Girls Basketball
Former rivals joined forces for hometown Vulcans


 



As young hoopsters growing up on Hawaii island, Mandi Kawaha and Mikayla Tablit saw a lot of each other over the years. But it was always from an opponent's perspective.

For the past three years, however, the pair of 2018 high school graduates and former Big Island Interscholastic Federation standouts have joined efforts for the hometown University of Hawaii at Hilo women's basketball team.

Kawaha, a Hilo High graduate, has started all but one game in two seasons for the Vulcans and posted a career-high 23 points in an exhibition loss to UH-Manoa on Dec. 20. Tablit, an alumnae of Konawaena, has been working her way back from a torn right ACL she suffered two years ago.

"As far as Mandi and Mikayla, we're blessed to have them in our program," 11th-year UH-Hilo coach David Kaneshiro said of the pair of All-PacWest Scholar-Athletes.

"They're two not just really good players, but good people. They come from good families, they're excellent students and so they're good community people and they represent our program the way we'd like to have it represented," he added added. "I feel really blessed to get the chance to coach them every day and to have them in the program."

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The duo make up half of the Vulcans' local products. Kawaha's younger sister, Mindy, and Noelle "Lagi" Sua-Godinet are 2020 prep graduates of Hilo and Kamehameha-Kapalama, respectively, and freshmen for UH-Hilo this winter.

Kaneshiro, a 1990 Hilo High graduate and the BIIF Player of the Year in boys basketball that season, is quite proud of the fact that nearly a third of his players are from the 50th state.

"It's really great. I didn't go to UH-Hilo but obviously I grew up here and spent most of my life here, so I think we all feel that same pride. It's your hometown so you want to represent and you want other people to look at Hilo and UH-Hilo and our basketball program with the same kind of pride that you have in it so that's what we're working towards," Kaneshiro said.

The plans call for Kawaha and Tablit to play a large role in that, he explained.

"Having been here now for three years on campus, they've both been through highs and lows and now they've kind of gotten their feet whet of what the league is like, what D2 basketball is all about and now it's their turn to take the baton in leadership and all of those things. It's not going to be easy, it'll be a daily process but I'm confident that we'll all get there and we'll be able to have the type of program that we're all proud of," Kaneshiro added.

The Vulcans return four starters and seven players from last year's team that went 10-16 overall and finished seventh in the PacWest Conference. However, their leading scorer left via transfer, while three others transferred in; four freshmen are also brand new to the program.

"We do have a lot of new players kind of finding their way, still trying to figure stuff out and get used to how we want to play. I think the returners have done a good job in terms of building off of some of the good habits that they were able to develop last year and then working on correcting some of the things we've done better," Kaneshiro said. "I think we're somewhere in between. We're not all brand new and you can see the returning group is together, whether it's playing, scrimmaging, or in a drill — you can tell who's a returner and who's new and trying to develop habits — but they're all trying and it's a great group to work with. We're headed in the right direction. We just got to keep grinding away and persevering and keep staying focused on trying to get better every day."

Greg Yamamoto | SL    Purchase image

Kaneshiro had yet to announce the team captains for this season prior to the team's exhibition against UH-Manoa on Dec. 20.

"To be honest, especially because of the later start to workouts and some of the things like the schedule not being the same as usually and because of that, maybe the growth process hasn't been quite as quick," Kaneshiro disclosed. "We're certainly not as far along as we would be in a normal year."

The contest against its big sister in the Division-I Rainbow Wahine gave the Vulcans their first taste of competition. While the afternoon matinee counted as a game for UH-Manoa — its second in as many weeks — UH-Hilo had yet to conduct anything beyond an intrasquad scrimmage up to that point.

Although the Rainbow Wahine pulled away to win, 71-54, the Vulcans held their own early on and even took a 33-32 lead into halftime. Final score aside, the competition gave the team something to work off of before PacWest play starts in mid-January.

