By Wes Nakama
Not even one week into the ILH girls basketball season, Maryknoll is the only unbeaten team among the seven in Division II.
The Spartans improved to 2-0 in league play and 8-2 overall Thursday night after shooting past defending champion Hawai’i Baptist, 50-23, on the Eagles’ home floor. This is Maryknoll’s first season in DII after many successful seasons in Division I.
Spartans athletic director Ben Valle and head coach Chico Furtado said the decision to change divisions was based on several factors, the main one being Maryknoll is a much smaller school compared to DI members Punahou, Kamehameha and ‘Iolani. Valle said this year’s senior class has 99 students, about half of them boys.
‘Iolani’s senior class is more than double that, and Punahou’s and Kamehameha’s graduating classes typically have well over 400 students each. HBA (5-4 overall, 1-1 ILH) has 81 in this year’s senior class.
“We’re playing where we belong — we’ve been playing ‘up’ all this time,” Furtado said. “It’s the perception of (us) playing at a high level in Division I for so many years, and now moving (to DII) … I cannot worry about people’s perceptions. We’ll (just) play, our kids will play.”
Furtado also said the Spartans were hit hard by graduation and transfers, not just this past summer but over the past several seasons.
“We lost some key pieces,” Furtado said. “We have seven kids right now playing Division I varsity basketball at other schools, who were at Maryknoll three years ago. For (various) reasons — whether it be financial, whether it be they just (want to) go back to their home (public) school … it is what it is.”
The Spartans opened the ILH season with a convincing victory at Damien on Monday, then jumped out to a 17-2 lead in the first seven minutes on Thursday mixing 3-pointers out of a half-court set with layups off transition. The Eagles got two 3-pointers from Sienna Lamblack and one from Kaitlyn Maruya in the second period to close it to 27-14 at halftime, and Lauren Okuda sank two free throws to open the third period, cutting the lead to 27-16.
But Khansas Tuisamatatele answered with a layup to ignite a 14-3 run capped by Kalae Kaopua’s 3-pointer from the top of the key as Maryknoll took a 41-19 lead going into the fourth period. HBA managed only one field goal in the final 10 and a half minutes of the game, and finished 12 of 22 (45.5 percent) from the free throw line.
The Eagles have only eight players on their roster, and only six were available Thursday night.
“We’re trying to keep healthy,” HBA coach Robin Yamaguchi said.
Yamaguchi has a positive outlook on Maryknoll joining the Division II ranks.
“For us, it’s fine, because it makes our league stronger,” Yamaguchi said. “It’s something that we know we’ll have to compete with. I watched them play Mililani and Moanalua, and they really took it to them.”
The Spartans will travel to Las Vegas next week to compete in the Tarkanian Classic from Monday through Thursday.
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