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I game.

"She was huge," Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado said of Kamakawiwoole. "She hit two big 3s in the second quarter, which was like our lights-out quarter and as close to a perfect quarter as we've played this year."

Kamakawiwoole shot 8 of 14 from the field and 3 of 6 from 3-point range against the Buffanblu. The ability to shoot from a distance is something she wasn't able to put on display much last year.

"Most of the time we brought Kamalu off the bench, but this year we felt like because we have a multitude of size, we wanted to re-incorporate the two-big look and we decided to slide Kamalu out to the wing," Furtado said.

Furtado added that Kamakawiwoole has something that can't be taught: length.

"She gives us such a variety of things we can do with her on both ends of the floor," Furtado said. "She's so long that defensively we can play zone and she can play the top of that. If she plays somebody bigger, she can handle the ball. If she plays someone quicker, even if she gets she can make up for it because her recovery is unbelievable. She shoots a pretty nice ball when she gets it going, she can hit the 3, so the potential for her to be just an extraordinary player is there."

As a freshman last year, Kamakawiwoole averaged 8.5 points per game. She reached double figures four times, including a season-high 16 points against Sacred Hearts.

Furtado said Kamakawiwoole's growth this year goes beyond the basketball court.

"She came from a public school, so she had to kind of get fitted in and get to know everybody, but I think she's just feeling more comfortable now as a Maryknoll student and that's translating on the court now," Furtado said.

Kamakawiwoole's easy-going personality and solid work ethic certainly has helped with that transition.

"She is a free spirit and kind of goofy in a way, but she's not combative and if she makes a mistake she will let it go," Furtado said. "When I get on her for something it's like water off a duck's back. She just doesn't get down about it and continues to play her game."

Furtado said Kamakawiwoole's physical abilities and athleticism has forced him to bite his tongue at times.

"A lot of times she's not in great position because she's still kind of learning how to play real good man-to-man defense, but again, because of that length she is able to make up ground," Furtado said. "Sometimes it's like I'm ready to yell at her because she's out of position and then she gets a backside block. Sometimes you run into kids that are not fundamentally sound, but they're so gifted they can recover. Once in a while she will get stung, but then there will be two or three other times where it looks like we're beat and here comes with a block or a tip or a backside rebound. Sometimes it's pulling hairs, but most times it works out."

With more than two full seasons of prep basketball ahead of her, Furtado says the sky is the limit for Kamakawiwoole.

"She has the size, she has the length that if she continues to put in the work and continues to work on her skill set and improve her basketball IQ, I think there's no doubt that she will play at the next level when she's done with us," Furtado said. "I think she's definitely a Division I prospect."

Kamakawiwoole and the Spartans (13-0 overall, 3-0 ILH D1) will take part in the Iolani Girls Classic this weekend. They open the eight-team, three-day tournament against Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.) Thursday.


BOYS BASKETBALL
Austin Aukai, Konawaena — Scored 16 points with five rebounds and two steals in a win over McKinley

Huttachia Buttayotee, McKinley — Scored 10 points with 12 rebounds, one steal and an assist in a loss to Konawaena

RJ Dominguez, Moanalua — Scored 19 points in a loss to Hayward

Ryan Lorenz Dumay, Campbell — Scored 17 points in a win over Castle

Kevin Falk, Honokaa — Scored 18 points in a loss to Roosevelt

Liam Fitzgerald, Leilehua — Scored 16 points in a loss to Honokaa

Justin Genovia, Iolani — Scored 16 points in a win over Waipahu

Kayson Goins, Aiea — Scored 19 points in a loss to Maryknoll

Andrew Kearney, Kalaheo — Scored 17 points with six rebounds in a loss to Punahou

Chris Kobayashi, Punahou — Scored 27 points in a win over Kalaheo

Lancen Kuni, Waialua — Scored 19 points in a win over Anuenue

Noah Kurosawa, St. Francis — Scored 17 points in a win over Kahuku

Carver Locke, Lahainaluna — Scored 22 points in a win over Radford

Christian Mejia, Kailua — Scored 11 points, grabbed 13 rebounds with four steals, four assists and a block in a win over Waianae

Douglas Mitchell, Waianae — Scored 16 points in a loss to Kailua

Zoar Nedd, Kapolei — Scored 16 points in a win over University Lab

Kameron Ng, St. Francis — Scored 20 points in a win over Kahuku

Jaymason Nunuha, Saint Louis — Scored 16 points in a loss to Kalaheo

Charvis Paia, Roosevelt — Scored 19 points in a win over Honokaa

Pono Roberts, Farrington — Scored 17 points in a win over Honokaa

Makana Robeson, Kailua — Scored 17 points in a win over Waianae

Ikaika Soderberg, Castle — Scored 30 points in a loss to Kamehameha and scored 16 points in a loss to Baldwin

Fred Taulung, Kaimuki — Scored 19 points in a loss to Maryknoll

Captain Whitlock, Kalaheo — Scored 40 points in a win over Saint Louis and scored 22 points with eight rebounds and five steals in a loss to Punahou

Noah Woodby, Kalaheo — Scored 18 points with seven rebounds, four steals and three assists in a loss to St. Francis


GIRLS BASKETBALL
Camy Aguinado, Iolani — Scored 25 points in a win over Sacred Hearts

Jasmine Ah Nee Green, Campbell — Scored 14 points with 14 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and an assist in a win over Roosevelt

Gieani Balino, Campbell — Scored 18 points with four rebounds, six steals and two assists in a win over Roosevelt

Shaelie Burgess, Radford — Scored 18 points in a win over Kaimuki

Kaile DeSoto, Kailua — Scored 15 points in a loss to Waipahu

Pakalana Kam, Sacred Hearts — Scored 17 points in a loss to Iolani

Kamaile Kandiah, Punahou — Scored 24 points with eight rebounds in a loss to Maryknoll

Kirstin Kouchi, Kalani — Scored 19 points in a win over Farrington

Mikiala Maio, Kamehameha — Scored 19 points in a win over Sacred Hearts

Dallas Martinez, Sacred Hearts — Scored 20 points in a loss to Iolani

Kalina Obrey, Kamehameha — Scored 15 points in a win over Sacred Hearts and scored 17 points in a win over Mid-Pacific

Chyel Palmer, Leilehua — Scored 15 points in a loss to Kalani

Olivia Sou, St. Andrew's — Scored 16 points in a loss to Le Jardin


BOYS SOCCER
Kristine Angel Portigo, McKinley — Scored three goals in a win over Farrington

Kaimipono Halemano, Kamehameha — Scored three goals in a win over Damien and scored four goals in a win over Saint Louis

David Tupper, Campbell — Scored four goals in a win over Nanakuli

Hudson Zeisman, Mililani — Scored three goals in a win over Waianae

GIRLS SOCCER
Sunshine Fontes, Pearl City — Scored three goals in a win over Waianae

Kapuamakamae Gomera-Stevens, Kamehameha — Scored four goals in a win over PAC-5 and scored five goals in a win over Damien

Sam Masca, Iolani — Scored three goals in a win over PAC-5

Nicole Olanda, Aiea — Scored four goals in a win over Radford

Layla Santos, Punahou — Scored four goals in a win over Damien



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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