"We have a lot more things to work on defensively, especially. Offensively, I think we did okay," said Kawaha, who led all scorers with a career-best 23 points.

"It was pretty good; everyone kind of knew where they had to be," she added.

Kawaha, a 5-foot-2 junior and one of four guards in the starting lineup, had 15 points by halftime and finished with a team-high six rebounds. She also registered two assists and two steals in 34 minutes played.

Tablit came off the bench and played 23 minutes. The 5-foot-5 redshirt sophomore scored three points, grabbed four rebounds, with one assist and a steal.

"I think we have a lot to work on, but as of right now, I think we have a solid team considering it was our first game coming back from a 10-month drought," Tablit said.

Tablit has come a long way back from her ACL tear — what she called her "first injury, period" — but still feels her knee is about 80 percent healthy.

"I still have a long way to go," she said. Still, she managed to play in all 26 games as a redshirt freshman last year, including eight starts. She averaged 4.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and shot 81 percent from the free-throw line. Tablit ranked second on the team with 41 assists and third in steals with 26.

"It was kind of hard for me because coming from where I Was in high school and my level of playing, it was hard to see how my body reacted to being out for a year and even now it's still hard just to accept just how my body is after my injury," said Tablit, a two-time All-Hawaii selection and 2018 HHSAA Hall of Honor inductee.

Tablit was a member of four Division I state championship-winning teams while at Konawaena. The Wildcats often carried a short bench, which meant staying healthy was of utmost importance, so being relegated to the sidelines during her freshman year at UH-Hilo was a new perspective for Tablit — one that she didn't enjoy all that much.

"I knew because of the career I had in high school, coming from Konawaena, I knew it was going to be hard because I never sat on the side. I always would lead people, so it was hard for me to take a step back and sit on the side and watch before I take control, but with the whole process I kind of taught myself — along with my parents — they helped me through the situation," Tablit explained.

"I know I got hurt and I probably won't be the same (afterward) unless I work hard and get back to where I want to be, and even better than high school, so I drilled it in my mind, along with my coach, that if I want to be someone, then I have to work harder than I ever have and I'm still trying to work toward that right now," she added.

But it wasn't as easy as having just a positive attitude — that only went so far. There were certainly tough times that had Tablit questioning her own resolve.

"I would come home every day and I would be so down that I would cry and I'd call my parents and tell them that ‘this sport is not for me,' but when I realized that, I took it upon myself and said that I can't give up because this is what I love to do and it's something that I can't live without," Tablit stated. "I told myself I would push and do whatever I can."

Tablit got through it with the help of her support system, including one teammate, Kim Schmelz, with personal experience in returning from the same injury.

"Just like Mikayla, Kim's had to fight through a serious injury and in fact, it took Kim a couple years to come back from that," Kaneshiro said of the Sacramento native.

Tablit said Schemlz has been a rock during her rehabilitation process.

"It's been an easier path, I guess you could say, because went through it and knew what I was going through so she was kind of a shoulder to lean on because she would always be like, ‘We'll get through this together.' She's kind of like the mom," Tablit expressed.

Schmelz, a graduate student and PacWest Scholar-Athlete, was granted a sixth year by the NCAA after last season. She started against UH-Manoa and scored four points in 21 minutes of action.

"She's got a lot of experience in a lot of different areas and she's always had such a gracious heart, so for her to share those experiences because they could help someone else, she's always had that, but I think now you see a little bit more confidence in her that, ‘Hey, I have something to offer my teammates,' and it's great to see, but she's been unselfish since the day she got here," Kaneshiro noted.

Kawaha is another Vulcan with a deep appreciation for Schemlz and all of the veteran experience that she brings to a relatively-young team.

"She brings a lot to the team, we call her ‘Sharpshooter.' If she's open, she's going to knock it down, no matter what. She has that jumper, that one-dribble jump shot and it works all the time," said Kawaha, who referred to Schmelz as a "super, super senior."

"She knows how to help people and she knows the program better than everyone, so she'll be a benefit to everyone and she's just super nice and is encouraging and helps everyone so it's great having her here," Kawaha added.

But if the exhibition against the Rainbow Wahine is any indication of what to expect from UH-Hilo this season, it appears that Kawaha will be looked to lead the way — from both a leadership and statistical standpoint.

And that's certainly the expectation that she has of herself.

"I expect myself to be a better leader. A bunch of it has to do with our leading scorer leaving this past year, so I have to kind of encourage everyone to step up a bit more and put in more work, more effort into getting better themselves and just doing things right in practice and putting in the extra effort," Kawaha explained.

That also translates to taking matters into her own hands at times on the court. Kawaha, a Third Team All-Hawaii selection as a Hilo High senior, took 21 of UH-Hilo's 58 shots from the field against Manoa — a dozen more than her next closest teammate.

"I need to be more aggressive to the basket, attack more, create more plays, more open shots for my teammates because my coach said the best thing I do is draw the defense in for an easy kick-out, so I think just penetrating more and looking for my shot as well would help us to score, but I think overall we have better chemistry than we've had in years past and I think we kind of know everyone's individual strengths and weaknesses and what we can work with," said Kawaha, who averaged 9.2 points per game as a freshman and 9.8 per contest as a sophomore. She led the team with 91 assists and 45 steals last year and ranked second in made 3-pointers with 31.

Like it is for her coach, the opportunity to represent the place she grew up in is a personal matter of pride.

"Hilo is a small town, but it's my home," said Kawaha, who used to wipe the floors at Vulcans' games as a kid. "I'm glad I get to play in front of the community, my family especially and my friends, so I take it with a lot of pride."

Tablit grew up in Waimea and Honokaa, but attended Vulcans' summer camps growing up.

"I attended every single one," she recalled. Now she's on the other end of that relationship, offering her help to young camp-goers.

"It's just amazing know that I was that kid, having such big dreams, but just seeing that kid still have the desire to play basketball and have such big dreams, it's kind of amazing just to see from another point of view," Tablit added.

One of those youngsters Tablit hopes to inspire is her 12-year old sister, Kaylie Yamasaki, who Mikayla simply calls, ‘Mochi.'

"I've always wanted to be a role model for her. I always explain to my sister that if you love basketball, do it for you and if there's people along the way that doubt you, just keep going to prove them wrong," Tablit underscored. "I just basically play basketball just so I can be a leader for my sister."

After two-plus years together at UH-Hilo, Tablit now considers Kawaha a sister to her as well.

"We've built a relationship where I can lean on her as if she's my own sister," said Tablit, who recently switched her major from general business to nursing.

"Growing up, nobody thought we'd be on the same team because we were always rivals and it was like I didn't want to guard her and she didn't want to guard me, but it's nice to see that two local girls from different parts of the island could come together and form such a good bond together. She keeps me positive and is always telling me that she needs me and I let her know that I need her, too," Tablit added.

Kawaha, a kinesiology major, described the friendship in much the same manner.

"We actually became the best of friends. She knows my strengths, I know her strengths, we know each other really well and because we played each other from (Parks and Recreation league) days and would always go back-and-forth — although in high school Kona won all the time (laughs) — but it's been really good playing with her because defensively she's really good," Kawaha said of Tablit.

"I guess you can say she's a bully (laughs), but she's great. She knows how to read what I see. I can visualize the court pretty well and she can read when I'm going to make that next pass, take that next shot, so it's very easy for her to read off me and for me to read off her and even though we didn't play with each other before, our chemistry just came quickly for us because we know each other well," Kawaha added.

The PacWest recently announced a 12-game schedule for its Hawaii Pod, which is made up of UH-Hilo, HPU and Chaminade.

Kawaha, Tablit and the Vulcans open conference play with a pair of home games against HPU on Jan. 17 and 18.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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